Saturday, 26 November 2011
Friday, 25 November 2011
Sunday, 20 November 2011
Ships are built to Sail
" A ship in a harbour is safe, but that's not what ships are built for"
- a great quote attributed to John A Shedd, Salt from my Attic (1928)
Monday, 14 November 2011
Thursday, 10 November 2011
11.11.11.11.11.11
Today is 11th of November.
At 11am/pm, 11minutes and 11seconds, the date and time is:
11.11.11.11.11.11
This magical date has come after 100 years.
Sunday, 6 November 2011
Disney Land..The Power of Dreams
A Visionary and ..a Mouse. Today it's the biggest family entertainment spectacle in the world..
Disney Land.. Amazing..Spectacular..
Saturday, 5 November 2011
The Wall Street Bull
Pic taken during my visit to the Wall Street
The Charging Bull or the Bowling Green Bull standing 11 feet tall, 16 feet long and made of 3200 kgs of Bronze, depicts the aggressive financial optimism and Prosperity. The Kinetic motion of the charging bull with its head lowered and nostrils flaring and the body language depicts the bull's immense energy and its power to progress ahead.
Friday, 4 November 2011
Saturday, 29 October 2011
Pajero, Endeavour & Santa Fe - 4x4 challenge
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| They still rule the 4x4 segment.. Real Thorough breeds |
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| The Challenger |
F1 Racing.. Buddh Circuit. India
The Steering Wheel used in car for F1
Call it the Control Panel of all the driver's action. The Driver can adjust the amount of fuel inflow, alter traction control settings, even change brake pressure.
The LCD Screen dashboard shows the lap time, speed, rev speed and the gear position (six/seven forward gears and one reverse gear). Today, the use of carbon fibre for steering wheel has become essential. The steering wheel weighs just over a Kilogram.
Wednesday, 26 October 2011
Saturday, 22 October 2011
Sunday....Cruise in a House boat.. Fish fresh Pearl Spot.. and enjoy the savour of yummy Karimeen (Pearl Spot) Fry.
the rest of the afternoon laze around enjoying the fine breeze...sipping a tender coconut watching the stillness of the water and ripples caused by the perfect landing of one of the many species of birds
Sunday, 9 October 2011
Read and Enjoy : “The Curious Kids” by arathi menon
The Twins
by Arathi Menon
‘Hi. I am Deepika. My friends call me Deepu. I am from Shalimar Colony where ‘anything’ can happen. I have had many experiences which seemed extraordinary since I shifted here. Well, this is one of them.
That night, when it all began, I was home with my best friend Keerthi, my neighbor Razia, and my snooty cousin Shreya.
“Do you remember our night shuttle challenge?” Keerthi asked me “The team who wins will get a box of chocolates and rise in their pocket money. This time, Razia is in my team”
“Okay then” I said “Shreya will be in my team”
Shreya might be a snob, but, I have to admit, she plays shuttle very well. Moreover, I knew she had other plans that night.
“I am not into any game tonight” Shreya said “I have to watch ‘Twilight’ tonight”
“It will come again on T.V” I said “Besides, you spend too much time in front of the television”
Shreya hesitated. “By the way, what is ‘Night shuttle’?”
“It is just shuttle!” Keerthi said “Played at night”
“Oh really” Shreya said “I am sorry, but my racket will not work at night”
Shreya was used to make lame excuses. So she left me with no other option than to drag her to the backyard.
We started the game very well, but Shreya smashed the cork, straight into Kumar uncle’s house, I mean ‘Terror-tory’. That’s where all the kids, especially I, fear to go. He will somehow get us grounded; by telling our parents some false complaints like ‘Sneaking into the kitchen’ or ‘Breaking the window’ or ‘Throwing a ball on his head’ (Even though they were all true for me).
“Shreya” said Keerthi “You smashed the cork there, you get it for us”
Shreya hesitated. Then we all forced her to go to the ‘Terror-tory’. So she climbed the wall and ‘Oops’ she fell.
We climbed the fence to see what happened. We found out that Shreya had fallen into a stinky compost pit.
“Urrgh!” cried Shreya “Get me out of here!”
“Not until you get our cork” said Keerthi
“Maybe it will be outside the pit” said Shreya.
“No, it’s not!” exclaimed Keerthi “It’s right there!”
Shreya picked the cork. At the same time, we heard someone laughing. It was a girl, about our age, laughing at us in the balcony of Kumar Uncle’s house, a two storied building chalked out by the moon.’
[This is just the first part of one of curious Deepika’s experiences which she had with her equally curious friends. For the remaining part of the story and her encounters with the unknown: Please wait until the next episode of:“The Curious Girls and the Twilight Twins”.]
Your Blessings and comments are welcome....
Contd..
Contd..
The Curious Girls and the Twilight twins(contd…)
“You!” I cried “What are you doing here in this ‘Terrortory’? When Kumar Uncle finds out, you’ll be in trouble!”
“I don’t think so !” she said gleefully “I am Reshma, his niece. Rohan! You got to come here!”
A boy of her age came to the balcony.
“Wait!” he said “let me pluck off this tooth. It hurts!”
“Well, this is my twin brother, Rohan” Reshma said “Rohan, we have some friends here”
“Ah!” he said “Got it out”
He threw the tooth, right on Shreya’s head.
“Oops” he cried.
“You have the whole backyard, and you just got my head to throw it on!” shouted Shreya furiously.
“Ignore her” I said “Where is Kumar Uncle? Please do not tell him that we were here”
“You need not worry about that” said Reshma “He is…….. out of town. We are alone here”
“Now that’s good news” cried Razia
“But still, I will miss his scoldings” I said.
“Reshma..” Rohan said “You should have tasted it. It was hard to bite him, but it was juicy”
“You finished it, right..”
“…..Yes”
“Now get me another one!” shouted Reshma
“Hey girls!” shouted Rohan “Why don’t you stay for a while!”
“Later!” I shouted back.
Just after we reached home….
“Hey Shreya!” shouted Keerthi “ There is something in your head. I will take it out for you”
Keerthi held out the thing. Surprisingly, it was an animal tooth.
“Hound tooth!” I cried
“Rohan’s tooth!” cried Razia
“Vampire tooth!” cried Shreya
“What do you mean?” I asked her.
“Those twins are vampires!” she exclaimed “They looked spooky and I’m sure they have eaten Kumar Uncle. They tried to eat us too”
We looked at each other and we burst into laughter.
“Okay then, We’ll find out tomorrow” I said
The next day at school, Keerthi and me were discussing about yesterday's strange incident.
“Are you sure that they are vampires” I asked her
“Not sure of it” she replied “but,I have found two points which can prove it. First, the tooth and then the fact that Kumar uncle is out of town”
“One more” I said “Kumar Uncle doesn’t like kids. Then how can he let them stay there, in the house alone”
“I guess, we should find out more about vampires” said Keerthi.
We rushed to the school library.
“Where will we find reference books?” I asked the librarian.
“You will get it in the shelf on the right” she said
We searched the whole shelf. Then Keerthi said “Surprising!There are books about almost everything, but not vampires”
The librarian looked at us as if 'we were ordering mutton kababs in a vegetarian restaurant'. Then she quickly hid her expression and said “You may try the shelf in the left. You may get what you want”
We selected a Vampire storybook and left the library. A teacher, who sat next to librarian, was still puzzled.
“Aren’t they weird?” the teacher asked the librarian “Why aren’t you surprised?”
“Why should I?” the librarian replied frankly “Last time, they came here searching for a book about operating magic lamps!”
When I got back home, Razia came running to us.
“What’s the matter Razia?” I asked her.She told me the matter and I wasn’t much surprised.
“They are Vampires!” she cried “Their hands were cold and they read my mind”
These were just the facts about a real vampire. I made up my mind to do something about it.
That evening, I went to their house
“Rohan! Reshma! You are busted!”
The twins came out , surprised.
“I know that you are vampires!”
The twins burst into laughter.
“Beware!” I cried “I have garlics!”
“Who's shouting there” a familiar voice called out. It was none other than angry Kumar uncle. The twins told the matter and Kumar uncle laughed out loud.
“Kumar Uncle!” I exclaimed “You’re alive!”
“Yes” he said “What makes you think that they are vampires?”
“Now I’m convinced” I said, not to be laughed at any more “Would you mind them coming home?”
“Yes” he said “If you don’t mind letting vampires in!”
I fled the place
The ‘Vampire’ story spread like fire in the colony. One day, the twins came to visit us.
“What a co-incidence!” Shreya exclaimed “You had all features of a vampire. How did you get it?”
“We’ll tell you later” Rohan said “Come home for dinner. We’ll enjoy eating you for sure”
They smiled, showing us their big teeth. Then ,within seconds, they disappeared. We paused for a while and then, somewhere in the dark..an owl hooted....we screamed!!!
The End
Saturday, 8 October 2011
The Apple Outlet- to check the ipad 2
i recalled my visit to the Apple outlet.. I spent almost an hour going through the amazing creations of a Great Visionary ... who merged technology with lifestyle.
Wednesday, 5 October 2011
Celebrate Navarati.. Good Times with Good Chocolates
from a beautiful place on earth... making over 172,000 tons of chocolates in a year; and with over 2000 shops to choose from...Belgium Chocolates...
Monday, 3 October 2011
Fins, Wings or baloons ... just enjoy ..thanks to the creativity of the inventors
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| Know more about Sailing and America Cup |
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| Early Bird, Smithsonian, Washington DC |
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| Hot Air Balloon, Air de Paris |
Friday, 30 September 2011
Eon and on...
New Hyundai Eon... the Honda Brio..the Nissan Sunny... The list goes on to Porsche Cayenne
Cute and trendy, i thought so, as i turned the pages of the auto magazine that arrived this morning.
..Cool cars..papa, i said...
"Dream big, work hard and Get your wings"..came the usual reply. He obviously was reading the article on the New Boeing Dreamliner- 20% more fuel efficient..20%..he stressed.. that reminded me of "kitna Deti hai?"
Cute and trendy, i thought so, as i turned the pages of the auto magazine that arrived this morning.
..Cool cars..papa, i said...
"Dream big, work hard and Get your wings"..came the usual reply. He obviously was reading the article on the New Boeing Dreamliner- 20% more fuel efficient..20%..he stressed.. that reminded me of "kitna Deti hai?"
Tuesday, 27 September 2011
Friday, 9 September 2011
Tuesday, 6 September 2011
Bing-Bing - read and enjoy from Expressions
Bing-Bing
by Arathi Menon
Tinker-Binkle was the biggest and only kid’s shop in the island of Gubbyland . It is a ten storied building and it is literally known as a child’s paradise. Books, stationary, mini cars, room decorators, dolls, clothes, teddy bears and many other toys were available here. About ten thousand workers worked here, and about fifty thousand toys were produced in a day. It was also known as Santa’s workshop.
In this workshop, there was a boy named Jimmy, who was about nine years old. He stitched and made soft toys, which his cruel uncle claimed as has having made by himself to make a living. He wasn’t kind to Jimmy and made him stay in a dusty little room.
Jimmy was very lonely. He wanted to share his happiness and woes to someone. Atleast, a soft toy would be enough, he thought at times. Whenever Jimmy asked his uncle to keep a soft toy for himself, his uncle had the same reaction for it ;
“If you want soft toys,Go get thread, cotton and materials for yourself!” He screamed
But how could he? He did not have any money for it. He often wished he had.
One day, Jimmy saw an old and frail woman weaving thread in a corner across the building where Jimmy worked. . She was very busy with her work, yet she raised her eyes and looked at the trembling little boy walking towards her. Jimmy did not know why, but a strange force led him to this old woman. He had not planned nor did have have a reason to meet her. As he reached her,, he looked into her eyes and then the thread she was weaving with. It was special. Jimmy had not seen similar thread earlier. There was something special about it.
“Excuse me ma’am” Jimmy said “W……would you m.mind g…g…giving me s..s..some of t.that.. g…good thread?”
The woman smiled gently and handed him a box of soft and sparkling thread, cotton and materials. The boy’s face shone with happiness. But then, it faded away.
“How much does it cost?” he asked the old woman.
“Happiness is priceless” she replied
“Thank you, ma’am!” Jimmy exclaimed with happiness.
“You may call me Aunt McCrinky” the old woman said, pushing her lock of snow white hair behind her ears. A strange wave of happiness engulfed Jimmy.
From then on, Jimmy did not waste any time. After his work was done, Jimmy would be occupied in making his very own teddy bear. He stitched it with great care, filled it with cotton and joined the parts carefully. Finally, the result was a cute little bear with cute and sparkling brown eyes and a shining coat.
“I will name you Bing-Bing” said Jimmy, with happiness, after months of hard work “Now I have a toy of my own!” he whispered into the Bing- Bing's ear. He looked into the bear's eyes.
The bear gave him a cute smile. At first, Jimmy was puzzled, but then considered it as his own imagination.
That night, when Jimmy lied down to sleep, he heard someone sing. Whoever it was, he had sung sweetly, he thought. The song was simple, like this;
“My name is Bing-Bing
And I love to sing-sing
On this lovely holiday night
When the sky bunny laughs, and the pixies play
For the night is the time for their day”
Finally, Jimmy got up to see who the singer was. Then his eyes widened with wonder………
To be contd……
Bing - Bing - contd… Part 2
Jimmy’s eyes
widened with disbelief. His eyes froze. It was hard for him to believe. His thought unfolded to the events which led
to the making of the Bing-Bing. It was on
Friday after work, that Jimmy was ordered to clean the dusty chest, which no
one had bothered to open for years, let alone go near it. There were broken
furniture and cob-webs around it. Jimmy, while cleaning, had ventured to open
the chest. Jimmy had found this strange teddy bear with cute eyes. Due to age,
it was torn in few places and the cotton had come out. But, Jimmy noticed that
the thread was similar to the one that the old woman had given him. He had sewed the torn parts of the bear with
the thread given by Aunt McCrinky. Jimmy
shook his head to get the thoughts off his head.
“A singing and dancing bear!” Jimmy
exclaimed looking wide eyed at the sight of this extremely adorable bear “I just
cont believe it!”
“As I
expected!” exclaimed Bing-Bing “Aunt McCrinky told me so. Anyway, nice to meet
you, sir. I am Bing-Bing”
“Hey! It was
I who named you Bing-Bing!” Jimmy claimed.
“Oh, I
forgot” said Bing-Bing “I am used to it”
“But..but,
how did you get to talk to Aunt McCrinky ?” Jimmy asked “You were just an old
worn out Teddy bear”
“Yes I was”
replied the shiny red teddy bear “But the Bear had life. Aunt McCrinky gives
life to all the toys she makes. These
toys reach the children who are lonely and long for being loved.
“Wow!”
exclaimed Jimmy “That was so nice of her. I haven’t seen anyone as nice as her”
Just then,
to prove Jimmy right, came Ronny, his cousin. He was a big bully who snatched
away all of Jimmy’s pocket money from him, which he had collected for his
school fees. Ronny entered the room, slamming the door.
“Hee hee
hee!” He laughed wickedly . He walked slowly with giant steps and suddenly,
picked up Jimmy’s money box.
“You know,
Jimmy, there is a rule in this house.
All what you belong is mine.” Ronny said with an evil tone “Now, give me the
keys”
Jimmy tried
to hide the keys of his money box in his pocket, but somehow Ronnie snatched it
from jimmy’s hands.
“Now all
your hard earned money is mine! Whooohoooaaahaaahaaah!” Ronnie’s laughter
echoed the room. He eagerly opened the box. Just then, he turned his head to
look at Bing-Bing, placed near the money box. He moved away from the box and
moved closer to the stuffed teddy bear. His hands reached for Bing-Bing. A
strange feeling crept through him.
To be continued....
Thursday, 11 August 2011
Independence day special
India is my country!
As we all know, today is the day when our eyes fill with joy and pride, our feet being proud of feeling our soil , when the skies are decorated with the tri-colour. Yes it’s Independence day !
Today, we salute our nation with pride. When we hear the mention of our country ‘India’, our heart beats with excitement, enthusiasm and joy. We feel proud of our unique and vibrant nation, with variety of cultures and faith. We are proud of our fellow citizens of India who have their signature in almost all fields. And most importantly, we salute our freedom fighters and leaders who has created history, sacrificed their pleasures to ensure that the next generation has the freedom to achieve much more and contribute to mankind. We pay our respect by our active participation in respecting an protecting the environment we live in and with every good deed, we place our palm on our heart and with pride say ‘Jai Hind’
India has achieved success, thanks to great leaders and visionaries like Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and poets like Rabindranath Tagore who visualized and believed that and independent India would be a nation where every Indian respected his rights but was fully aware of his duties. Hence, it is imperative that our education system focuses on overall development with emphasis on ethical values, social awareness, environmental protection and sustenance, energy conversation, application of science and technology and mastery in control of one's body and mind.
India's contribution to research in Science and Technology is respected world wide. Within these 64 years of independence, India has conquered great heights. India has developed rapidly and has reached on the top in various fields with the indigenous research and development in information technology and communication and its application to improve quality of life for the common man. Apart from the important contributions in Mathematics, we take pride in our achievements in the field of Medicine (Ayurveda) , Astronomy and Astrology (Jyothishya), and Phonetics (Shiksha). Scientists like C.V Raman, Srinivasa Ramanujam, and our former president, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, have inspired young minds to reach for the sky. India has explored space and left a mark there, by the launch of Chandrayaan with the excellence of our astronauts and scientists.
India is famous for its rich and varied culture. The citizens here follow different religions, speak different languages, , the art forms are different the dress code to portray different culture. Yet, one might have noticed one thing that's common in every Indian- our heart beats for India. Yes, Our heart beats for this Great Country, our mother land - India
Jai Hind!
Monday, 1 August 2011
For My Best Friend
I remember, the day when i first met you
I was sad, lone and lost,
You showed me the distant light
which guided me, and made my worries light
Our bond will be always be strong
together, we shall not it let go wrong
Problems, we shall face it head on
and solve them like puzzles, all along
You were always there for me
just as i was always there for you
This friendship, we shall always cherish
And ensure that, it will always be true
No matter what comes in our way
we'd never break apart
be it a Sunny day or a dark night
Saturday, 23 July 2011
Timberhook's Garden by Arathi Menon
I love the way their garden looks
with lots of trees, with fruits so ripe,
each branch grafted in a unique type
There are jasmines, layered in a row,
Besides water lillies ashore, which bow
Plants with yeild and seemingly healthy,
the hybrid one's ensure the Timberhook's remain wealthy
There are cows and goats, ducks and goose,
with kittens and puppies let loose
Turkeys gooble when butterflies whiz,
on the flower bed, full of daises, well knit
The mulberry bushes, where dewdrop land
Adds to the beauty of this blessed motherland.
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