October 27, 2011

Diwali Special!

Hi Guys,

Many of you will be surprised with the new template. The older one was better and sadly I lost the template when I was experimenting and I never got the same one back. So, with a hard heart, had to change the template.

Here are some pictures of Diwali.
Maavurundai (made by mixing green gram's flour with hot Ghee and tightly holding by hand)
Muruku in hot steaming oil (made from Urad Dhal's flour)
After taking out
Gulab Jamun - before frying
Gulab Jamun fried
Steaming Sugar mix
Gulab Jamun-finished
Ulundha Vadai (made from Urad Dhal's flour)- a dish that mom always makes with perfection

Now, here are a few pictures I took in the terrace at night. There were lot of fireworks and the whole place was filled with smoke, causing lot of pollution.
Sparklers
Red Showers
Gold Sparkles
Colorful!
Happy Viewing!!!

October 24, 2011

Photo Collection-1

Hi Guys,

The number of photography posts keeps on increasing and naming them is becoming difficult. So I decided to name it as a series. Well, I began a photography blog and maintaining two blogs was quite difficult. So I decided to post the photos here itself.

A glowing Lamp
Inside the Washing Machine
Mite
Guess what this image shows?
Mushroom
White Flowers
Stitches

Happy Viewing!!!

October 22, 2011

Encounter with Ghost - or was it a Ghost?


Hi Guys,

An interesting event happened a few days ago.

My parents had been on a 10 day trip to Varanasi and other holy places around. So, I was alone in my home for those 10 days. The days went quick as I had some works to do and I was also in charge of organizing a Quiz competition in my college. One evening I went with my friend to take printouts of the posters. We came back by 8.30 pm and I went to his home. He is residing with some of my classmates in a rented home. When I went there, power was not there and the whole room was dark.

He asked me, ‘Karthi, are you alone at your home?’ I said yes and he asked me, ‘Don’t you have any fear?’

I said I was used to it since my parents go to many functions frequently. He said, ‘I too don’t have fear sleeping alone in my home (at his native), but here I am afraid’

I said, ‘Yeah, it’s a big house and its quite bad in shape too. So, you may have fear’ He replied, ‘No karthi, the size is not a problem. There is something is this house’ I was shocked. I said ‘What???’

He said, ‘Yes karthi, everyone here has experienced that’ I thought there was really some ghost and got afraid. There was no power and my eyes were looking everywhere around. I said, ‘Ok mate. I have an urgent work and need to go home. Bye!’

Next day, in college I asked him what was there in his house? So he narrated his experience.

‘A few days back I was sleeping in the second room and all my roommates were sleeping in the other room. I didn’t sleep there as I was having cold and that room had two windows and cold breeze would intensify my cough. I was sleeping quite well until 2 am.

‘I woke up by 2 am and went to the bathroom. I came back to the room and I saw that someone was standing outside the hall window (which is visible from the bedroom). I went to hall and asked who it was. There was no reply. I came back and lay down.

‘Two minutes later the person was knocking the window heavily. I went to the hall and shouted who he was. There was no reply for some time. I switched on the light, but the person was invisible. I switched off the light and then I heard a reply “Why are you concerned about who I am. Go and Sleep”. I went back and covered my face with bed sheet and slept’

I was expecting a big story and when he finished his narration, I was furious. A few days later the whole story spread in my class and he got famous with his ghost encounter. I and few of my friends sat with him and convinced him that it was not a ghost. He doesn’t believe and says that he is sure that it was a ghost.

Here are a few reasons put forth my me and my friends

  1.  It might have been a thief. My friend says that the door to the balcony was locked and there is no way a thief may come. We say that there are lots other places to climb or fall other than the door.
  2. The house owner is a drunkard. His roommates say that he often drinks and babbles. There are lots of possibilities that it was him as he has a key too.
  3. We asked him why he didn’t awaken others and call for help. He came with the greatest explanation. I didn’t do anything to the ghost and so I knew that the ghost would not do anything to me.
  4. The other possibility is that it was a dream. But he says that it was real and he remembers things, but half his explanations look imaginary.

Half his roommates are more afraid than him and now they are having sleepless nights and this story has become a big comedy in my class with lot of imaginations flowing in.

Happy Reading!!!

October 17, 2011

Energy Sucking Aliens!


September 04, 2004
It was an unforgettable day in my life. I was 14 then, a dreamy boy wondering about things that would never happen. I came across this interesting news in the daily newspaper.

The International Space Station (ISS) was orbiting over Madurai and it would be visible to naked eyes for the next few days and there was a time table. The time schedule of ISS crossing Madurai along with the directions was given. The first day, it was early and I knew it would not be visible. For the next three days it was between 7 pm and 10 pm. After that it was in the early morning. So I decided to watch the ISS on all the three days.

September 06, 2004
The first of the three days came. The time specified for observation was 7.18 pm and it was given that the station would be moving from Southeast to Northwest. It was the first day and I didn’t know what to expect. I went to terrace by 7.15pm. I called my brother and parents, but none were interested. I was looking into the space constantly. A few minutes later, ISS appeared. It looked like a bright star moving at a constant pace. It was brighter than other stars and it just moved across the sky. It was just majestic to see. I was just wondering about the brilliance of scientists at Space Centers across the world.

September 07, 2004
I was very eager to see the ISS again. The specified time was 9.13 pm. I was feeling very excited that day. There was fervor inside me and I was not able to eat properly. I didn’t know why. I was feeling feverish, but I thought the excitement created that. I went to the terrace by around 9.10 pm. My subconscious was saying something was not good, but I was not hearing.

The ISS appeared in the northwest direction. I started looking, before I realized the ISS was supposed to appear in southwest direction. I looked in the southwest direction. Well, the ISS was coming out from there. So, what was in the northwest direction? I looked again there. It was something different. It composed to three symmetrical dots and each dot were in separate color. One was Red, the other orange and the final one Violet. It was brightly glowing as it became more visible.

I have heard of UFOs and Flying Saucers, but never thought I would see one. It was travelling is such a way that it was going to collide with ISS. Danger, said my mind. I was awestruck and I kept watching both the flying stuff moving towards each other. When they came at the same spot, I realized that the UFO was flying higher than the ISS. But, when they were in same axis, ISS stopped moving. There was some sort of an invisible bridge between the two stations. One moment I was able to see, the other moment I wasn’t.

Suddenly the invisible bridge extended all the way down to earth. All the creatures in the trees started to hoot and cry because of fear. I felt a sudden drop of energy inside me. It was as if someone was sucking my energy. I was able to see someone coming down through that bridge. It was a different creature, something I had never seen before. The more closely it came, the more energy I lost. I was not able to stand there. A lot of heat was emitted and there was an invisible heat circle. The circle was growing bigger and it pushed me farther. At one moment, the heat was so great and I lost all my energy. Last thing, I remembered I fainted and fell down from the terrace.

September 08, 2004
I was startled and I was awakened suddenly. I was about to fall down from the bed. I suddenly stopped myself and I was not able to recollect the dream quickly.

I remembered I didn’t visit the ISS the previous day. I was more afraid to visit it that day. I thought my dream might come true. But my mind insisted me to go up. I went upstairs to see ISS. Well, there was no issue that night.

The energy sucking Aliens never came back!!!

October 8, 2011

The Story of 3 Apples! Part-2


Hi Guys,

I said I would write about the third apple yesterday. But sadly, there was no power for about 3 hours and hence I was not able to write anything.

Already, the history of Steve Jobs has been there in the net at various places and I don’t want to repeat that. I just want to share about the story behind Apple Logo.

In 1976, Steve Jobs wanted to name his company and the first thought that came into his mind was Apple, because he had worked in an Apple farm. They thought of some other terms such as Matrix, but Apple Computers seemed more perfect.
Apple's first logo- Newton sitting below Apple Tree

Their first logo was a big one. It depicted Newton sitting beneath the Tree of Knowledge. But Steve didn’t want a complicated logo and wanted a simple one. So, Rob Janoff, the logo designer of Apple came out with the Rainbow Apple. It was apple with the colors of a Rainbow and a bite taken of the right side. There are two stories behind this. One story says that the logo was designed to tribute Newton for his discovery on gravity and separation of light rays into various colors. It was also depicting transfer of knowledge from Tree of Knowledge. Another story says that the logo was an advertisement to Apple II computers depicting its wide range of color capabilities.
Apple's later logos - From Rainbow Apple to Blue Apple to Metallic Apple

The modern logo is a little varied one. It has monotonous color and apart from that the design remains the same. The most used color is either white or silver which looks perfect. The literal meaning of the logo is ‘Bite/Byte into the Apple’. It denotes Apple as the Tree of Knowledge (yet again).

I also got an interesting piece of information that Macintosh, Apple’s computer series is the name of a variety of Apple.

Happy Reading!!!

October 6, 2011

The story of 3 Apples!

Hi Guys, 

The whole technical community is shocked by the death of Steve Jobs. Just yesterday I was scanning through the website of Apple to see the technical features of iPhone 4S and other new products. I was wondering about the innovations that Apple creates. Today morning I woke up and saw that the brain behind the innovations was no more.

Social Networking sites were full of RIP messages. Just now saw this message in Facebook.

Three apples have changed the world. One seduced Eve, second awakened Newton, the third one was in the hands of Steve Jobs. 

I was interested and surfed the web to find information about the three apples.

First Apple 

The first Apple is a biblical reference about how humans came to Earth. When God created Earth, he created Adam at last. In order to get him a companion he created Eve. He advised Adam not to eat fruit from a particular tree, which was called the Tree of Knowledge. It was the Apple Tree. A serpent convinced Eve to eat the Apple, saying she will get supernatural powers. Later Eve made Adam to eat the apple. After they ate, God appeared and asked why they ate the fruit. He punished Adam by making men to work hard for food and punished Eve by making Women to undergo pain in the process of Child Birth.

So, here Apple is the Tree of Knowledge. Really, apple might be the Tree of Knowledge.


Second Apple 

Descendant of Newton's Apple tree at Trinity College
This apple is associated with Sir Issac Newton. Till today I thought Apple fell on Newton’s head and he found gravity. But that is completely false (most importantly Apple never fell on his head) Newton already had the idea of Gravity. But he had lot of confusions toward the concept and Apple tree made him understand the concept better. He arrived at the solution that gravitational force is directly proportional to height. If the tree is twice higher than the current tree, the gravitational force will be much higher. So, why is not moon coming down? He again found out a theory and associated with the gravitational force of Earth. He found out what we call Newton’s second law.

This is what is said about Newton’s association with Apple


‘when formerly, the notion of gravitation came into his mind. It was occasioned by the fall of an apple, as he sat in contemplative mood. Why should that apple always descend perpendicularly to the ground, thought he to himself. Why should it not go sideways or upwards, but constantly to the Earth's centre? Assuredly the reason is, that the Earth draws it. There must be a drawing power in matter. And the sum of the drawing power in the matter of the Earth must be in the Earth's centre, not in any side of the Earth. Therefore does this apple fall perpendicularly or towards the centre? If matter thus draws matter; it must be proportion of its quantity. Therefore the apple draws the Earth, as well as the Earth draws the apple’

So, now Apple helped Sir Issac Newton to gain knowledge and proved itself as the Tree of Knowledge.

Third Apple will be continued tomorrow...

Happy Reading!!! 

October 5, 2011

Photographs!

Hi Guys,

It was raining heavily yesterday night and I thought I would get a good chance to snap a few mushrooms that were blooming yesterday. Today morning I found many interesting things other than the mushrooms. Here are the pictures.

Yellow Oleanders that bloomed today!
Beautifully glowing in the Sun!
Stones!
Newly Blooming Plant
Mushrooms!
Black Worm!
In the Sand!
Stem of Tulsi Plant!


Happy Viewing!!!