Redthil

Weekend Birding : Hulimangala, Bangalore

2012-01-21T18:35:00.000+05:30

Sat, 21Jan2012

When it comes to weekend birding, most of the time, its with Bangalore Birding Group [bngbirds] and if its Saturday, its with Deepa Mohan. Parry [Parikshit] and Me always decide at the last moment, most-of-the-times just before we get to sleep on Friday night, and inform Deepa. And thanks to her, that she never says 'No'.

So, this time the place was Hulimangala, a village on the Bannerghatta-Anekal Road, around 5 kms from Bannerghatta Circle. It has small group of trees (mostly ficus trees) where you can find lots of Rose Ringed Parakeets. There is also a small water body nearby (but since Parry and Me had to come back, we skipped going to the water body), where you can find the regular waterbirds. so, a perfect place for an early morning birding around the Bannerghatta Area.

Here are few pics taken today morning there...

Indian Golden Oriole

Black Kite

Spotted Owlet

Black Drongo

Oriental Magpie Robin

Hence Proved!!!!!!! Age does not matter for birding..

Ashy Prinia

Mottled Wood Owl...........

.......is what all are looking for!

Mottled Wood Owl

Beehive!!

Red-Wattled Lapwing

Red-Wattled Lapwing - In Flight [ Click on the above image to view Large Version ]

White-Cheeked Barbet

Spider-Web

Brown Shrike

Flame-back Wood Pecker

"""What are you shooting at??"""

My Fav Bird - Blue Jay or Indian Roller

I just couldnt get my dream shot yet... but this is indeed a good one to end this trip....

Thanks to Parry, Deepa and the Gang!!!!!!!!!!

one of my worst day and one of the luckiest day

2012-01-13T01:51:00.001+05:30

11-01-2012

worst day, ,because, i lost my mobile :(
luckiest day, because, i got it back!!!!! :) :) :) :)

there is no explanation needed for the worst day part..
but behind the luckiest day part, there are plenty of reasons...

i dint realize that i have lost it, for almost 6 hours!!!
and yes, i did get it back after 6 longs hours of it lying somewhere..

when i did realize it, i was sooo convinced that, i have left it in office only..
as we dint find it in the camera bag, laptop bag, car, etc, etc..

but it was Pradeep who urged me to check the action-sports venue first,
and Sanjeev/Kripa/Apoorva joined him, extending their precious time, to go back to the venue..

then it was my very poor memory that, all i could remember was,
using it last in office only and couldn't think of me loosing it in this venue..

until Apoorva/Pradeep proved me that,
my memory is indeed , very very poor.. poorer than i thought...

reached the action-sports venue, looked for the facility management people there,
but found some 10 cars with group of men, playing action-football..no mgmt people...

my hopes went from bad to worst,
as even if it was lost here, my chance of getting it was less than 1%..

all of us started to search in all corners of the place,
as i'm known to roam more, than standing in one place.. and its a big facility too..

all of a sudden, i saw pradeep running out,
thought he forgot to lock his car, as it was total dark outside...

for my surprise, and to all our surprise,
he came back, having my mobile in his hand...

for a moment, it looked as-if,
he's actually coming with the Olympic torch in hand..

yes, its that much precious for me,
and could see excitement & relief in all our faces..

the answer to my question of where he found it, was more surprising.
as the answer was, on the ground, between the grasses, near the place where we parked his car..

wat!!!!! i dint hav any clue,
on how it could be in that place..

but had valid reasons for it to be fallen there,
as i was juggling with so many gadgets when getting down..

at 2.30pm in the afternoon..
and the time then was 8.30 pm...

having said the events that unraveled,
now to most amazing things that saved my mobile..

it was in silent-vibration mode,
which saved it from others hear the ringtone,
when we tried so many calls..

it was covered with black-leather pouch,
which saved if from others seeing it in open,
hiding the bright light from screen and camouflaging it in dark night..

it was not ran over by any other car,
as there was so many cars went out,
and so many cars which came in...

it was not found by any other person,
no security person, no other group people, not even us,
except for one person, The "Path-Finder" Pradeep!!!!!!

the only hope we had in this search operation was,
no one answered our call, no one cut our call, it was not switched off too..
it was just ringing, ringing, ringing, ringing, ringing, ringing, ringing, ringing......

And thanks to my colleagues, who kept on calling non-stop,
And thanks to Sanjeev/Kripa/Apoorva, for their precious time in this search operation,
And thanks to Pradeep, without him, i would have never got chance to hold this mobile again!!!

All Good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Trip to Maidanahalli Blackbuck Reserve

2012-01-09T14:54:00.001+05:30

Few info about the Reserve

This is located on the North-Eastern tip of Tumkur district of Karnataka. This is an open grassland which is part of the plains of the Deccan Plateau (which means its close to Andhra Pradesh) and has patches of Eucalyptus trees and other small tress & bushes. These trees and bushes offers the habitat for plenty of birds there. We can also see few varieties of Raptors hovering around and occasionally diving down for hunting. The open grassland provides a wide viewing area and makes easy to spot the Blackbucks (also called as "KrishnaMruga"). It has the largest contiguous population of Blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra) in Karnataka (apart from Ranibennur Blackbuck Sanctuary)

Route Info:

There are many routes to reach there. but we took the following route :

Take the Tumkur Road from bangalore
Take right under the flyover on Dobaspet, in around 30 km (from NICE Road junction)
Take the State Highway #3 to Madhugiri (53km from dobaspet)
Immediately after Madhugiri, take left in the National Highway #234, Kodigenahalli Main Rd (you cannot miss the sign board giving the directions to the Reserve)
Travel for around 8km in Kodigenahalli Main Rd and take Left after Siddanahalli Village (again sign board will help you)
In around 7km from there, you'll hit the Mud road, through which you will reach the Jayamangali Blackbuck Conservation Reserve

Note: After the dobaspet Right, the road wont be as smooth as you expect. After-all, its a State Highway. why did we take this route??? answer is there in the post, little later.

Our Itinerary:

Though we started as early as 6.30am from my place, to give a good idea on the timings, let me take NICE Road - Tumkur Road junction as the starting point. We crossed that junction at around 8am in the morning.

Stopped at the Kamat in the Tumkur road at around 8.30am for breakfast.

Started from Kamat at 9am and proceeded towards Madhugiri. On the way, we stopped at multiple places, whenever we saw something flying or spot something high on the trees.

There are also lots of water bodies on the route. One of the notable place is the Irakasandra Tank. we stopped there at around 10.30am for few minutes to click some of the water birds.

We reached Madhugiri at 1:30pm and its was our lunch time. There is one hotel, near the bus-stand, opposite to the Petrol-bunk there. You wont find lots of varieties there. infact, we found only Mini-meals, chapathi and bisibella-bath as the choices. But the food was good for that place. And since we wont get anything beyond this place, we ensured that we finished our lunch there and started from there.

From this place, the road gets from "ok" condition to "little-bad" condition, as this route passes through the small villages.

Finally we reached the Mud Road towards the Reserve at around 3:30pm. From then we were roaming inside the reserve and trying to click pics of birds and blackbucks. There is also a small watch tower and a small place where there is a possibility of over-night stay also it seems (not sure how good is the accommodation).

And the best thing about this Reserve is the Evening Sunset. Never miss it.

Started back from there at around 6.30pm and reached Kamat for the dinner at around 9.30 as we were not in a hurry to reach home.

Note: There are no options for food around the Reserve. So, its better to pack food, if you happen to be in the reserve during the food timings. Also, ensure that you carry sufficient water with you.

The Team

Parikshit Khisty, Harsha Prabhakar, Anbu Rathinam, Aditya Nukala and Me.

Why take the not-so-smooth Route?

We are a group of Photography Enthusiasts, who are mainly into birding. So, like any other birding trip, its always the Journey which gives you the most number of opportunity for birding, than the final destination. Instead of a smooth journey in the Tumkur highway to reach the Reserve, we took this way. Not so smooth, but lots of fantastic sightings of birds. from birds like Bushchat's, Robin's, Bee-Eater's, Indian Roller's to big raptors like Honey Buzzard's, White-eye Buzzard's, Black-shouldered Kite's, Kestrel's, etc etc. You can find Cormorant's, Egret's, Lapwing's, Pond Heron's, Grey Heron's, etc, etc in the water tanks (little lakes) on the route .

I think the photographs will explain more about these fantastic sightings than the words. so, here we go...

Common Kestrel

Black-Shoulder Kite

Grey Heron

Pond Heron

Red-Wattled Lapwing

Little Egret

Green Bee Eater

Indian Roller

Common Kestrel

Sheep Herd

Bushchat

Pied Bushchat

Shikra

White-Eyed Buzzard ( this is just to give you an idea on how tough it is to spot the birds. this photograph is taken at 500m full zoom, from car on road)

White-eyed Buzzard (managed to track it, from ground to the top of the tree)

Indian Silverbill (thanks for the ID Kesava )

Shrike

Plain Prinia (thanks for the ID Kesava)

Green Bee Eater

BlackBuck Male

Drongo

Shrike - a little close-up

Harrier

Evening Sunset to through the tree

It was an Awesome scenery

Beautiful Sunset

Thanks to Parikshit, harsha, anbu and aditya for this wonderful trip.

And I'm not that good with the IDs. So, if there is any wrong ID or if you know ID of the birds, please let me know. Thanks in advance.

2011 - A Past Tense Now

2012-01-01T23:38:00.000+05:30

Yes !!! Finally, 2012 is here!!! so, this is the right time to look back, and see what i was doing 'vetti'ly ('useless'ly) in the 12 months / 54 weeks of 2011. Since i like carrying my camera to all places wherever i go, i thought it would be a good thing to look back 2011 using the pictures taken during those events / trips. Just to keep track of it more easily, tried to put it in the chronological order.

Before that, Tons of thanks for all my friends and people with whom i had opportunity to travel with.

i think 2011 has gone well, in-terms of photography. Hopefully, 2012 is more Better!!!!

Well, you can proceed with a Warning, that this is not a small post.. Its going to be little lengthyyyyyyy...

January

My Office DBA Team - Team outing (bowling at Amoeba Jayanagar) with Dinner - Bangalore, Karnataka

My Office Group dinner @ The Gateway Hotel - Bangalore, Karnataka

Birding Trip @ Hessarghatta and Hebbal Lake - Bangalore, Karnataka

February

Birding Trip @ Hessarghatta Lake - The difference between the previous one and this one was, for this one, i was armed with my Sigma 150-500 also!!!!!!! - Bangalore, Karnataka

Birding Trip @ Manchanabele Reservoir, Kokkare Bellur - Bangalore-Mysore Road, Karnataka

Aero Show - Bangalore, Karanataka

Leisure Trip to Ubbalamedu Falls - Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh

March

Railway Trak Trek with BMC (Bangalore Mountaineering Club) - Shakaleshpur, Karnataka

Office OraOlympix Mantri Cricket Match (Qualifiers) - Bangalore, Karnataka

It was really a SUPER Moon!!!!

Office Mantri Party - CocoJumbo @ Manipal County - Bangalore, Karnataka

April

A Very nice trip to Ghatikallu, Near Chickmangalur, Karnataka

Office OraOlympix Mantri Cricket Match (Finals) @ Sarjapur Road- Bangalore, Karnataka

Friends meet @ Hyderabad and trip to Warrangal - Andhra Pradesh

May

One of my most favorite trip of all time, Trip to Sikkim with Exotic Expeditions Club

June

Trip for my friend's House Warming Ceremony and went to the CCL (Celebrity Cricket League) - Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Went for Tiger Sighting, but came back with Awesome Birding. Also, my first sighting of My favorite bird, Paradise Fly-Catcher and also awesome sighting of my most fav bird, Indian Roller. This was the Trip to TATR (Tadoba-Andheri Tiger Reserve), Maharashtra

July

Group VP visit at my Office - Bangalore, Karnataka

Visit to Lalbagh! the specialty of this is, the Center pic made me as the Winner of the Monthly Photo Contest @ Ora-Photo-Club (an fb group of photography interested people at Oracle) - Bangalore, Karnataka

Birding trip to Shivanahalli - Bangalore, Karnataka

Visit to the Pottery Town - Bangalore, Karnataka

August

Office DBA Team Outing @ Grips, Go-Karting, Mysore Road - Bangalore, Karnataka

My first Trek in Snow!! This trip was planned at the last minute, as my long planned Amarnath Yatra trip got cancelled at the last minute. (So, one trip for next year is already in-place ;) ). It was really an Lifetime Experience there. Many thanks to Himalayan Explorers Club and Avinash. Meet you soon buddy. - Rohtang Pass, Manali , Himachal Pradesh

Birding @ Area around Sarjapur Road - Bangalore, Karnataka

September

This is not any trip, but something i tried little differently. Four Varieties of "Kolukkattai" for Ganesh Chathurthy .

Birding trip at Bannerghatta Area, actually a Nature Trip. with Connect-With-Nature Club - Bangalore, Karnataka

Visit to Nandhi Hills. The one advantage i had was, it was just after a week after i got the Extension tubes, for trying out to explore Macro World. You can see the difference in the pics only! - Bangalore, Karnataka

Trying out the ET at Butterfly Park, Bannerghatta National Park - Bangalore, Karnataka

My first Sunday outing with Frames Bangalore Group. It was for a Portrait Photography with Natural Light. - Bangalore, Karnataka

Wow!!! it was Lewis in Bangalore!!! My first look at the F1 car, that too, sooo close!!!! - Bangalore, Karnataka

October

Trip to the Flower Valley - Kaas, Maharashtra.

Office Mantri Diwali Celebration - Spotlight - Bangalore, Karnataka

Its Diwali !!! and best opportunity for Firework Photography!!! - Madurai, Tamil Nadu

One of my Dream come true, attended First Indian F1 GrandPrix. Along with trip to Jaipur (Rajasthan), Delhi and Agra (Uttar Pradesh)!!

November

Trip to Dandeli. And now its one of my most fav birding place in India. - Karnataka.

Office colleague Sanjeev's kid's naming ceremony. - Tumkur, Karnataka

First trip with the BngBirds - Bangalore Birding Group- 3rd Sunday Outing to Ragihalli - Karnataka

December

Birding Trip with Deepa Mohan (BngBirds) around Bannerghatta Area - Bangalore, Karnataka

Office Team Event - Action Cricket - Bangalore, Karnataka

Birding Trip to TG Halli, Bangalore, Karnataka

First hands-on with my new Canon 7D @ Lalbagh - Bangalore, Karnataka

Before finishing this post, would like to thank to my family. And it would not be appropriate, if i dont thank my colleague Parikshit. Thanks Parry !!!

First hands-on with Canon 7D

2011-12-31T22:59:00.000+05:30

After getting the new Camera, dint get much chance (actually, this is the first weekend with new camera). was getting to know about the camera by watching tutorial videos and other sites. Though was trying to understand about the camera, but nothing beats trying it out on-field. since my previous plan for today got cancelled, had decided to take hands-on with the camera in field. so, as the most feasible and favorite place, went to Lalbagh today morning.

Since this time it was more about trying out the camera, than focusing on the specific subjects (birds), tried clicking on everything which can give challenge in setting up the camera with proper settings. so, for a change, this time tried to click on the most common birds seen around, including common crow, common myna, common dove, etc. (And thought, as Mr. Alwin Davids wanted, will upload these pics for his satisfaction ;) )

Apart from these, also tried clicking on few pics of other things there. on the whole, spent around 4 hours there. and got little comfortable with the camera, but one thing i realized was that, its going to take lot more time than i thought , to get me in the same comfortable level as how comfortable i'm with Canon 1000D. And, every control has changed when compared with that of Canon 1000D (except the shutter button ;) , and lot more controls also got added.

Me still trying to get used to this new gadget. Hopefully, soon.

DECATHLON is now in Bannerghatta Road also...

2011-12-26T22:44:00.000+05:30

Yes !!!! its in Bannerghatta Road also.. that too just 400mts from my place ie Kalena Agrahara.. to give a more info on its location, its around 1.5kms from Meenakshi Temple/Royal Meenakshi Mall in the Bannerghatta Road on the left side... OR its 5.5 kms from the Jayadeva flyover towards Bannerghatta National Park OR its 1.5 kms from NICE Road Bannerghatta Road Toll booth towards Jayadeva/BTM...

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For the exact location , please check the map above.

Now that i have given enough details on its second location in Bangalore (the first Mega Store is in Sarjapur Road), whats special about this store?? well, this is all-in-one store for sports and adventure related products.. you can find all kind of sports accessories and for all kinds of sports here... from scuba-diving gears to roller-scating shoes to bi-cycles to gym-equipments to golf-kits to dart game products to anything and everything related to sports, including the sports wears for all those sports..

And this also has all kind of adventure gears, for all type of activities like hiking, ice-skating, rock-climbing, trekking, camping and all weather accessories.. i bought all the stuffs for my trekking trips like hiking stick, snow proof shoes, waterproof jackets, sleeping bag which can withstand upto -25degrees, all in this store only (in sarjapur store).. the great thing about this store is that, you can challenge anyone, that you wont get these items cheaper anywhere in India than this store.. thats right... anywhere in India... but, you wont find the most popular brands like Adidas or Nike or Reebok or any of your fashion brands.. some brand names i heard for the first time in this store, like Quechua, Artengo... but those are popular in the other part of the world i think.. other than the brand names, quality wise, it does match any of those costly brands.. some even performs better i think... but still, there are top class brands like Head , Babolat and other top tennis racket brands available in this store.. so, its all about the quality products, which i always care about.

The main motto of this store, unlike any other store, is that, "Try it, before you buy it".. and this is applicable to all the clothes you buy, to any of the product like camping-tent.. you can actually try it yourself, to check whether it suits you... most people even take a ride in the bicycle inside the store for trying it out, and also take a round in the skate-board , before they buy it or even just for fun.. and when you need it, there are well qualified staff there, who are capable of explaining things which you are looking for.. each one is really specialized in those products which they take care of. and they even suggest you what suits you best, if you dont have any idea about it. which is really unique about this store.

Apart from these products inside the store, there is a sufficient space in-front of the store, for having a trampoline for kids, mini-football ground, and mini-basket ball ground (only in Sarjapur Road store), mini-portable-swimming-pool also (only in Sarjapur Road store), etc, etc all free for use, even if you dont buy any product. About the buying part, this is a store for MEMBERS ONLY!!!! yes.. not open for all shoppers... but, you can get free registration and become a member, IF you are part of any Decathlon recognized Organization or Association or Group or Retailers.. for knowing whether your Organization is recognized, just call them and check..

well, there is an online store also, but you'll definitely miss the fun and experience of going to the store and getting things from the store.. The Bannerghatta Decathlon store became functional from last Friday (ie December 23rd 2011) and the store is open from 8am to 8pm (hopefully its same like the Sarjapur Road store) .. still, just for the info, the website is http://www.decathlon.in

So, everytime i needed some stuffs, mostly for my trips, previously i had to travel all the way to Sarjapur Road, after carmelaram railway station.. going and coming back itself was like an adventure for me.. but a worthy adventure, as when u enter the store, you'll get definitely amazed by the whole store open for you, under single roof.. Now that this is just like next door to me, i can utilize it to the full extend... and now there will be lot of Quechua and artengo and kipla products in my home..

New Addition to My C-Collection III

2011-12-25T21:32:00.000+05:30

It all started with me wanted to upgrade my Camera.. Already have two in my C-Collection, First One, Canon 1000D, and second one is Olympus TOUGH.. so, this addition is the Third.. but why upgrade???? well, simply caz of two reasons.. i wanted little more ISO performance and second being able to record video... as always, no Nikon and only Canon... then again i had two body's to compare and choose..

First one was Canon 60D, as its being the recently released one, compared to that of the second choice, Canon 7D.. Both the camera's features were pretty similar, almost most of them (based on my requirement) .. except Canon 60D having the swivel screen and almost half the price of Canon 7D (surely the 7D has more nd lot more features than 60D). Having used Canon 7D previously (rented one once), liked the build quality and the feel of holding & clicking.. well, my ideal choice would have been Canon 5D, except for the budget and the full-frame factors.. so, finally, decided on Canon 7D and now i have it in my hand.. And after clicking few, i'm feeling really good that i made the choice of Canon 7D.

Hope i can make use of this pretty costly gadget to the most..

entrepreneurs

2011-12-18T23:18:00.000+05:30

I always associated the word "entrepreneur" with all the BIG names we hear around, as it involves all BIG investment.. And it was a word which i always thought it as a really tough thing to do.. and the most daring thing one can do in their life.. also i see that to be a synonym for the word "confidence".. as it shows the amount of confidence they have on themselves to take up the business..

All these, until today morning.. caz today i got to understand that this word does not always relate to the BIG and rich ones.. and sometimes the necessity, need, sheer determination, is all it takes one to be one of the millions of entrepreneurs in the world... and i'm talking about all those owners of the tea shops, paan shops, sweet shops, shoe/slipper repair shops, etc etc.. and it also includes all those makeshift shops around the most happening spots nearby..

One such spot today morning which i happened to see was near Ragigudda Temple in Jayanagar. not sure if its some festival day or kind of special day today.. it was a spot of lots of completely active people, just like bees in the hive.. everyone trying to setup their makeshift shops and few even already had customers lined-up. happened to be there for around 30 mins waiting for my friend.

So, as always, having an 'almost' all-in-one gadget in hand, i took advantage of the Camera feature in that, and tried clicking few of the events happening there.

This guy was so dedicated in setting up his soon to be a makeshift fashion showroom. if you notice the steel pole kind of thing, it has one vertical bar, with holes in equal intervals in it. He was so sincere to count the number of holes to fit the horizontal bars, which later will be used for hanging those affordable designer costumes.

Second one on the list was this small makeshift adventure setup for kids. it was all covered with the plastic cover when i saw it.. and the owner just removed the cover and was starting to clean those colorful cars.

This guy was cleaning up each and every hair-clip and the hair-band he had. And that's the dis-advantage of having a shop near the road.

She was taking out all those ceramic vessels and tea-cups from the tightly packed cardboard boxes.. and yes she too had to cleanup every piece before lining up for the display. again, credits to the road and vehicles.

Well, i would say this guy is an expert in knowing the market and the kind of potential customers who'll be flocking around that place. he was also so busy in setting up his showroom for displaying his product, with a sample demo also.

Other than those people who are busy busy in setting up their invaluable products, there were few of the interesting makeshift shops around there.. this is one such cart, where i found the Tamarind Fruit (not the dry one). Also, not sure whether this fruit has any significance with the festival/special-day events in the temple. but it did lure me to taste one..

And this was the first time i'm seeing this kind of shop. Its the same game which will be there in all the office cultural festivals/celebrations, throw the ring and get whatever its there inside that ring.. And here, all those blocks lined up in the wooden platform were actual Currency Notes, tied to a small wooded blocks.. and few were even Rs 100 notes. really interesting it was.. dint want to try as i know about my skill level in this game.

The above two took me to those old school days of going to exhibition in my town. Seeing this after really really long time. And those days, i always thought that these Robots were the Magical Wonders of the World, and those who knew what and how our future is. [ yes, I did believe in that then ].and the pic on the right took me to even more years before. where i used to ask (or cry) my uncle to get the candy from that girl's hands. but little improved now :)

Following are few other shops which was there, but all were makeshift ones, just for these festival/special days.. but each one of them can be made into a big showroom..

And finally, and most importantly, could find this guy also very busy doing the most necessary job for all the above shops, Cleaning out the waste dumps..

One thing i could notice in all these different people was, everyone was so sincere and dedicated in doing what they are doing. let me also try to follow that..

its strawberry season!!!! yippeeee!!!!

2011-12-17T22:23:00.000+05:30

Other than the chill misty morning, the one other thing which i like in winter is this red colored juicy fruit, Strawberry!!!! its just the start of the strawberry season i think, ( i'm not sure on when exactly the strawberry season ), as its still around Rs.50 in the supermarket. i got four small boxes, each having 10 small fruits, for the weekend.. will mostly need some more for next week.. hope the price gets still low...

Well not to forget, even the Orange Season is ON... could find lot of varieties of orange in the store... though i DONT like orange juice, i like having it as a fruit only. So, its all fruity fruity weekend it is.. :)

2011 Lanco International Super Series Hockey 9s

2011-10-09T13:55:00.000+05:30

Whats LISS?

The LISS is an event not to be missed mirroring the excitement of 20/20 cricket. Hockey Australia introduces this annual International Marquee Tournament inviting the best Commonwealth nations to Australia to play a new form of Hockey for Women & Men. This is to be held in conjunction with the 2011 CHOGM event in Perth, the tournament will be played from October 20-23 at the Perth Hockey Stadium. Unlike any other hockey tournament in the world, this an innovative hockey tournament with all new and exciting rules to make the game even faster and more exciting.

What rule changes?

The rule changes for this tournament are sure to make each match faster and more exciting for players and spectators.

LESS PLAYERS - All teams have a maximum of 9 players on the field (instead of 11)

SHORTER - Each match consists of two 15 minute halves (instead of 2x35min), with 5 minutes for halftime and 10mins between games

ATTACKING - 1 player must stay in the attacking half at all times –penalty for a player breaching the rule - green card (2 mins)

“It is a little bit different again for sports lovers that like elite sport and can reposition hockey to non hockey fans..... The new style will really suit our game because we have fast forwards and an attacking style of play." - Madonna Blyth, Womens Team Captain, Australia

MORE ATTACKING - Unlimited Substitution (A substitution is permitted at any time except within the period from the award of a long and penalty corner until after it is completed)

FASTER - More tolerance of foot contact and stick check to reduce unnecessary stoppages in play. If the ball hits the foot outside the circle and it doesn’t influence play i.e. non intentional use of foot then its play on & When stick contact is made and is unintentional and does not influence play then it is play on

NARROWER - The goal size is now narrowed to 1mtr wide and 1.2mtrs high (instead of 1.8 mtr x 1.2 mtr)

PENALTY - Penalty Corner, max a 25 sec shot with Four (4) attacker’s vs. three (3) defenders including the goalkeeper & Penalty Stroke, max an 8 sec shot with Face-off 1-on-1 with the goal keeper

GOLDEN GOAL - To end a drawn match, use of a “sudden death” system with 1-on-1 face-offs until one team fails to score

Participating Teams:

Men : Kookaburras (Aus), India, Pakistan & New Zealand

Women: Hockeyroos (Aus), India & Malaysia

Schedule:

Oct 20 -Thu : Malaysia Vs India (W), Australia Vs Malaysia (W), Australia Vs Pakistan (M), New Zealand Vs India (M)

Oct 21 - Fri : Malaysia Vs Australia (W), Australia Vs India (W), Australia Vs New Zealand (M), Pakistan Vs India (M)

Oct 22 - Sat : Pakistan Vs New Zealand (M), Malaysia Vs India (W), Australia Vs India (W), Australia Vs India (M)

Oct 23 - Sun : 3rd Vs 4th (M), Women's Final, Men's Final

Courtesy: Hockey Australia

RIP Steve Jobs - "One More Thing..."

2011-10-06T09:39:00.000+05:30

One of my fav person in the history of mankind. RIP [Steve Jobs]

Steve Jobs and Apple - in two mins

My favorite Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement Address

Juvenile Honey Buzzard Twins

2011-06-23T10:13:00.001+05:30

Canon 550D, Sigma 150-500, Av, 500mm, f/8, ISO800, Ev -0.3

One big thing which i havnt mentioned in that Image details is, that its NOT a single image. Any photographer will be able to identify that fact immediately, as both the subjects are in focus, but not in the same plane.

So, this is two images merged to get both the buzzards in-focus.

Making of this image, starts right from the time you see these two through the view-finder of your camera. You know for absolutely that you cant get both the birds in-focus. But you imagine that to be the end-result you want to achieve. in that split-second, you have to keep the end-result in the frame, and click two images, one with the bird in the front in-focus, and the other with the bird in the behind in-focus. And for all these, you just have less than a second, as you can never guarantee the positions of these two birds to be the same for long. So, you make that decision, and act quickly by focusing on one, click, focus on the other one, click. And all these when you're standing on a jeep, zooming your lens to the max of 500mm, and holding it in hand.

All these efforts are, just for the pic you've imagined that instant. And once you get those pic to the computer, all you need is little skill/knowledge on your favorite Image Editing Software (for me, ofcourse, Photoshop).

Following are the Steps to achieve it:

Open both the images in Photoshop
Decide on which image to be the base (in this, i decided to take the image on the left, with the bird in-front in-focus, to be the base) (Image1)
Make a duplicate copy of that image, just to ensure that your original pic is not-damaged
Switch to the second image (Image2) on the right
Select the Clone Stamp Tool
To get the image merge very accurate, i decided to make the clone start/focus point on the lower portion of the bird in-focus on Image2. So, move the pointer to the desired point in the Image2, press Alt (Key) + Left-Click (Mouse)
Now change to the Image 1, move the pointer to the position exactly in that of Image2, Hold Left-Click (Mouse) and start hovering over the right portion of the Image1, to clone that from the Image2
Once you are done, you'll get the desired image.

Left - Image1 Right-Image2

Kung Fu Panda 2 - Its Awesome!!!!!!

2011-05-26T22:34:00.000+05:30

DON'T MISS WATCHING THIS in 3D!!!!!!!!

So, the most awaited KungFu Panda 2 movie, did fair really well. Enjoyed every second of this movie.. Is it better than first movie? well!!! i think, it surely is.. and its more Awesome to watch it in 3D. If you think Tai Lung's escape from the prison left you amazed in the first movie, prepare for the awesome sequences of Dragon Warrior + Furious Five + Masters of KungFu, fighting against Lord Chen!!! Every single person in the theater shouted WOW!!! including me...

i dont know whats about giving white colour theme for the Villian of the movie. In both these movies, like Tai Lung and Lord Chen, are both of white colour, and Chen surely overtakes in performance (sometimes i forget that i'm seeing/writing-about an animation movie).

So, overall, a very worthy movie to watch it in 3D. And believe me, you wont feel that extra specs in your face as burden while watching the movie.

Pirates of the Caribbean - On Stranger Tides

2011-05-22T11:34:00.001+05:30

Watched this one yesterday! To give you little details about the movie, this is whats there in wikipedia.. (why to type so much, when we can do that by just Ctrl C - Ctrl V ;) )

"Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is a 2011 American adventure fantasy film and the fourth installment in the Pirates of the Caribbean series. In the film, Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) is joined by Angelica (Penélope Cruz) in his search for the Fountain of Youth, confronting the infamous, real-life, legendary pirate Blackbeard (Ian McShane), the young missionary Philip Swift (Sam Claflin) and the beautiful mermaid Syrena (Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey).The plot draws inspiration from the novel On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers, which also inspired the LucasArts game The Secret of Monkey Island. It is directed by Rob Marshall, written by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. The movie was distributed by Walt Disney Pictures.The release was presented in Disney Digital 3-D and IMAX 3D, as well as in traditional two-dimensional and IMAX formats." - Source: Wikipedia

And me watched in 3D, not a big difference though. so, if there's going to be a difference in the ticket amount between 2D and 3D version of this movie, better save money, even if its very little and use it to buy extra pop-corn :)

But this movie has a fast screenplay, as usual in this whole series of movie, which keeps you in the seat for the whole movie duration of little more than 2 hours (137 mins to be exact, as per IMDb).

So, how does the movie fair against the previous Trilogy??? well, its 1% below any of the previous movies in all segments (with 1 BIG exception), just because we have seen enough of all these actions of the Captain before, and this movie totally revolves around the Captain. Totally!!! its like seeing his face in every frame of the movie.

Overall, its a movie worth watching once..My final thoughts on this movie is, it would have been more appropriate to name this movie as "Adventures of the Captain Jack Sparrow : On Stranger Tides"

Oh!!! forgot about that BIG exception... in addition to those more beautiful landscapes, you get to see "beautiful" mermaids too...

SikkimTrip

2011-05-07T03:44:00.000+05:30

Check the latest update @ http://redthilonmobile.blogspot.com/
or
follow twitter.com/redthil

Btw,this is chennai airport!!!

Nature's Magnifier

2011-05-05T17:11:00.001+05:30

Water Droplets on A Lotus Leaf - Nature's Magnifier

Click on the pic to view @ 1228x625 pixels

Click on the pic to view @ 2452x1374 pixels

Click on the pic to view @ Full Size - Canon 1000D : Tamron 18-270 : 1/400s : f/6.3 : ISO100 : 270mm - PP: 10% Shadow using Picasa

I can never explain the meaning of "Appadi Podu" song like this!!!!!

2011-04-08T20:23:00.000+05:30

very useful info.. thanks to cricinfo!!!

Happy 40th Birthday Computer Virus !!!

2011-03-17T15:27:00.002+05:30

Elk Cloner: The program with a personality

It will get on all your disks
It will infiltrate your chips
Yes, it's Cloner!

It will stick to you like glue
It will modify RAM too

Send in the Cloner!

Click on the below image to see it BIG!!!

melodies..

2011-03-02T02:04:00.000+05:30

few of my all-time fav tamil melodies...

Yutham Sei - Tamil Movie

2011-02-12T18:09:00.003+05:30

Picture Courtesy : moviegallery.in

Just watched this new movie yeasterday (released some days or a week ago), Yutham Sei. Directed by Myskin, and Cheran taking up the lead role, this was always in the list of the highly expected non-commercial movies. And it proved to be one too. Totally non-commercial, which is totally substantiated by having ONLY one song in the entire movie (and the bad part is, its the Director-turned-actor Amir dancing for that kuthu song, where one girl in yellow-saree is dancing, typical myskin's style), and still able to scroll the reels for around 2.30hrs. Though the first half goes little slow (only wen compared to the second half, otherwise, even the first-half moves quickly), the screenplay and the camera does not make us feel bored or keeps us totally focused to the movie.

About the movie, this is A-rated, for the too much (literally too much) of violence shown in the movie. Its a complete thriller-kind-of movie, in which CID officer JK (played by Cheran) tries to find the criminals behind series of chopped-hands in cardboxes found at various random locations in the City. But he takes up this case un-willingly, as he wants to take up another case of his missing sister. Only later to find that, these two are totally related and solving the puzzle. And other actors like Veteran Y.G.Mahendran, Jayaprakash, have also done well in this movie.

And this movie again, is about Women-Molestation, the Victim's family members trying to take revenge on the Molesters and their gang, and an officer trying to decode whats happening (typically taking us thru the story). It has become like a trend in the recent movies. when coming out of the theatre, i felt like, i'm coming out of SasiKumar's "Easan" movie (just caz Easan got released before this movie), just that the casting were different.

So, overall, you can watch it once, not with kids tho. also, if you have missed watching "Easan" movie, you have an good opportunity now.

And I don't give a damn about a greenback dollar...

2011-02-12T08:53:00.000+05:30


Some people say I'm a no count, others say I'm no good
But I'm just a natural born travelin' man
Doin' what I think I should, oh yeah
Doin' what I think I should.


And I don't give a damn about a greenback dollar
Spend it fast as I can for a wailin song and a good guitar
The only thing that I understand, oh yeah
The only thing that I understand, oh yeah.

When I was a little baby, my mama she said "Son.
Travel where you will and grow to be a man
And sing what must be sung, poor boy
Sing what must be sung."


And I don't give a damn about a greenback dollar
Spend it fast as I can for a wailin song and a good guitar
The only thing that I understand, poor boy
The only thing that I understand.

Now that I'm a grown man, I've travelled here and there
And I've learned that a bottle of brandy and a song
The only ones who care, oh Lord
The only ones who care.


And I don't give a damn about a greenback dollar
Spend it fast as I can for a wailin song and a good guitar
The only thing that I understand, oh yeah
The only thing that I understand, oh yeah.

Some people say I'm a no count, others say I'm no good
But I'm just a natural born travelin' man
Doin' what I think I should, oh yeah
Doin' what I think I should.


And I don't give a damn about a greenback dollar
Spend it fast as I can for a wailin song and a good guitar
The only thing that I understand, oh yeah
The only thing that I understand.

That's all that I understand, poor boy
That's all that I understand...

New Addition to my lens collection !!

2011-02-04T23:36:00.001+05:30

will add more details about this lens soon... for now, jus few first pics on that lens..

Its all about the Hardware!!!!

2011-02-03T03:01:00.000+05:30

got one more year younger...

2011-01-23T23:43:00.000+05:30

26 now... !!!!

My Million Thanks for all your wishes!!!!!!!!

will add more pics to this post soon... :)

IPL Auction - Evening Session - Day 1 for 2011/2012

2011-01-08T18:11:00.002+05:30

Previous Session Details @

IPL Auction - Morning Session - Day 1 for 2011/2012

IPL Auction - Afternoon Session - Day 1 for 2011/2012

Fast Bowlers
Dilhara Fernando	Base:	$100K	Sold:	NOT	To:	NOT
James Anderson	Base:	$400K	Sold:	NOT	To:	NOT
Ishant Sharma	Base:	$200K	Sold:	$450K	To:	Deccan
Praveen Kumar	Base:	$200K	Sold:	$800K	To:	Punjab
Ashish Nehra	Base:	$200K	Sold:	$850K	To:	Pune
Brett Lee	Base:	$400K	Sold:	$400K	To:	Kolkata
Morne Morkel	Base:	$100K	Sold:	$475K	To:	Delhi
Dale Steyn	Base:	$200K	Sold:	$1.2M	To:	Deccan
Ryan Harris	Base:	$200K	Sold:	$325K	To:	Punjab
Dirk Nannes	Base:	$200K	Sold:	$650K	To:	Bangalore
Doug Bollinger	Base:	$200K	Sold:	$700K	To:	Chennai
Spin Bowlers
Muthia Muralitharan	Base:	$300K	Sold:	$1.1M	To:	Kochi
Graeme Swann	Base:	$400K	Sold:	NOT	To:	NOT
Piyush Chawla	Base:	$100K	Sold:	$900K	To:	Punjab
R Ashwin	Base:	$100K	Sold:	$850K	To:	Chennai
Ajanta Mendis	Base:	$200K	Sold:	NOT	To:	NOT
Pragyan Ohja	Base:	$200K	Sold:	$500K	To:	Deccan
Murali Karthik	Base:	$200K	Sold:	NOT	To:	NOT
Amit Mishra	Base:	$100K	Sold:	$300K	To:	Deccan
Nathan McCullum	Base:	$100K	Sold:	$100K	To:	Pune
Ramesh Powar	Base:	$100K	Sold:	$180K	To:	Kochi
Batsman II
Chamara Kapugedara	Base:	$100K	Sold:	NOT	To:	NOT
Aaron Finch	Base:	$100K	Sold:	$300K	To:	Delhi
Eoin Morgan	Base:	$200K	Sold:	$350K	To:	Kolkata
Brad Hodge	Base:	$200K	Sold:	$425K	To:	Kochi
Tamim Iqbal	Base:	$100K	Sold:	NOT	To:	NOT
Callum Ferguson	Base:	$200K	Sold:	$300K	To:	Pune
Manoj Tiwary	Base:	$100K	Sold:	$475K	To:	Kolkata
Chetteshwar Pujjara	Base:	$100K	Sold:	$700K	To:	Bangalore
Subramanian Badrinath	Base:	$100K	Sold:	$800K	To:	Chennai
Paul Collingwood	Base:	$200K	Sold:	$250K	To:	Rajasthan