Monday, July 1, 2013
Promise to time of my Life.
Monday, August 9, 2010
10 days with iPad.
To be frank, i love gadgets but i am not good at reviewing them with all the technical details and pros & cons. It's just what i like it and what i would have liked more without any technicalities.
When iPad was announced, We didn't understand what all the hype was about ! Initially when heard about it , wanted one. Then when saw it for the first time, weren't sure anymore. It just felt like bigger iPhone, weren't sure if we wanted to spend that much on this new kiddo. But the more we kept seeing it in stores it made us fell for it and then we wanted one. With all the waiting list and the fact that you still need to book/ reserve and wait to get it in Netherlands, it was nice to buy it at UK.iPad is something totally different, something kind of hybrid, somewhere in-between iPhone and Mac notebook. The user interface might feel familiar to the most, but it's not a PC in any way. It's Interface additions help to do more and go further than what is possible on an iPhone, but it's not like any computer you've ever used.
When you take it in your hands, first thing you will notice is it's gorgeous screen with very nice 1024X768 resolution and it's excellent build quality. The aluminum back feels great under the finger.
Everyone around me who saw it, the first reaction came as how beautiful the screen is ! Everything looks sharp and colourful. The contrast and colors are Amazing. In direct sunlight, you will get a good amount of reflections, but overall, the iPad display is good, especially if you are looking at an image with bright colors.
And speed, it's fast.
It offers iBooks. I like it's user interface. It is simple and readable, it has a search feature too. I used to fear that reading from an LCD display would cause eyestrain or even headache. I haven't experienced any eyestrain but that is may be as I'm looking at a computer LCD most of the time anyway...
I also like the Split screens feature in iPad. It divides the content into segments of the same screen. In the mail app, that means you can look at the list of your emails while keeping a message in view, or keep your multi-page work in Keynote available to you even when editing. You can download an application from app. store for free which will split your browser while surfing, handy at times.
The in-built speaker(s) are good, sound quality is very nice, you tube experience is really good. We spent quite a lot time watching videos on you tube other day and it was fun.
Also the battery life is simply unbelievable. First week as it was working week, we used it only in the evenings and we had to charge it only after 4 days. It provides almost 10-11 hours constant running time. Also Sleep mode, most gadgets continue to drain power when they are in sleep mode. In the case of the iPad, I noticed that it lost only about 1% per night (7-8 hrs), which is quite low. This might be a positive effect of not having too much stuff running in the background.
Emails are easy to read and it's also easy to switch from one account to the next. But typing something long for continuously more than 10 min is not a very good experience. Your fingers are hanging in air so it's tiring and it can get frustrating with some alphabets with touch screen. I guess for real typing you need extended real keyboard.
What i don't like about it is, No USB port. It doesn't have camera too, but it's ok but i would like to have a USB port atleast. Also Outside of iTunes, there's little to no way to manage files. So there is restrictions to File Management. You can read a doc, pdf, xls file opening from e-mail but cannot save it. I would like it better if i can create a "user" folder that I can organise the way i want. Also there's no flash, and many flash-heavy sites won't work properly.
Although it is mentioned that the iPad can be charged from a computer USB ports, but this is true mainly for Mac computer USB ports. As we are stuck with that iPhone port for everything
No background execution (multitasking) for third party applications.
So Do you want an iPad? Probably. Do you need an iPad? Probably not. The iPhone is sufficient for many things you might want to do with iPad. In my experience, the iPad doesn’t offer a big enough improvement to warrant the additional investment.
So bottom line, it is very good, i like it but it might not be for everyone. You will get work done with it, play with it, surf with it, consume content with it, but it is not that you will never miss your computer. For long e-mails / reports, For file management, for some real work you are going to miss it. Like now to blog this post what i wanted was my laptop !
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
A book that made till morning !

I didn't get much time to start with this book and so it was lying on the shelf for more than 2 months. I finally picked that up to read in flight when I went to
This is the first book of Sophie Kinsella's that I have read and so I had no pre-notions to compare it with some of her earlier work.
To be honest when I started with it, I found the book okay in my first half an hour reading, didn't know that time it will make me change my opinion afterwards !
(Normally it takes hack out of me to change my opinion based on first impression, they don't say it without a reason that first impression is the last impression ! )
The story is narrated by and from the view point of main female character Emma Corrigan, after a run-of-the-mill business presentation, on which she was depending and dreaming to ask for a promotion as a Marketing Executive, runs amok, Emma finds herself on an unusually turbulent plane ride next to a handsome aloof stranger.
As she contemplates the business meeting having few vodka drinks at air-port she fears will end her career and the plane ride she fears will end her life, she aimlessly blutters her deepest secrets to the man by her side. Within a matter of minutes she divulges everything about herself, she hasn’t shared with anyone, not even with her conscious self.
Is this possible in real life? Why not if you are afraid to ride in a plane, if you like to be on ground and not in the sky and if you had a really bad day, and you are going through depressing feeling that nothing is going right in your life, and you have messed up badly ! Anything is possible, isn’t it?
Then I got busy and during my return flight I picked up that book again thinking it is not possible that my friend would give me a book with recommendation if that is not interesting, and also I have to find out who is that guy to whom Emma spills all the beans.
More I read more I liked the character of Jack Harper, a stranger turning to not so stranger as the story developed. I would not go on writing about what happens next and who he was as for that one needs to read real book! Hehe (No, I am not getting paid for marketing the book!! Ohh Gosh I wish they would be!! )
Then I was home. It was Friday night and so not having to go to office next morning I decided to read for a while, and I kept on reading. The plot is a bit predictable but still I didn't feel bored. It is not one of the most romantic books, and it is not even romantic novel, but still what I loved in the book was "romance”!
One could really relate to the main character Emma at one or other point and pretty much all the situations on the book looks realistic making you feel this can happen, you never know!
And then I realized it was 7.00 am, it was already morning! Yes I didn’t even realize that I read whole night and I didn’t even feel tired reading, even with the fact I was tired due to travelling! I don’t remember when was the last I did the same, may be back in university days! (Of course never for studies)
Thanks Dhara, for the wonderful gift, I thoroughly enjoyed it. (And by the way Belated Happy Birthday to you Dhara ! J )
One thing for sure is, after reading CAN YOU KEEP A SECRET? You will filter while talking to your seatmate on airplanes, trains or other mass transit!
I actually quite tried to imagine who the person sitting next to me might be !
Good thing, I was so busy figuring it out, I didn’t try to talk; good for me to avoid Emma situation in real and other thing until now I haven’t seen him around making me realizing a Stanger not so stranger!
Friday, December 4, 2009
Twilight - New Moon... arrrr No Moon !


Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Book which made him read....
I had ordered few random books. One of them was "Playing for Pizza" by John Grisham. It was still waiting to be in my hands for a few months now, So I thought to take it with me on my vacation to read on flights.I took it out from my bag to read while taking seat on flight and Ashu asks me if i have any other books in spare which he can read.
Now he is not one who loves to read. He likes that i have this hobbie but sometimes when I am too busy wandering in my imaginative world he complains that I get so indulge in other world that sometimes I forget everything around me. I do not dely the fact but now I try not to indulge myself in books especially in day time when there are other peoples around or things to be done, not to behave totally lost.
But now he asking me for a spare book, that is a big surprise!
So for the first time I did that... I handed some one a book to read which I had just started and hadn't yet completed ! ( Yeah I know, I had just started so had gone through few pages only, but still !! !)
That made me come face to face with the reality, I could see why he complained when I was reading, as he kept reading whenever he could sneak out some time, also at nights until he would fall asleep. And yeah I understood the meaning of "what you give away, come backs to you" in a funnier way! hehehe
And man, could I be any happier when he asked me for some other book on completing that one !
He started reading "Who Will Cry When You Die" by Robin Sharma and was loving it. Unfortunately we missed bringing it here with us!
So next book I have given him is "Winning" by Jack and Suzy Welch. I thought it will be a nice read for him, getting into groove as he is starting his executive MBA from this January.
But this book needs to be taken in slowly as it is not a story, So far he is saying he likes it, to be seen when he actually finishes that one.
I hope he continues with readings now developing it in a hobby, he always appreciated but now it is great that he appreciates my reading love more!
By the way it did surprise me with no end when I saw him sticked to a book and actually completing it !
I was wondering what was that, and soon realised ahhhhhh FOOTBALL !!! Aaaaah, He and his love for sports !
Friday, July 17, 2009
Potter Mania ....
So much that on one of my birthdays when Ashu was out of country, he tried bribing me saying he can pick latest book for me from Singapore Airport on the same day it was getting published!!!
And again few years back when I was quite upset on not getting some good surprise gifts on my birthday... this is what I got as a present 6th book of HP series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince... and ohh boy could I be happier!!
Seeing my HP love, my friend simplyhardik mailed me the pdf version of last book in the series, Harry Potter and Deathly Hollows, on the day it got released and before I go and buy. Though I was determined to get the hard copy I couldn’t help myself opening and reading that e-book as soon as I got it. (Ya piracy and all, I know but what to do...I was helpless against me... and I did buy a hard copy after all in the end)
Aaaah, are you wondering why suddenly Harry Potter is on my mind?? Ohh isn't he on minds of many now a days?? (Ya for some it might be Hermione or Ron...Or Malfoi and Snake???) hehehe
Ya you guessed it right, As Harry Potter and Half Blood Prince Movie got released this Wednesday and craze among people to watch the movie brought me back memories of good old time ;)
I always love reading books more than the movies based on same, and I remember the emptiness I felt when I was done reading the series ... I literally lived in that different world.... I tried finding Hogwarts in all the castles I saw while roaming in Europe... I even visualized myself walking in that era when I was walking in Christmas Market in Utrecht... winter mist, white tents, castle, people dressed in long gowns, stopping at a tent and singing, yellow lights around and snow...aaah.... I missed all the characters and I missed that it actually was over! And now watching the movie I re-lived what was gone...!
I remembered those emotions I passed through while reading it and when it was over!! I had found this particular 6th book one of the most serious ones of whole series as Dumbledore dies in this and everything becomes gloomy, while going through those pages you even feel the pain of losing someone... and this is the movie of same part...so....ummmmm... .hmmmm… Whatever... that doesn’t mean we don’t watch the movie...right??
We were planning to watch it yesterday night, I tried to reserve tickets online but it showed me both evening shows were full and only last show at 11:00 pm had reservations open.
So thinking about office on Friday, (and the way I feel if I don’t get my 7-8 hr beauty sleep) I reserved tickets for Saturday evening. Now no movie plan, it being summer vacation we had nothing else to do in the evening, and it being weekly shopping day in Den Haag we ended up going for shopping… there we can walk across the shopping malls, can buy something for our India trip and can eat Falafel at Kings falafel on streets of Spui market.
While on our mission-less evening wandering... destiny again brought us across Pathe theatre where movie was running ( ok ok not destiny, then how about our unconscious minds leading our legs towards that path??? nice huh??? Hehehe ) we saw this crowd there... Harry Potter fans it seemed.... Ashu asked me what time it was and if there was a show right then?? Yes, there was, starting in 10 mins..... And it tempted us to try our lucks at tickets again.... You never know!!!
At ground floor it looked busy at ticket machines.... so we ran to first floor but here too there were these long lines for tickets and then..... We spotted one machine in the corner almost un-occupied and ran for it. We tried for Harry potter and Half Blood Prince.... and yey we got the tickets.... yupppieee
But funny thing happened when we actually occupied out seats in Zaal 4 (screen 4).... tension started building on us as we realized ohh what if this movie is in Dutch, the NL version, as in our excitement of getting tickets we didn’t bother to check it... obviously on internet it did show full for the original version, and we were sitting there with tickets... something must be odd. We immediately pull out our iPhones and started checking movies shows on Pathe application. Hmmmmmm It did show us that there is no NL version show today and it was only next day that they were starting with NL version. Aaaah a little relief...!
But wait…what’s this??? First disclaimer page appeared on screen and we panicked reading that in Dutch... and a moment later there appeared clouds and music following it ( no, not where we were sitting, I meant on the screen ).... and appeared subtitle below the scene, we read the first subtitle that appeared in Dutch and both jumped out of chairs... IT IS in English!!! Yeyyyy..!
Yes so that's it, we finally watched it... But I think the lady in her 50s sitting beside me loved it more than I did, as I could hear her giggle and no one could hear mine!! ;)
Arrrrrrr.... yeah I hear it…. Saturday evening reservations, right ?
Monday, July 13, 2009
Some more movies...
1. Ice Age 3

When we were going for this movie we were a little bit sceptical as we had no kids accompanying us; but when we entered the theatre we saw the theatre full ( for the first time here) and not with many kids. hahaha
The movie was great as a true entertainment where we don't have to use our brains. The animation is top notch, the worlds (above and below the ice) are beautifully rendered and watching this stuff in 3D really adds a dimension to the experience that needs to be seen to be believed.
I loved the character Buck, one-eyed weasel who hunts dinosaurs intently, Buck kept reminding me of Jack Sparrow in Pirates of Caribbean while watching the movie... I don't know if anyone else felt that resemblance !
Many criticism stands with the idea of Dinosaurs and mammoths together as we all know that dinosaurs have been dead for about 30 million years before sloths and mammoths turned up... but then it's a animated fun movie and that's why i say fun entertainment if you don't use your brains !!
2. The Hangover
"The Hangover" is a funny movie, flat out, all the way through. It is a great movie to watch with a crowd, even after it is in theatre since so many weeks show was still houseful when we went to watch it. We were not too early as the tradition is here so we had to watch it sitting in 3rd raw from front end... but as we had no other great plans on our to be done list, we did it and we are happy that we did as it was so much fun !!!It is a movie based almost entirely on comic surprise. One of its greatest strengths is the way in which the story is told; It starts on a low pitch, the audience is kept in suspense as the mystery unravels essentially in real-time. The chemistry between the cast is top notch, it isn’t about brilliant jokes and punchlines so much as it is about that feeling of camaraderie and trash talking among close friends who are stuck in a tense predicament.
One of the best scene is when our hapless overgrown boys wake up in their expensive Vegas hotel suite, the detailed destruction that inexplicably took place the night before is stupefying. An enormous pyramid of empty beer bottles overseen by a confused rooster is a mere intro to a labyrinth of unexplained circumstances. An abandoned infant and a bathroom-ensconced tiger deliver an immediacy to the plight of three guys; And when they discuss about why can’t they remember anything that happened the night before? And as Phil puts it, "Because we obviously had a great fucking time." So great that the groom has gone missing. hahaha Funny thing is; at some point we actually find ourselves caring a little about what happened to the missing bridegroom !
Noone even missed the last photo end credits, it added more laughter in the end displaying their forgotten night moments leaving everyone rolling in the aisles... It is the biggest comedy of the summer!!
3. Brüno
After BORAT in 2006, another Sacha Baron Cohen creation arrives on the big screen.First off, if you did not like Borat, you will not like Brüno. If you are a fan of raunchy comedies, you will love Brüno.
Brüno, the gay Austrian model of the title, after getting fired from his hit show in his homeland, decides he wants to be famous and takes his show to America. Brüno tries all stunts from adopting a baby hollywood style, to trying to settle the middle east fury, all in the name of making himself known. His path takes him to a few different places including; a preacher who can make him "ungay" (level 1 and level 2), an outrageous interview with politician Ron Paul, an actual meeting with a terrorist, a swingers party, and the MMA arena. When he finally reaches his dead end, he decides it is infact his own utter gayness that's holding his career back from taking off.
The more uncomfortable Brüno makes people, the more he draws attention to their petty churlishness and homophobia. There are quite a few shots of extreme nudity, which are hilarious, as well as some disturbing interviews with some parents who are auditioning their kids for a part in Brüno’s commercial (Are you OKAY with liposuction for your child? How about crucifixion?)
The improvisation done by Cohen/Brüno is magnificent. Some people are finding Brüno even funnier than Borat, considering that it does up the ante in various ways, but on the other hand, some will likely be turned off by the shock value and the more incendiary jokes.
Controversial, uncomfortable, and hilarious, Brüno enthusiastically attacks prejudices and intolerance, and tosses in jabs at celebrities who'll do anything to be centre of attraction/ for publicity and stardom !
Monday, July 6, 2009
It's movie time...
So before i have to work hard to catch up with my blogging record too; thought let me just write about about movies we watched to keep it straight!
1. Angels & Demons
I loved this movie.
When i watched Da Vinci Code after reading the book, I was rather disappointed, But watching this movie was a delight.Very good direction and unlike Da Vinci Code ( According to me which was a fast paced movie, half of the time while watching movie had gone explaining what's going on to people sitting next to me who had apparently hadn't read the book !!) this was a treat for even those who missed reading the book.
( I don't know how can anyone not read the book and watch the movie....believe me there is no better movie than the book.... ya apart from Lord of the rings; which even i preferred simplified movie version )
Okay so coming back to the point, a nice movie, very nice acting, excellent screen play, excellent direction.
2. NewYork
Nice movie.But i felt a little depressed after watching it as couldn't throw out some scenes which kept replaying in mind.
Katrina undoubtedly steals title of one of most good looking actress in Bollywood ... and John is as usual eye stealer for most of the girls...!
I loved the music.....specially the song " hai junoon" (yeah yeah i know it's not original and copied from an indonesian song “NALURI LELAKI”; but still i love listening to it.... may be 'coz i don't understand language of the original one??? )
3. Termination Salvation
If you are a Terminator fan; have seen earlier films then sure go and watch this one. You will enjoy all the linkings and revealing of connections.( Ohh hell ya i know my go and watch won't help now as all real fans must have already watched it by now !)
But if you haven't seen ( or read about) any of earlier Terminator Movies; it is but obvious that many things can go bouncing for you.
4. Kambakkht Ishq
A "NO NO" or a "don't watch" whatever you want to name it kinda movie. (At least i felt so ... yeah but we watched it though !!)I don't know who in their right mind will create a movie like this. Storyline yukks, songs are random, anytime in any situation it will appear out of nowhere without making any sense !
(Yeah that's the speciallity of Bollywood, I KNOW )
Luckily in the case of Kambakkht Ishq, it isn’t as long as any other normal Bollywood movie, so that’s better but it is louder, and by louder i mean at some point of time everyone is shouting making you feel that may be they thought audience being hearing-impaired !!
You can't even pretend enjoying the music if not the movie !!
Kareena looks great, but is that enough for a movie to work??
5. Transformer - Revenge of the fallen
A treat for Transformer lovers.Bigger, Longer, Louder than its predecessor.
At times felt that its stretched a little bit and could have worked for less than its 147 minutes ... But hey it's Transformer !!
So now two days more and it will be weekend again, time to catch up with some more movies .. ! hehehe