Mr Gorbachev - Tear down this wall

Yesterday I was trying out another GPS based application on my iphone - the GPSLite from motionX. I liked the app from its description because apparently you could mark waypoints on it, simply by clicking photo's on the way, and the iphone would geotag the pictures and save it on your track. Later, when you share your track by email, or on facebook, your whole track would be visible along with the pictures of what you saw along the way.

I did take a short trip across nagpur with the app to try it out, but evidently things didn't work out as expected as the pictures just didn't come up on the map. I'll have to work a bit more on the app, because this is another application that opens new levels on the integration of our everyday devices. Also geo-tagging of pictures is something which I have been wanting to do for some time.

The above picture is somewhere near the end of the track and the writing on the wall says that the wall is about to fall and requests that no one sit below the wall. This writing has been on the wall (pun intended) for the last year or more, but the bloody wall refuses to fall. Also since it not really a park, but the side of the road, its most likely that people who do sit there are most likely going to be backpacking foreigners of destitute people, neither of whole will be able to understand what is written there. Can't we imagine a French backpacker, sitting under the wall, with his lonely planet guide trying to decipher what is written above his head.

PS : Regarding the "tear down this wall "reference, a very nice wiki entry on the subject can be found here.

GPS tracking on the iphone

I have been checking out the amazing applications available on the Iphone for some time, and these days, I am trying out a couple of apps that deal with GPS and other navigation based applications.

One of the applications has been released by the people at Instamapper, whose blog can be seen here , and is called the "GPS Tracker". A very neat application that allows you to share your position or track live to the audience on your website or even on your blog. Not only that, you could even embed the map on your facebook profile.

One of the neat examples for the practical uses of this app can be found on the "Team twitchy blog of its Rickshaw run." Its their blog of an amazing journey from Shillong to Goa in a Auto Rickshaw. These guys have just completed their journey on the 25th of April and are probably getting some well deserved beers on the beaches of Goa.

I'm not planning to venture off on a cross country auto rickshaw journey anytime soon, but the possibilities unravelled are simply too delicious to not salivate over

Celebrating Shit

Today was day 2 after my gall bladder was removed and the pain is much better. I got it removed because of a huge stone that had gotten itself lodged there, "allegedly" due to my unhealthy lifestyle and eating habits.

One of the things I learned from this episode was that they remove the whole Gall bladder when you ask them politely to remove the stone. Another thing was that when you celebrate the ability to shit, it makes you realize that there really are a lot more reasons to celebrate in life.

Fiction 55 - The cobbler

He slipped on the shoe that the cobbler gave back.

"It will break?" She asked

"No madam, my guarantee." Said the cobbler.

"How much?"

"What you feel sir."

"No you tell."

"I can say twenty-five, but you give what you think is right."

"Okay take ten."

walking away, she said, "... should have given only five."



PS : My first attempt at Fiction 55 , inspired by Vinnie.

India smoke map

A few posts back, I had mentioned a Nasa picture showing smoke from wood and dung chip fires hanging over north India. I finally got around to it and dug it up from thr NASA website. You can see the smoke stretching from Punjab to bihar in the picture.

The red dots are actual fires. These are the fires lit up in Punjab after harvest to clear the fields. An amazing picture to put things in perspective.

Ice cream at india gate

Over the last couple of months, I have become a Delhi-wala. One of the
things that you just have to do to earn this distinction is to eat
icecream at the India gate at midnight.

It used to be a grand sight a couple of years ago, with the India gate
lit up at one end and the grand rashtrapati bhavan on the other end.
It's probably a good thing that they have stopped lighting up The
monuments these days, but it definitely does take away a bit of charm
from the whole exercise.

Yet, not to be denied their pound of fun, people still flock to the
ice cream wala's . It Was the begining of the long weekend so whole
families with children in tow were walking in the grass along the
rajpath.

Great fun it was till cops came along and shooed off all the icecream wala's at midnight. A most recommended activity - eating icecream at the India gate.

Chandni chowk

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In the lanes that join or leave chandni Chowk in Delhi, lies a whole another world. As you enter these lanes, thew buildings close in on you and mostly illegal wiring closes in a net on your head. Yet inspite of this, you can still see the original latticed work on th balconies and grills - an indication of possibly better dyas in the years gone by.

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The red fort

Had gone to chandni chowk at Delhi a couple of days back with Jayati .
The atmosphere out in that part of the town is amazing. Gorges
ourselves on the food out there like 'Dahi wada' and jalebi etc and
even has boondi is ladoo at a shop that's been around since the early
1700's.

Great fun it was except for the fact that
Had gone there on a very distracting work. I think I'll have to go
there again one of these days again. Atleast to take a somewhat decent
picture of the red fort.

The roadside shop

This is a picture of the part of the shop where I bought the glass
thingy yesterday. There so Many amazing picture frames being sold
there for less than a dollar each, that I Couldn't resist a few days
back and picked up about half a dozen of them.
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I have now been put under restraining orders by puja not to approach
within twenty feet of another frame selling shop.
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Today's buy

Bought this piece in a flea shop on mehrauli- Gurgaon road. They were
asking for 300 Rupees for it, but I managed to haggle it down to 100
rupees ( a little more than 2 USD) .

I'm still not sure what practical use it might be put to, but i'm sure
we'll think of something!