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‘Twas my B’Day and Life’s just on @the Pinnacle…

Posted by Prashanth | Filed under Birdwatching, Blogging, College, FIITJEE Pinnacle, General, It's My Life, Linux, Photography, Quizzing, School Life, Shutterbugs, Technology

Sorry to intercept your flow of feeds from several blogs around cyberspace with this distantly familiar web page with a forgotten author(s), but well, my blog did miss attention from people everywhere including me. And so did I. Loads of things happened since June, when I last made any kind of an update, (not referring to the blogroll) on the blog. Anyway, its nearly 2 months since then, with a few sharable events.

Uma Leaves to NIFT B’lore

You people must have read this previously on the blog that Uma is not between us anymore. She left this place on the 24th of July. Anyway, things have been fun there as per what I hear from her these days. I am quite sure things must be very different in an all new place where someone has to get used to not having those family pampers in all it’s bounty amongst many other things. After all, it is kind of impossible to fit eighteen years worth of an eventful lifetime in three suitcases and one tiny little skull! (This line is by Uma herself!) And it isn’t everyday that your bestest friend in the whole world leaves to another place and sudden change in how often you speak or the detail in which you tell things just doesn’t feel right. There is immense nostalgia for so many things in her head for now. Just wish her good luck. She is finally studying what she wanted to, something very few people realize in time. You people MIGHT hear more from her once she gets her PC there.

My Birthday

Yes, I turned seventeen last Thursday, the 28th of August. Not particularly eventful, except that I almost had my hips and my back broken. Had dinner at Chopstix, an amazing place near Siri Fort Auditorium. More on that later, but then nothing really worth too much mention. Coming to gifts, my parents decided not to buy me anything that could engage me, like for instance books, or new hardware for the PC, etc. I didn’t turn up at Matrix-Ecomm 2008, @ MSM as these days I am more serious about getting into IIT and doing well with my subjects than I ever was before.

Got a new puppy!

Yes, I now am a proud owner of a month old Pomeranian puppy whose name is still in the beta testing stages. It’s biscuit brown in color and is really small, soft and cuddly. It feels like a lovely toy. When it first entered the house, I thought of naming it on people whom I really consider as dogs, but then eventually I fell in love with it so much that, now I don’t want it to remind me of dogs anymore! It learnt barking just a week ago. Anyway, a few pictures should be enough to have all of you green here…

Suggest me some cute and catchy names please… And, before I forget, its a GUY!

Had another meet at Basant Lok

Had a really fun meet at Yo! China with Abhishek, Roshan, Ayush, and Uma before Uma left Delhi. The meet was ornamented with PJs and fun talks followed with window shopping at Om Book Shop.

Upgraded to Ubuntu 8.04.1 LTS 64bit

I used Gutsy(7.10) previously, and upgrading wasn’t really hard and it isn’t as bad as some people claim it to be. Heck, I have even heard of Linux enthusiasts migrating to Windows Vista after using it! On the contrary, it is zippier and the experience really isn’t very different from what I used before. The bug fixes and performance tweaks and other minor changes make it a release with nothing much to be excited about, but then you wouldn’t regret an upgrade. With better hardware support, I finally got my ancient HP 1100 printer working with Ubuntu.

Movies I saw this Summer

The Dark Knight - Awesome! A review is scheduled soon. Take my word, it isn’t your normal superhero flick.
21 - “Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!” An amazing watch again. really brilliant camera work and direction. The girl was good too. MIT is reason enough for many to watch it.
The Man from the Earth - An unconventional movie which is nothing more than a gripping discussion between university professors. Simply brilliant. I wish I could write this movie a review.
Sicko - Micheal Moore. Period.
Disney’s Mulan - If you liked Pocahontas, you should find this one okay.
Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dam - Had seen it long time ago, but saw it once more and I still find it just as good.
Pulp Fiction - I guess I would be the only person on the planet to hate it. Before you hurl curses and other vegetables on my taste in movies, just know that I really love South Park, Friends and even Simpsons. I just hated this movie. Even with the subtitles!
Goodbye Lenin - Another recommendation by Uma, just like many others in this list. Was fun.
Stranger than Fiction - Fabulous. Really witty and engaging. Suttle yet a powerful comic storyline. Amazing direction! This was Roshan’s recommendation.
Following - Christopher Nolan zindabad!
Sarkar Raj - Copied storyline or not, the movie is a refreshing watch. Brilliant camera work. Wonderful dialogues!
Khuda Ke Liye - Angering plot. Makes you wonder - just how many problems could you put on one family? It might frustrate you a lot. But nice music scores, especially those in the background. Good camera work and filled with appealing/pleasing colors.

Would love to go on in this list, but there are other events to cover.

Photography Expedition at JNU

Or perhaps a get-together that Uma, Roshan and I had planned in JNU with our cameras. Had a fun time laughing, throwing lame PJs, bickering, birdwatching, trailing in the woods, getting caught in the rain, eating canteen food, and even watching a movie in the end. Will dedicate a post on this. ‘Twas a memorable time spent there.

Columban Open Quiz 2008

Went with an all new team consisting of two ex-DPS Damanjodi students and Sourabh from the previous team. Reached the semis, and were tanked out after that. Wasn’t really good as I heard that many questions were rip offs from other quizzing events. Too bad I couldn’t take advantage of the situation. Was kind of boring this time. I don’t think I would dedicate a post on it now.

@the Pinnacle

Our JEE syllabus is almost complete now. really gearing up for 2-2.5 months of review sessions. Solving the entire 25 year IIT-JEE archive end to end making sure that everything is crystal clear. CBSE based exams are bugging in the middle of all this and to my surprise (read: shock!) it isn’t seeming as easy as swatting a fly this time. Nonetheless, the situation seems to be in control, but then I do need to take a long term Sanyaas or a penance to the sins committed against IIT-JEE prep last year. This year, I plan to waste very little of my time in the least no. of competitive events. Delhi students need not start celebrating yet, as I might surprise you!

Tons of changes at school. Will write a lot about it too. Also, upgraded to Wordpress 2.6…

For now, please don’t unsubscribe to the feeds or don’t get rid of my blog’s link yet. I would keep it active for a very long time for now.

Read more | Comments (4) | August 31st, 2008

Birds, Delhi and Me #1: JNU

Posted by Prashanth | Filed under Birdwatching, It's My Life, New Delhi, Photography

Delhi, as many of you readers might know is literally the capital city for birds. After Nairobi, Kenya, Delhi has the maximum avian diversity seen anywhere else on the planet beating even the Amazon and African Rainforests…
Just to keep a check on how diverse this place still is, Delhibird, a bird-watchers/enthusiast community holds a huge event called BBD or the Big Birder’s Day. On this day, several groups consisting of Delhibird Members split to move around and identify as many species of birds as possible. Delhi does have quite a few birding hotspots, as I previously once shared in an old post.
Since I had my Mathematics Annual Exam the next day, there was no way Mom was gonna allow me to spend my whole day with Delhi Birds South Delhi Team which aimed to survey JNU, Aravalli Bio-diversity Park and Hauz Khas Lake.
With lots of efforts, satyagrahas, movements, petitions and revolts which somewhat recapped the entire Indian freedom struggle, I finally got myself destined to go there. Very few readers might know this fact, but JNU, which stands for Jawaharlal Nehru University is one of the best birdwatching trails in the capital. It is not only huge, (nearly a 1000 acres) but also largely untouched. Nearly 70% of the campus is pristene scrub/bush land and is a home to a variety of Passerines, which is a fancy word for tree and bush homing birds that can perch. Not just birds, you also have a lot of animal life there. Speaking of birds, in and around JNU, there is a decent population of human ones as well. Take for instance the one in the left sidebar… Thanks to the punishment offered by the Indian Govt. year after year in the form of the Bored Exams, the specimen of the species Singletaskerus Umas DID NOT come for the morning walk. Elaborate rants on human birds will continue later!

Before I start off with the itenary, a few small facts about Delhi and its geography. Delhi lies on a seismically active zone and has a prominent but broken ridge formed due to tectonic activities running through it. It is these ridges which finally grew into the fold mountains by the name Aravalli Range. Due to safety and environment related concerns, development around the ridge area is minimized. It turns out that a large portion of the ridge run through the JNU campus making JNU a lovely habitat for a variety of life…
As Uma puts it, ‘The professors at JNU are the luckiest in the world to live in the middle of a forest that too in the middle of a city’. Although I had been to JNU before, never had I come there specifically on a birding trail that too with a group of experienced folks whom I recently got acquainted with… JNU is always teaming with some kind of activity or life… Like for instance, on the day when I went birding, which was the 24th of Feb, an event on open source software called Freed.in was also simultaneously taking place. I would have loved to attend it but then several constraints pushed me back. Anyway, I did catch up with one guy whom I bugged and got the contacts.

Freed.in Banner Outside JNU North Gate
Coming back to the trip…
Our group was being led by Dr. Surya Prakash, a Professor in Zoology based in JNU. He is a very experienced birdwatcher who knows JNU as well as one might know his own home. Being close to nature and associated with Delhibirds for such a long time, he was the right man to guide us through the campus trail. Along with me were quite a few more bird enthusiasts with the youngest one being around 3 years old. I took along with me a Fujifilm S5600, borrowed from my good friend, Varun Mishra just to honour the BBD. Although I spent most of my time with the camera in a learning curve to get just the right setting for the scene.
We started our birding trail from the Life Sciences Dept. Parking lot at approximately 6:42 AM. These people got delayed because of me… apologies! Anyway, before even I could apologize, I was ‘punished’ with the responsibility of managing the ticklist of all the birds seen. From here onwards, as and when a new bird was seen, yells calling “Prashanth! A Lesser Whitethroat is here…” would also be heard. Before we stepped out of the parking lot, one of us spotted a Nilgai sitting inconspicuously in a thicket. With me still figuring out the right settings for a misty, low light condition couldn’t do justice to the majestic creature. Anyway, not long after we spotted a bunch of Rose-Ringed and Alexandrian Parakeets, two of the most common species of Parakeets in this part of India. As we were in a fairly dry scrubland, Passerines were in a plenty in the form of Warblers, Shrikes, Robins, Sunbirds, Babblers, Bulbuls and Prinias among several others.
With me still figuring out the right settings, shots of those quick moving tree birds came horribly bad. Something you can expect with a fairly high ISO setting (600) and a high shutter speed (1200) that too in low lit conditions. Anyway, I was more interested in getting a good view of those birds with my binoculars which gave a me a clearer view and mix up and socialize with others in the group as well.
We then headed out into the bush to find another Nilgai, whose eyes looked as if it was really unusual for it to see a bunch of strange creatures known as humans each of which was in different colours coming often into its territory. Catching some of the most beautiful sights one might possibly find in Delhi and breathing the freshest lungful of air I had inhaled in several months, I was having a lovely time with all these people. It clearly reminded me of walks with all those people from BSAP (Birdwatcher’s Society of Andhra Pradesh) with whom I once used to go regularly on trails to quite a few places in and around Hyderabad.

We reached one of the three check-dams constructed in the campus. This one was said to be filled with water almost throughout the year. Although the water was stagnant, a few waders did call it their home. Black Winged Stilts, Purple Moorhens, Spotbilled Ducks, White Breasted Kingfishers, and the rare sight, a Green Sandpiper which Dr. Surya Prakash found just by hearing its distinct call.Going through the wooded area, we reached to a fairly open grassy meadow which Dr. Surya Prakash said was Raptor country. Disappointingly though, we saw nothing more than the omnipresent Black Kites and the fairly common although still hard to catch Black-Shouldered Kite. But this was more than compensated by the sight of the day… Rosefinches! They were far enough only for my binoculars to take view. Just then, trial and error finally got me the right settings. But then it was too late, the Finches had evaded my camera!
We then headed to a place about which I heard from quite a few people… The Parthasarathy Rock. Thats a vantage point from where a large portion of the JNU wilderness can be seen. A lovely spot to find flying raptors. Sadly though, evidences there show how much the students booze and fool around in that place. You had liquor bottles, cigarette packets, fire ash and a lot more killing the so-called cleanliness of the place. Check the panorama below to see how the place looks like from there… Click to see full size… Or right-click, Save As…

Next stop was a cricket stadium whose view we get from the Parthasarathy Rock. There we spotted a fairly uncommon bird, the Yellow Wattled Lapwing which posed around for loads of pictures right in the middle of the cricket field. From there, we had a quick snack at the Aravalli Guest house and it was Goodbye for me then. The ticklist count said 40-44 species which was a disappointing number when compared to last year’s count. Perhaps checking out the same place again and again over a weeks time might have got us better results. Anyway, I got another neat snap with the right settings. A female sparrow with an insect (perhaps a dragonfly) in its mouth. With that, I sadly leave back to my home missing out the rest of the trek! JNU is a lovely place for anyone who needs a break, especially those who would be under loads of stress aftergiving in tons of exams this season.

Click to see full size…
PS: A canteen/dhaba named Gopaljee near the School of Social Sciences makes lovely Keema and Appam for quite cheap rates. Anyone visiting JNU for a walk/trek may have a meal here…