Dandelions

It’s been a while since I posted anything about photography. So this is the perfect time to post something on that topic because I bought a tripod (this one) last week… even if (not) just to show my new tripod! Here’s me shooting a mirror image of myself with the camera stabilized on the tripod:

Let me show you one dandelion that survived the summer and made it to the fall. This one was in the lawn just outside my current apartment. I wanted to capture the silky / puffy nature of the cotton-like threads or to be more philosophical: the ‘fragility of existence’.

These two photos are shot in macro mode. And although the focus is not that sharp over the full whiteness of the head, I think they’re quite acceptable. At least I’ve accepted them!

These two shots were shot in iAuto mode where I set the Live Guide’s ‘Express Motions’ setting to the minimum at ‘Stop Motion’. So this setting basically does a freeze frame when the flower is rocking back & forth in the wind, which also explains the slight blurring in the photos shot in the macro mode above. But so what, I hear you say? These 2 shots are more interesting because the top shot is highly crisp at the center of the flower-head and the bottom one is crystal clear at its periphery. I guess that is because I messed up by being too close so that the focus area was small. This slight error in judgment made me wish I could have done ‘Focus Bracketing’ and then I could have stacked those photos such that the whole flower-head was crisp & crystal clear! That’s wishful thinking on so many levels (as in I don’t have any software that is able to do that, for starters) but most importantly because the camera’s battery ran out…

Power Outages

Real vs. Virtual

It’s sometimes unnerving to work as an offshore partner and when you visit a Real branch, you realize how far you are from the actual world and reading data is just a small part of the whole game. The customer representative asked me to show her my account details on one of the fancy screens she had in the branch. I saw people picking up the phones and directly contacting the call centre guys. The representatives could speak decent English and most importantly, knew whom to ask about the problems at hand.

The customer representative took me to the cabin of the Branch manager. He asked me why was I not primarily banking with them and shared some investment ideas he had for me. He laughed and giggled at the current Political affairs. I saw that he read Economic Times and was comfortable discussing his opinions. May be because I was sitting in the Branch Manager’s office that people served me with drinks (I realized that later). Something astonishing happened as I was planning to leave the room along with the representative. An old man walked in without permission, looked at the representative, gave a stare which meant something like “Get lost while I'm talking here” and announced to the manager ‘I have great news for you’. He talked about his selection as a health minister, how he stood second in the elections and how difficult it was fighting the cut-throat competition. The Branch manager was delighted, his face started glowing all of a sudden. He preferred ignoring us, the existing inhabitants of the room and continued the conversation with the old man. While they were talking, I noticed that there were a few awards given to the branch for their great service, for customer experience, for crossing 1000 crores in deposits, for being one of the best in a quarter, etc. I felt that the old man must be one of those ‘Big-shots’ as people call them here. I sneaked out and as expected, no one noticed.

May be he was the guy whom I like analyzing when he makes an entry into the dataset – huge Asset balance, some n-number of Savings and Current accounts, Investable balance greater than XX INR, attended by a relationship manager or an Independent Financial Advisory, Mortgages in the best parts of the country, a perfect Credit history, brilliant behaviour Score and high Lifetime Economic Profit. Maybe I should re-think about this incident when I get excited about studying them from next time.

The bank’s punch line means that they understand a customer’s world. In a way, I think they do!

Witty…

… or at wit’s end. The following two scribbles at YITP’s B&W-boards illustrate the two concepts in a fairly humorous manner:

And while we are here, let me inform you that QI’s 10^th series (Series J) has started and what a start with Victoria Coren as one of the panelists alongside Bill Bailey and Jimmy Carr. Well, this episode takes innuendos, minced oaths and rude/dirty/naughty words to a whole another level with VC getting visibly ‘irritated’ at least twice, Stephen Fry ‘facepalm-ing’ (is that even a word) himself more than that, BB & Alan Davies ‘indulging’ half-heartedly and JC having the most fun he has ever had on this show (as he himself confessed)!

To keep with the ‘witty’ theme, let me leave you with one of the most-uttered word in this series’ first QI episode with the intended meaning being the first one in the list of possible definitions:

ejaculate

Hilarity

Android marketplace offers a bunch of applications, most of which are free, at least the basic versions. Apart from the very popular Watsapp, the one that I’m currently amused with is the “very funny Talking-Tom”. It repeats whatever you say and reminds you of the neighbourhood parrot of your childhood. And there is the latest version of the same where the cat Tom tries to impress the cat Angela. As I look into the created videos, I see that Tom has the capability to perform the following: Gifting, Blinking, Poking, Falling, Regaining, Singing, Listening, Staring, Reacting, etc. Lets watch a few glimpses of these acts.

This is where Tom tries gifting something and faces unimaginable repercussions:

Gifts

This is where Tom tries to shower Angela with a flying kiss:

In the air

This is where Tom’s attempt at gifting is successful:

Success finally!

This is where Tom is trying to show chivalry:

Yoohoo

Can you guess what Tom is trying to say in the video? I’m not sure myself – though I was the one who recorded it … Well all I wanted to say was ‘You are so cute, appreciable, etc.’ and see Tom goofed it up!

This is where Tom and Angela are singing together:

Merry with Music

and these are the lyrics:

You get me and I get you,
Together there’s really nothing we can’t do,
I got your back and I got yours too,
You get me and am pretty sure that I get you.

This is where their eyes get locked:

Words unnecessary

Enjoy!