This holiday reminded my old days when I was crazy about Photoshop and spent much of my free time in practicing Photoshop affects. Now that Photoshop had become one of my necessary softwares to edit the pictures from my cam. A plan had been put up to purchase a new version of CS4 PS, but still negotiating as it is too costly.

Last two days were pretty boring and so I spent most of my time on Web. I was reading too many blogs, especially the controversial series by Chetan Bhagat regarding the latest Bollywood movie 3-idiots.  It was surprising to see Aamir acting little rude (in his words) in the press meet. I’ve never seen him over reacting before the media. On the other hand, I see that all the points raised by Chetan were valid and reasonable. Lets wait and see where this issue ends.

Apart of reading, I was also doing much of photoshop and going through different tutorials on the net. One that impressed me is a blog by Michael Rather. This blog has lot may useful video tutorials which you might want to try. I have seen many tutorials on web which seem very easy while watching but not while implementing. Unlike this, Michael’s tutorials were simple, understandable, and doable.

With time passing on, the technology kept on increasing, things becoming more sophisticated and advanced. When I started getting to know about photoshop (Way back in my college days), I just know it as a tool used by digital photographers and is developed based on Digital Image Processing (My Favorite subject in Engineering). But now, It had advanced way ahead in its abilities. I saw photoshop moving its way from PS 6.0 to CS1 to CS2 to CS3 and finally to CS4. People are now talking about HD Image processing by which an image can have a dazzling dreamy look. Having technology, running like a High-way express, I feel that I am still crawling way behind, like a small tiny snail. I am sure, by the time I get to know what is HD Image Processing, there will be a completely new kind of image processing.

So My dear friends, Don’t crawl like me. Be fast in getting to know ongoing things that suits your interest and get carried away by them.

Following is the result of one of those Photoshop experiments I did.

Original Photo Taken With My Cam

After Editing

Happy New Year Again. Take Care.

Durga Prasad

Mood: Sitting Very lazy. Searching for new music on internet. Waiting to go out to have a delicious food. Deceived by a Pizza Hut delivery Guy (which was ordered 4Hr’s back).

Wish you and your family, A Happy and prosperous new year 2010.

May God Bless you all. Good Luck.

Durga Prasad.

First of all…..

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas !!!!!

May God bring the joy and happiness in your life.

This Christmas is so special for me as I am in a place where this festival is very famous. Christmas tree, jingle bells, Santa clause, Snow fall, Lots of gifts and decorated houses are the symbols of Christmas time in US. I saw all these things in Hollywood movies (like Home alone) back in my childhood, but now I am watching them almost everyday. Everybody here decorates their houses in their own way during Christmas. Believe Me!!!! some of those decorations are great and you can not take your eyes off from them. Fortunately, In my place, I have seen quite many of them.

Snow on the road-side trees is a real token of Christmas beauty in US. I spent lot of time to capture that beauty with my Nikon D5000, but was just able to capture a part of it. However, this picture can not completely explain how beautiful are these trees (Especially the day after the snow fall). You really got to see that once in a life time.

To see the Christmas beauty, we decided to go to Newyork, which also clubbed with other plans like receiving a friend from Lagaurdia airport, visiting Flushing Ganesha, Sai Baba temple and watching AVATAR movie in IMAX 3D. It first started with a temple visit in Flushing. It is almost 6 months that I visited any temple. It is totally a different temple I have ever visited. We had a hard time in leaving the shoes outside the temple and walking in to the temple on the bare foot. Our foot were almost frozen by the time we entered the temple. We also visited Sai Baba temple which is no different than a house except that a house doesn’t have such a big idols of Baba. But then I thought, “Take it easy..This is how the temples in US will be.” We also had nice breakfast in flushing temple.

We then went to IMAX 3D theater to watch AVATAR. I heard a lot about this movie and few of my friends are even watching for the second time. This movie is simply Unbelievable. Don’t let me speak more about this…. If you let me, I will keep on talking till you get bored. I will just say

The movie is awesome, and Its my very strong recommendation to watch this movie in IMAX 3D. Just Don’t Miss It.

Finally, as planned, We reached Newyork central park on Christmas night expecting lot of Christmas activity in it. But unfortunately, we didn’t find much. However, We started enjoying the decorated trees and other stuff there. We visited few decorated Christmas trees and public gatherings. We saw few santas driving a decorated Christmas car playing music and  distributing gifts to the public.

We then reached the very famous Time Square, which is one of those places that none of Indian movie directors miss if they happen to take a picture in newyork. This is place is simply dazzling with damn wide digital billboards playing something or other 24/7. With its lighting, time square on the 53rd street of 7th Ave can be easily visible from at least 20 streets on both the sides. I stood in the center of the time square, kept my eyes little above the straight line and slowly had a 360 degree turn to see the dazzling beauty of time square (Like I saw in some of the Indian movies). Its simply .. Wowwwwwwwwwww!!!! That gave a great toast to my eyes on that moment.

This Christmas was really joyful for me. To summarize,

Went to a temple after a long time….

Had a nice food there ……

Saw an american street that was just like an Indian street. Also saw a bill board on that street that reads “Pichayya and Co.”. …..

Watched a great movie and enjoyed 500% of it….

Experienced underground Subway travel in NYC (which was in my Wishlist for a long time)….

Saw Time Square…..

Took some nice pictures with my NIKON D5000…..

Last but not least…. Saw the Christmas beauty in NYC……

Thats all for today folks……

Have a Great Day,

Durga Prasad.

Mood: Room is very dark (Light is not working). Hearing the wind blow leaked from my bedroom window (like in horror movies). Listening to “Give Me Some Shine” from 3-Idiots. (I fell in love with this song).

No wonder people say I am over reactive, as I feel the same sometimes. Started going through different tutorials from Bob Krist to understand more about SLR and photography. I am pretty amazed with the way this whole thing works. Tried few shots in low light today and I am excited with the way this camera does the wonder.

More on SLR on its way……

Taken in very low light

Regards,

Durga Prasad.

Saw the snow for the first time in my life Today. It just started like a little rain and slowly became snow.  We had a very nice view from two of our windows and the sliding door in our dining room. It was very nice and people say it will be even more beautiful by tomorrow morning. On the other hand, It will also be killing with too much of chill.  Forgetting the bad part of it, I started enjoying it.

This being the second day for my brand new SLR camera, I went out to try some shots in the darkness. Some were  Ok and some failed as usual. As Bob Krist says, try different options of an SLR. Sometimes unexpected shots may also come up great. Have seen two of his tutorials about using SLR camera and they were very impressive informative and inspiring. Started exploring more and more about SLR and this way, one day I would be posting my first best photograph.

Till Then,

See you and Merry Merry Christmas.

Durga Prasad.

————————————————

It was always fun to hear about a moment when all the people change their time manually to run 1 Hr late. I’ve been just hearing about this from last three years being at offshore Chennai India. All that I used to care about, is the reduced overlap time between the US and Chennai office timings. I used to be little sad when I get to know that “DST is gonna be applied on so and so date….”, which means we may have to stay back in office at least till 8.00PM (for the onsite person to come to office) .

It sounded so foolish, when I heard that some one will change their time manually (and their Govt approves it….!!!!! Ah…. Come on. Don’t be silly).  But, now being at the same place that implements DST(Day light saving time), I could experience all this real fun.

Its November 1st, Sunday, The day next to DST. In general, it will be a very long sleep for me on weekends. I will generally wake up at 11.30 AM or even late. But, to my surprise, I woke up exactly at 9.30 Am (which is actually 10.30AM) and was wondering “why the heck I woke up so early….!!!!”.  Looked at my watch, which showed 10.30AM. For some time, I was so confused and thought that it was just a “once in a blue moon” happening. Later When i found out about DST, I memorized all that i thought about it when I was in Chennai, India. Its all fun to think about it and to be a part of it.

Every morning, I am supposed to get up at 6.20AM. As usual I was late by 1 hour, which surprisingly turned out to be the correct time. Everybody, got up so early and I am sure we will go to office on time today.

lets see what happens…..

Mood: Listening to slow music, fresh in the morning.

Cheers,

Durga Prasad Tamirisa.

Posted in Experience ]]> http://prasadspeaks.wordpress.com/2009/11/02/dst-experience/feed/ 0 Durga http://prasadspeaks.wordpress.com/2009/08/11/a-glimpse-of-my-life-in-us-part-1/ http://prasadspeaks.wordpress.com/2009/08/11/a-glimpse-of-my-life-in-us-part-1/#comments Tue, 11 Aug 2009 02:51:44 +0000 Durga Prasad http://prasadspeaks.wordpress.com/?p=250 ]]> Hi Folks,

Its been ages that I had a look at this space. I am finally back after a very long break posting this from Milford City, Connecticut, US. For those who don’t know this yet, I am relocated to US on an onsite assignment.  Started a new way of life here at US. Accustomed to the extremely good environment. Started to understand different things about the culture here.  And of course back to my favorite part time, cooking. Trying different dishes on my friends (I pity em).

The entry to US….

My entry to US was a lucky one with out any pains (I traveled with my manager..).  That was my first travel in an airplane and I was thrilled to see the clouds through the window. It was initially difficult to understand what exactly was I having  in the plane. Was it Breakfast? Wat It lunch? or Dinner ? The way air hostess come to me and say “Here is your Vegetarian Meals Sir”, confused me all the time. I was wondering how she found out that I am a vegetarian.  I had never mentioned it anywhere. I finally asked her a question, for which she clarified that my travel agent did this by default for all the travellers from TCS.

The first impression…..

I reached US sometime in the afternoon and it was very cool breeze that touched my face as I come out of the plane. For the next few days, I was sleeping in Indian sleep times  (which these guys call as Jet-Lag).  The climate was very cool (for me) and I used to wear sweater when I come out. I later realized that those were the hottest days ever in the near past. This surprised me one more time in US. As time went on, I got adjusted with the climate and I am not wearing sweater anymore.

The Scenerie’s….

I was extremely thrilled with my first travel to office in my friends (Jaggi’s) car. The roads here are so damn good and are very organized. I liked the traffic maintenance here and the discipline of the car drivers.  The greenery on both the ways is astounding. They give most importance/preference to pedestrians. It is good that The Government cares a lot about people here.

My Apartment…

I lived in two appartments till now. The first one is Robert Treat, which is been a home for all TCSer’s from ages. Other than TCS there are lot many other Indians that live in this place, which make me feel no different from living in India. We recently moved to an Authentic beach-side apartment on Joy Road.  This apartments has an American community. I now have a chance to say that I am residing in a beach side apartments where the beach is visible form my balcony, Nice breeze, beach walk, fishing, etc etc had become my favorite part times in the recent past. I simply simply loved the environment that I am currently residing.

The habits….

There were some drastic changes in my habits here. I am no more getting a chance to play my loving game Table Tennis (called as ping pong here). No more GBH and CSR activities. Unable to find a  nice/appropriate place in my apartment to arrange my Puja idols because we all use sandals in the house. I am living in a double bedroom apartment which just has a single bathroom. To adjust with the office timings, I need to get up sharp at 6.30 AM. Sounds very tough, but I am making it everyday (somehow). No deviations in office timings. Starts sharp at 9.00AM to 6.00 PM.

Will be back with more updates on my activities.

Bye for now,

Durga Prasad Tamirisa.

Mood: Very sleepy, tired. Going to bed after making an unsuccessful attempt to cook Channa Masala.

I feel very surprising to write this. You know why? I never thought that i can write a review  of a novel, especially a 600 page one. This is a new thing that I have started after coming to my new room. The idea of reading  a novel started on a very ad-hoc basis just by vising a Higginbotham’s store at Chennai central railway station and suddenly buy a catchy book.

And that catchy book happened to be John Grisham’s “The Chamber”. I started reading this book with a very Little passion and believe me it dragged me to read it for three continuous day. I never know how did I do it.

The story starts with a flash back about a Gang of Klansman that involve in a serious bombing of the Law office of Kramers. This will be explained in much reality talking about the way the two kramer twins will be thrown to the Ceil’s of the office floor and all that. He also talks about the media buzz, FBI investigation etc etc.

Sam Cyhall, happened to be a part of this bombing, around whom the story revolves around until his end. He a kind of relatively innocent compared to others that are involved in the bombing. He will be caught by the police for this murder case. And after a long struggle by Kramer, he will be imposed with a death penalty.

The later few episodes, deals much about Cyhall’s struggle to get out of prison and the intervention of few famous Pro-Bono organizations to help him legally. They also flashes you back to the days when Sam was young and was involved in much brutal stuff as part of the Klan.Though it sounds brutal and heartless about Sam, the writer was very effective in create a Good/Decent impression about Sam at the end of the novel.

The writer explains very well much about the circumstances and the thing at Death Row/ MSU (Maximum Security Unit as they call it). It creates lot of interest about the surroundings and the situations inside the death row. He also explains about how they maintain the typical security in MSU. Later he gives much closer look at the Death row, talking about the daily habits of Death row inmates, Their mentalities, their timings, the details about their prison rooms, the way the security system works, the part times of the death row inmates.

The story continues, by explaining much about Sam in Death row. His relationship with the security people. His part time. His friends who only speaks but can not have a look at each other. His hobby of reading the Law books and using a small old type writer to put something on paper. His Habit of chain smoking. The goodies that he gets from his secret brother every month. His dressing in the prison and outside the prison. His mentality. His knowledge in law.

Then enters the hero this novel, Adam Hall.  A  young Law graduate, Just out of his college, approaches a famous law organization and makes a deal with them to represent / help Sam in the death row.Seeing his courage to take up such a tough assignment. The way the writer explains this character is mind blowing. This character shows up his dynamism, confidence, toughness, emotion, and sentiment.  Though he initially hesitates to reveal him as Sam’s grand son, he will be honest to accept it later before all those he had hided that.The initial states of his interaction with the prison personal’s and Sam are much interesting and fascinating.

Slowly, Sam and Adam gets in to business. Sam and his prison \mets always call him a kid (in Law). Probably, Sam know much better than Adam. Adam starts applying his Gang plank appeals to different courts in all the possible ways that he can. He faces many disappointments. He faces may hopeful moments. He also faces some frustrations as well.  This is the part where the author shows his knowledge in Law. This is where I came to know of new and interesting things about US law.

Adam keep getting closer his Grand Fa and their relation will keep on becoming stronger and affectionate. Author keeps track some of the Adam’s relations like Sam’s daughters. But, he is not so successful in using this particular character. This character come in to the picture like a Storm and suddenly goes off somewhere in the air until the climax of this novel. It is during the climax when Sam’s brother comes in to picture.

The Governor of the state, is another important character of this story. He is the only person that sam hated most and he had taken a written contract from Adam restricting Adam to speak to Governor. Governor plays most important role in deciding weather sam has to die or not. Towards the end of the story, author keeps you in the pace of sentiment and almost drags you in to tears in some situations. Especially, when the days are nearing to Sam and there are no much of surprises that Adam can make. He also keeps a the suspense of the story by always keeping a secret character that is assumed to have helped Sam in planing the bombs during the Kramer bombing.  Adam, tries a lot to find about that secret accomplice but Sam never reveals about it.

Towards the end, the story becomes more suspense with all the following questions….

1) Will Sam be Gassed ?

2) Will there be a surprise at the last minute ?

3) Will Governor grants freedom to Sam ?

4) What happens to Sam’s belongings ?

5) If Sam is gassed, where will be be buried ?

6) How are the last moments of sam ?

7) Who are all that witnessed Sam’s death ?

What is the Sam’s Last meal ?

etc etc etc…..

For more details, I suggest you guys to read the novel. Believe me, this very interesting at the end. ………. !

Your comments and criticism are most well come. I strognly recommond this book and I took 10 days to complete this 600 page book.

Regards,

Durga Prasad Tamirisa

Posted in Article, Book, Novel, review Tagged: John Grisham, novell, The Chamber ]]> http://prasadspeaks.wordpress.com/2009/05/20/the-chamber-john-ghrisham-a-review/feed/ 0 Durga