Friday, May 25, 2012
Defence Expo 2012. Indian Ordnance Factory Board
Defence Expo 2012. Indian Ordnance Factory Board
Visit to OFB pavilion was a pleasant surprise. I met some representatives who were really helpful and patient with explaining how their stuff worked. I got some nice explanations about working of different types of tank ammunitions and their respective roles. Much better than someone like me with no credentials could expect from a PSU.
Visit to OFB pavilion was a pleasant surprise. I met some representatives who were really helpful and patient with explaining how their stuff worked. I got some nice explanations about working of different types of tank ammunitions and their respective roles. Much better than someone like me with no credentials could expect from a PSU.
Defence Expo 2012. Arjun and T-90, pictures from insides.
Defence Expo 2012. Arjun and T-90, pictures from insides.
Arjun is a bigger tank when compared to T-90 and it’s quite obvious not only from outside. Even the insides are completely different. Inside T-90 there is hardly any room for movement or even partial stretching of limbs. Arjun on the other hand is spacious and much more comfortable. See for yourself in the
Arjun is a bigger tank when compared to T-90 and it’s quite obvious not only from outside. Even the insides are completely different. Inside T-90 there is hardly any room for movement or even partial stretching of limbs. Arjun on the other hand is spacious and much more comfortable. See for yourself in the
AGNI V ICBM.
AGNI V ICBM.
India successfully tested Agni V ballistic missile with officially declared range of 5000 km on 19th April 2012. According to scientists, it was a textbook launch with all the parameters and technologies tested successfully. I’m writing this post to collect as much information as possible about the missile and it’s effects.
This is the launch video released by DRDO:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGIHketiB7M
India successfully tested Agni V ballistic missile with officially declared range of 5000 km on 19th April 2012. According to scientists, it was a textbook launch with all the parameters and technologies tested successfully. I’m writing this post to collect as much information as possible about the missile and it’s effects.
This is the launch video released by DRDO:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGIHketiB7M
McLeodganj: Birthday and old graves
McLeodganj: Birthday and old graves
This is going to be my first ever attempt to write a travel diary. I haven’t tried anything like this before and don’t know how it’s going to come out. I think writing one single post for each day spent will be the right way to do it. Anyhow, here it goes
I wanted to go on a solo trip somewhere for a long time and 1st week of April seemed like a good opportunity. But I had no idea where to go until last week of March. All I knew that the place should be mountainous and not crowded. McLeodganj seemed to be a good enough place and after thinking about it for a bit I chose it as my destination. Getting there from Delhi takes approximately 12 hours by road. I took a Volvo bus which was full of tourists from all over the world. It wasn’t very comfortable journey but I managed to doze through most of it.
This is going to be my first ever attempt to write a travel diary. I haven’t tried anything like this before and don’t know how it’s going to come out. I think writing one single post for each day spent will be the right way to do it. Anyhow, here it goes
I wanted to go on a solo trip somewhere for a long time and 1st week of April seemed like a good opportunity. But I had no idea where to go until last week of March. All I knew that the place should be mountainous and not crowded. McLeodganj seemed to be a good enough place and after thinking about it for a bit I chose it as my destination. Getting there from Delhi takes approximately 12 hours by road. I took a Volvo bus which was full of tourists from all over the world. It wasn’t very comfortable journey but I managed to doze through most of it.
McLeodganj: Chinese yoga
McLeodganj: Chinese yoga
This is second post of my series of posts describing my visit to McLeodganj. First part is here.
Coming back to the road, I started walking back towards McLeodganj when I came across a a small trail going upwards which I thought led to another road above. I was right in this assumption, but I wasn’t 100% sure if it led back to the town. Nevertheless, I kept walking. I wasn’t really sure about where to go next. I thought about walking to Dal lake, which didn’t seem too far away according to the map that I was carrying. But I was wary of visiting so many places in one day and getting bored during rest of my stay. A few minutes later I came across a foreign tourist who asked me directions to some place in broken heavily accented English. Then she showed me pictures of the place she wanted to go on her phone. It seemed like Dal lake but I was not 100% sure. So I asked an aged local who was walking by. He was fairly certain that it was Dal lake and told us that it was about 2 km away.
This is second post of my series of posts describing my visit to McLeodganj. First part is here.
Coming back to the road, I started walking back towards McLeodganj when I came across a a small trail going upwards which I thought led to another road above. I was right in this assumption, but I wasn’t 100% sure if it led back to the town. Nevertheless, I kept walking. I wasn’t really sure about where to go next. I thought about walking to Dal lake, which didn’t seem too far away according to the map that I was carrying. But I was wary of visiting so many places in one day and getting bored during rest of my stay. A few minutes later I came across a foreign tourist who asked me directions to some place in broken heavily accented English. Then she showed me pictures of the place she wanted to go on her phone. It seemed like Dal lake but I was not 100% sure. So I asked an aged local who was walking by. He was fairly certain that it was Dal lake and told us that it was about 2 km away.
McLeodganj: Butterflies in the land of ancient Nags
McLeodganj: Butterflies in the land of ancient Nags
This is 3rd post in a series of posts describing my visit to Mcleodganj. You can read previous posts on this link.
Day two started with me waking up at 8 am and getting out of the hotel approximately half an hour later. Walking through the market, I came across one small restaurant named Peace with a Korean flag on the door. It claimed to be completely vegetarian Curious, I entered to check out the menu. There were 5-6 tables, all except 1 of which were occupied by foreigners. Owners of the place certainly didn’t look Tibetan but I didn’t ask.
This is 3rd post in a series of posts describing my visit to Mcleodganj. You can read previous posts on this link.
Day two started with me waking up at 8 am and getting out of the hotel approximately half an hour later. Walking through the market, I came across one small restaurant named Peace with a Korean flag on the door. It claimed to be completely vegetarian Curious, I entered to check out the menu. There were 5-6 tables, all except 1 of which were occupied by foreigners. Owners of the place certainly didn’t look Tibetan but I didn’t ask.
McLeodganj: Getting lost isn’t always what it seems
McLeodganj: Getting lost isn’t always what it seems
This is my 4th post in the series of posts describing my visit to McLeodganj. First 3 parts are in this link.
After lunch of momos, I took the road to Dharmkot. It’s a steep climb for quite a distance as you may observe in the picture. After walking for a while, I left the road and took a less traveled trail which passed through heavily wooded area. Massive Deodar trees formed such a dense canopy that no sunlight reached the ground below. The place not only looked good but smelled great too. Fresh fragrant air
After some time I met a Tibetan man walking and asked him for directions. He guided me to point where trail ended on a bend on main road to Dharmkot. He owned a small shop there. Walking on main road was not as serene but at least it had some great views. After walking for more than 90 minutes, I reached a point, where 3 paths diverged.
This is my 4th post in the series of posts describing my visit to McLeodganj. First 3 parts are in this link.
After lunch of momos, I took the road to Dharmkot. It’s a steep climb for quite a distance as you may observe in the picture. After walking for a while, I left the road and took a less traveled trail which passed through heavily wooded area. Massive Deodar trees formed such a dense canopy that no sunlight reached the ground below. The place not only looked good but smelled great too. Fresh fragrant air
After some time I met a Tibetan man walking and asked him for directions. He guided me to point where trail ended on a bend on main road to Dharmkot. He owned a small shop there. Walking on main road was not as serene but at least it had some great views. After walking for more than 90 minutes, I reached a point, where 3 paths diverged.
McLeodganj: Never take the same path twice
McLeodganj: Never take the same path twice
Other posts in this series of posts are on this link.
On day three I got out of hotel room and walked in market for a while before entering a cafe for breakfast. Took the road to Dharmkot again and met the same man I had asked for directions in lower Dharmkot village previous day. He had come this far just to get some work done in a bank. He gave some more tips regarding shortcuts and paths.
Other posts in this series of posts are on this link.
On day three I got out of hotel room and walked in market for a while before entering a cafe for breakfast. Took the road to Dharmkot again and met the same man I had asked for directions in lower Dharmkot village previous day. He had come this far just to get some work done in a bank. He gave some more tips regarding shortcuts and paths.
McLeodganj: The elusive waterfall
McLeodganj: The elusive waterfall
This is 6th post in this series of posts describing my visit Mcleodganj. Other posts are on this link.
The day begun with An joining me for a breakfast of parantha, omelette and tea in a small eating joint. She wanted to sample only Indian food that day. Parantha was too salty for my taste and tea too sugary for her. Most foreigners don’t like the sweet milky concoction which passes for tea in India. Tibetan tea is mostly a mixture of herbs in boiling water or they drink salty butter tea. Start wasn’t good enough but we had a lot of time to sample food from other places. Our plan for the day was a trek to that waterfall in Dharmkot. It isn’t even mentioned in most tourist guides but whatever I had inferred, it promised to be one of the best places to visit.
This is 6th post in this series of posts describing my visit Mcleodganj. Other posts are on this link.
The day begun with An joining me for a breakfast of parantha, omelette and tea in a small eating joint. She wanted to sample only Indian food that day. Parantha was too salty for my taste and tea too sugary for her. Most foreigners don’t like the sweet milky concoction which passes for tea in India. Tibetan tea is mostly a mixture of herbs in boiling water or they drink salty butter tea. Start wasn’t good enough but we had a lot of time to sample food from other places. Our plan for the day was a trek to that waterfall in Dharmkot. It isn’t even mentioned in most tourist guides but whatever I had inferred, it promised to be one of the best places to visit.
Mcleodganj: Last day
Mcleodganj: Last day
This is last post in this series of posts describing my visit Mcleodganj. Other posts are on this link.
Day 5 was supposed to be the last day of my stay in Mcleodganj, but I had to stay one day extra as all the bus tickets had been sold out. Although I wasn’t exactly annoyed, I had no idea about what to do with all the spare time either. I had seen and done almost everything that I wanted. Only thing left was a complete trek to snow line via Triund, but it needed much more time than I had. So I decided to just wander around.
This is last post in this series of posts describing my visit Mcleodganj. Other posts are on this link.
Day 5 was supposed to be the last day of my stay in Mcleodganj, but I had to stay one day extra as all the bus tickets had been sold out. Although I wasn’t exactly annoyed, I had no idea about what to do with all the spare time either. I had seen and done almost everything that I wanted. Only thing left was a complete trek to snow line via Triund, but it needed much more time than I had. So I decided to just wander around.
Stupid tourists I hate
Stupid tourists I hate
This is going to be a long rant which may seem offensive to some people. So if your sensibilities are easily hurt, please don’t read further.
So…you’re still here. In case you didn’t know I was in Mcleodganj last month and wrote a long series of posts about my experiences there. What I left out was how some stupid tourists make it highly annoying for other people. I usually hate generalisations, but this experience made it look like that some traits are ingrained in certain groups of people more than others.
This is going to be a long rant which may seem offensive to some people. So if your sensibilities are easily hurt, please don’t read further.
So…you’re still here. In case you didn’t know I was in Mcleodganj last month and wrote a long series of posts about my experiences there. What I left out was how some stupid tourists make it highly annoying for other people. I usually hate generalisations, but this experience made it look like that some traits are ingrained in certain groups of people more than others.
INS Vikramaditya Aircraft Carrier
INS Vikramaditya Aircraft Carrier
INS Vikramaditya (formerly Admiral Gorshkov), is name of aircraft carrier which will join Indian Navy in late 2012 or 2013.
INS Vikramaditya (formerly Admiral Gorshkov), is name of aircraft carrier which will join Indian Navy in late 2012 or 2013.
Monday, May 21, 2012
Monday, May 14, 2012
The Hindu Unity Day Keynote Talk-- Stephen Knapp
This was the live version, in front of the audience of 1500, of the keynote lecture given at the Hindu Unity Festival at the Hindu Temple in Flushing, New York on July 10, 2011. Stephen was sharing the stage with Dr. Subramanian Swamy and Kamal Kumar Swamiji who also were main speakers there, amongst others. The audience very much appreciated what Stephen had to say, many of whom wanted to speak with him, have pictures taken with him, or shake his hand, etc, after the talk. This was a specific message to a specific audience.
More information about Stephen and his books, articles, writings, projects, and photos of India can be found at his website at www.stephen-knapp.com and his blog at http://stephenknapp.wordpress.com
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
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