A very happy new year, 2012

Here's wishing all you readers of my blog, a very Happy New Year!

And My Marantz PM 57 sings again....

What a solemn moment it was when Praveen of Vipul Electronics connected my loyal amplifier to the Sony CD player and the pair of Sonodyne bookshelf speakers and when I told him that I will be switching it on. With The Police's "Zenyatta Mondatta" CD inside I switched my amplifier on and it starts playing like I heard it the very first time, flawless and beautiful. After the September 11, 2001 attacks I put my hi-fi gear away in storage in California before returning to India. Later I managed to get my amplifier and CD player but not the remainder of the gear. So after 10 years my Marantz still plays beautifully. I had actually purchased it and the CD player in 1998.

It is also a moment of great joy to know that Marantz (this time the PM 6004) won the Product of the Year Award at this year's What HiFi annual awards (held just weeks ago) in the Integrated Amplifier category. There couldn't have been a better coincidence.

The Sonodynes were no comparison to the Klipsch KSB 3.1's that I used to own (now sitting in a garage in the U.S) but the Sonodynes did their best bit and I was impressed to buy a pair. Within a few days they have already gone beyond the "break-in" stage. I also managed to find the sweet-spots after some moving around and re-positioning.



Let me hope someday I'll get my Klipsch's back and my brilliant Definitive Technology subwoofer too.

Kajal wasn't here

Though she is the heroine of the movie I had my doubts if she would be part of the crew that was shooting at my office. My guess was right. Kajal wasn't here. But Surya was. One guy even managed to take pics with him.

For a moment I thought I had missed a memorable moment.

Kajal Aggarwal shooting at my place of work!

I am astonished at how sometimes things you love so dearly can suddenly appear so close and so soon. It was only around last year this time I was watching her in "Magadheera", so many times and now Kajal is shooting in Chennai in the very place I work? Actor Surya is here too. As I was heading in that direction today, I did visit office and the floor where the shoot is going on. Unfortunately I wasn't able to see her or Surya. Should I stay put? Wait for her like those die-hard fans waiting to catch a glimpse of their idol? The security guy at our building was telling me that the unit was going to be there for both today and tomorrow. Unfortunately I have other work to do. Oh Kajal, how close and yet how far!

A winning Rangoli design

When the participants of this winning team started adding the "Champankee" flower (I love its strong fragrance) to the left and right edges of the rangoli decoration at the competition during the Diwali celebrations at my client's place, I was only thinking that they were going to ruin it. But I was in for the surprise when I took the picture. The flowers actually made it look like a carpert. It stood out from the rest of the competition. The simple idea of placing the flowers made this design unique among other entries. Click on the pics to view them full-sized.

Here were the other entries. This one was from the freshers.

In my opinion, this next entry deserved second place.

Instead this one took second place.

Why it is called the Rhinocerous Beetle

Even on the last day at my home nature doesn't fail to please me. I found this rhinocerous beetle which I snapped immediately.

Here's another pic.



And in this one, the bug looks very similar to the animal it takes its "first" name from. Click the pics to view them full-sized.