Best of IRFCA

Here is one of the best takes on IRFCA by Abhijit Lokre (from Ahmedabad). This is one of the best photos I have seen till date..



Amidst the early morning mist, a passenger train on the Curtzon Bridge...

Picture Credit and Copyright: Abhijit Lokre, IRFCA Ahmedabad.

Lost and Never found

Yesterday one of my colleague lost (I should say someone stole) his cellphone.. It is a brand new Nokia 3230.. he purchased the phone last week only.. it was quite unfortunate that he had to lose a cellphone he bought last weekend only..

Buzy days ahead

Just as the summer days are scorching...
my buzy days are just ahead...
hectic hectic work schedule...
multiple deliverables and target lines....
I must sail thro this..

Joke on Reservation..

Manmohan Singh to Bush – We are sending Indians to the moon next year.

Bush – Wow! How Many?

Manmohan Singh - 100

25 - OBC
25 - SC
20 - ST
10 - Sports Persons
5 - Terrorist Affected
5 - Kashmiri Migrants
9 - Politicians

and if possible

1 – Astronaut

Post No. 50

Aaah.. I can't believe.. this is my 50th post... time to celebrate!!!!

Taj as seen thro Sony Mavica

Yesterday while talking to PK regarding his comments on my blog.. he said that he would post comments for my original pictures.. the ones I take and not for my friend's pictures..

Hence I went thro my old files and caught the set of pics I clicked when I visited Taj Mahal in April 2004.. Managed to click about 50 pictures or so.. but I put here a few that I think I are the best in the lot...














































PK.. your comments pls...

Konkan Railway!

Here is a classic photo of an early morning fog at the Sangameshwar station on the Konkan Railway captured by IRFCA Nasik Member Sachin Buddhisagar.. You can visit his photo collection at Flickr.















Picture credit: Sachin Buddhisagar, IRFCA Nasik.

Classic.. this conveys the real flavour of Indian Railways.. Konkay Railways is an extreme engineering feat... the tunnels and bridges on this route gives a terrific experience to the railfans.. of course this is one of the best maintained route in the whole country..

I will try to make a trip on the KR and capture many more breathtaking views of the beauty of Indian Railways...

Smartwork = Satisfaction

This is a realistic formula I am experiencing at work in the past one month..
Lots and lots of challenges come in the way..

To be successful... not only hardwork is necessary.. little bit of smartwork is to be added... once someone works smart... success is near.. once success is at hand... satisfaction fills the mind...

Blog - Resized

Thanks to PK's tips and advice, I resized the width of my blog.

For the folks who wish to resize the blog, here is the trick..

Here is the code to the template...
content {
width:660px;
margin:0 auto;
padding:0;
text-align:left;
}
#main{
width:410px;
float:left;
}

#header {
width:660px;
margin:0 auto 10px;
border:1px solid #333;
}

In this code, change the following
Increaes the width: 660 to a value say 900px..
Increase the width: 410 px to 670px...
Increase the header width from 660px to 900px..
Republish the blog to see the changes..

it works..

Niagara - a view from a Chopper

I was in Toronto last year... I visited the world famous Niagara falls twice... in one of the visit, I took a ride in a Helicopter over the Niagara... what is the fare.. well it is 115 Canadian dollars.. its worth.. why? here is the reason.. check out the photo...















Breathtaking experience..

Spottings

Today did a railfanning session with PK and Adwait.. spotted the 22660 the latest newbie at Erode and also its sister 22661 at Katpadi..

Extremely tried after the hectic trip.. will post a detailed report soon..

Did not sat on Saturday

Today is a great day.. why? read below

1. I got up early at 7 AM (its early for me....)
2. Successful in solving a template problem in Frame..
3. 100% railfanning at Madras Central in the afternoon with IRFCA Chennai gang..
4. Purchased new formal pants from Only Vimal..
5. Went to office (to check mails!)
6. Met the expert dabbler PK, who came to my office...
7. Indigo - my WDM1 a little over 70 kms...

What for Tomorrow?

Traffic barricades.. total nuisance

Chennai Traffic Police has put barricades (sponsored by Pothys, RMKV, Jeyachandran Silks etc) on all major arterial and 100 feet roads.. I presume the purpose of these barricades are to help the police in controlling/patroling traffic.. They are placed at vantage points on the road so that the vehicles slow down... turn left to avoid the first barricade.. then turn right to avoid the second barricade and proceed further... In this way they reduce high speed driving, rash driving at night.. I have seen cops stand and monitor the vehicles at night...

Today on the 100 feet road between Tathankuppam and the ROB on the NH4, there were two barricades kept.. the distance between them was so close that only an auto can navigate... there were 7 or 8 trailer lorries and they had a tough time in negotiating the road between the barricades.. the result of which there was a big time delay for the vehicles behind these lorries to move.. normally I take 50 mins to an hour to reach office.. today it took an additional 35 minutes..

In the daytime do we need these barricades??? are they necessary in the day time? why not the Police remove them or atleast increase the distance between them???

The real intention of placing these barricade is lost if it is an hindrance to the traffic... thats what it did to the vehicles this morning...

Spotlight on!

Caption: "Mystical - Wonder what will happen when trains are actually running. Between Yedakumeri and Donigal station, 16Jul2005" Photograph by Arun B R and uploaded to IRFCA Gallery by Raghuram C G.

Picture Copyright & Credit: Arun/Raghuram

This photo is featured on IRFCA Spotlight for this week... check out http://www.irfca.org

"Easy vs. Difficult"

Easy is to get a place is someone's address book
Difficult is to get a place in someone's heart.
Easy is to judge the mistakes of others
Difficult is to recognize our own mistakes.
Easy is to talk without thinking
Difficult is to refrain the tongue.
Easy is to hurt someone who loves us
Difficult is to heal the wound.
Easy is to forgive others
Difficult is to ask for forgiveness.
Easy is to set rules
Difficult is to follow them.
Easy is to dream every night
Difficult is to fight for a dream.
Easy is to show victory
Difficult is to assume defeat with dignity.
Easy is to admire a full moon
Difficult to see the other side.
Easy is to stumble with a stone
Difficult is to get up.
Easy is to enjoy life every day
Difficult to give its real value.
Easy is to pray every night
Difficult is to find God in small things.
Easy is to promise something to someone
Difficult is to fulfill that promise.
Easy is to criticize others
Difficult is to improve oneself.
Easy is to make mistakes
Difficult is to learn from them.
Easy is to weep for a lost love
Difficult is to take care of it so not to lose it.
Easy is to think about improving
Difficult is to stop thinking it and put it into action.
Easy is to think bad of others
Difficult is to give them the benefit of the doubt.
Easy is to receive
Difficult is to give.
Easy is keep the friendship with words
Difficult is to keep it with meanings.
The language of friendship is not words, but meanings...
Easy to read this
Difficult to follow........

Deepest Condolence

Today, I received an email from Vrijlesh Rai (IRFCA Hyderabad) that one of our IRFCA members Tanvi Abhyankar had passed away in an road accident yesterday in Istanbul. She is an IFS officer and was with the Indian Consulate there.. she is also a railfan.

She had suffered from multiple fractures, heavy bleeding, cerebral haemorrhage and all efforts on the part of the medical crew of Bakirkoy Hospital yielded no result. Her body is being flown to Mumbai today and the last rites would be conducted this evening.

In September 2005, there was a email thread on IRFCA about safety while railfanning.. she was one the core discussion and sent this mail

------------
Dear Prakash/Satish/Members

many of you are very much senior to me i suppose(am 26 years old),and have more experience/knowledge than i have...though being a new member i still concern about you all, because peeping out of a running local in mumbai had ruined my elder brother's entire life.he was in his last year of mechanical engineering at IIT Mumbai when the tragedy struck 2years back.since then he is in coma with no signs of improvement.i do not want to lose another friend/brother.

regards
------------

I am very sad today on hearing that we have lost a railfan.. she had great concern for life and passion for trains.. it seems she was the only child for her parents (I presume her brother passed away -I am not sure).. this has left her family, friends and the entire IRFCA fraternity in grief... I have not met or seen her.. not even in photo.. but i feel the loss very much..

Prayers for the departed soul and for the grieving friends and family members...

Firefighters - Unsung Heroes

This Sunday in National Geographic Channel, there was a program about our Delhi Firefighters. Pretty good programme covering all the aspects of firefighting techniques featuring the highly competent Delhi firefighters and their orderals...

During the programe, they made certain remarkable differences between our firefighters (be it any state, Delhi/TN/AP) and other country firefighters. One difference I could recollect is that our personnel use the normal Khakhi clothing (the police wear) during their mission critical work, whereas their foreign counterparts use high grade firefighting suites and necessary equipments.

I find that the police, defense and intelligence agencies are going hightech whereas the emergency services such as fire services has not been improved upon by our government. This needs to be taken care.. Firefighters not only rescue people from fires.. they help during other emergency situations.. I remember them in action during the recent tsunami, the unprecedented rainfall, other rescue missions during bulding collapses, etc..

I also remember the one line message a brave firefighter said after rescuing someone

"There is no substitute to the satisfaction one gets when he saves another person's life".

Hats off to these brave men and their courage........

Change of Guard

MK is our CM now.... everything at The Secreteriat is now being replaced.. be it the officers or the sofa set or calendar or cars or drivers...

Lets watch how the Rs.2 per kg rice and Color TV stuff etc. are fulfilled!!!!

Wow... excellent blog

Prabu Karthik, the Expert Dabbler introduced me to Pravin's blog..

Excellent blog... superb reviews of Captain's movies (Narasimha, Sudeshi) -

hats off.. Great work Pravin...

3 Cheers

Captain Vijayakanth's DMDK has secured around 8.5% of the total votes.. and his candidates have come 2nd or 3rd or 4th in almost all constituencies..

Also cheers to the LP's candidates.. they managed to get sizable votes, or atleast broke the votes of the normal candidates..

Kudos to the new entrants..

Here is the Winner!

Ho Ho!... we now have a winner..

The DMK alliance would be forming the next Government in Tamil Nadu. Kudos to MK... lets wait and watch how the ministerial equation works out!!!!!!!!!

Pic credit : Chennai Online

Whoz the winner?

The election is over... About 65% of people in TN have exercised their right to vote..

Tomorrow the winner would be known.. lets wait and watch..

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Election Day

I promptly exercised my franchise today.. Went to my polling booth to cast my vote.. the top candidates names and party symbols are well known.. but I selected a new entrant to the world of politics.. I hope that I am not the only one who has taken a decision like this...

Crap

I dont know how many people listen to Suriyan FM at 9 PM... y'day I happ. to listen to it while driving home.. the programme was "En Uyire".... married guys can dial and talk to the RJ in the programme..

The topic was "Neenga eppodavadhu unga manaiviye adichirukeengala".. in English "Have you ever beaten your wife?"

what a crap! enthusiastic guys called and talked to the RJ (I dont know her name).. the question was asked again "adichirukeengala"... yes.. said one guy.. the other said "illey madam... naan adichadhillai.." another said "kovam vanda adika vendiyadhudhan.." ... another "adika koodadhu madam"..

My Question is: "Are the RJ's out of stock of topics for discussion on radio?"

Thathuvams 2K6

Here are some more Thathuvams for 2K6...
==============================================
Nee Evalodhaan padichu certificate vaanginaalum, Un death certificate unnala vaanga mudiyaathu.

Nee Airtel vachirundhaalum Aircel vanchirundhaalum Thummum podu Hutch nnu thaan satham varum

School Testla Bit adikalam... College Testla Bit adikalam... Blood Testla Bit addika mudiyuma?

Pongalukku Governmentla leaveu kudupanga... Ana Idly Dosaikku kudupangala...

Kolammavil kolam podalam. kadalai mavil kadalai poda mudiuma!!!!!

Life la onnume illa na bore addikum... Thalaila onnume ellana glare addikum...

7 Paramparaikkku ukkanthu saapida money irunthalum... fast food kadaile Ninnukittu dhaan saapidanum...

Engineering Collegela padichu Engineer aagalaam. Presidency collegela padichu president aaga mudiyumaa??!!!

Autokku autonu paer irundaalum Manualaa thaan drive panna mudiyum...

Annan wifea anninu koopidalaam, aana, Thambi wifea thanninu koopida mudiyadhu.....

Thooka marundhu sappitta thookam varum... Anaa...Irumal marundhu sappitta irumal varathu !!!

Vaazha maram thaar podum! Aana adha vachi road poda mudiyuma??

'Hand wash'nna kai kazhuvaradhu, 'Face wash'nna mugam kazhuvaradhu, Appa 'brain wash' nna,, braina kazhuvaradhaa??

Tea cupla tea irukum. Appa world cupla world irukkuma??

Cell moolama sms anuppalaam Aana sms moolama cella anuppa mudiyathu.?

Paalkova paalil irundhu pannalaam, Aana rasagullava rasathil irundhu panna mudiyuma??

Pal vali vantha palla pudungalam....Ana... Kaal vali vantha kaala pudunga mudiyuma ?!!!!

Quarter Adichittu Kuppura padukkalaam! Aana kupura paduthuttu quarter adikka mudiyathu...!!

Naai Vaalai Aattalaam! Aana Vaal Naaya aatta mudiyathu!!

Trainkku ticket vaangi platformla ukkaaralaam! Aana platformku ticket vangi trainla ukkara mudiyathu!!

Kaakka ennadhaan karuppa irundhaalum adhu podara muttai vellai! Muttai ennadhaan vellaiya irundhaalum adhukulla irukka kaakka karuppudhaan!!

cycle carrier'la tiffin carrier vekkalaam....aana tiffin carrier'la cycle carrier vekka mudiyaadhu...

railway station-la police station irukkalaam... aana police station-la railway station irukka mudiyaadhu..

ticket vaangi ulla poradhu cinema theatre.... ulla poi ticket vaangardhu operation theatre

LAST BUT NOT THE LEAST.... SOME Vaazhkai Thaththuvams:

If you drink ethanol you will dance. If you drink Methanol, others will dance for you. ...danganaka danganaka danganaka

Nee evalo periya dancer aa irundhaalum Un saavukku unnaala aada mudiyuma!!!! hehehehehehehe

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Excuse

There is an excuse for anything and everything... now I have an excuse for not updating my blog! - the excuse is "I dont find time"