Ayodhya and does it relates to common man ?

I saw this photo on News paper long back and finally got to from google. Today verdict of Ayodhya is coming up and its so tense here, partly made my media.
 

Here the muslim mother dressed up her Kid as Lord Krishna on the occasion of Krishna Janamashtami festival at school.

 

Common person has nothing to do with Ayodhya etc, what they need is good education, food security, social security, job opportunity and peace.

Android and the Sun's ignorance behind its success

Around 2002, when J2ME was at nascent stage and Motorola was at its peak, there were many projects inside the corporate as LinoJava and JavaLin. The idea was to develop full phone (Java Phone) which will have all the apps in Java or at that time J2ME (in mid of CLDC and CDC) running on embedded Linux, with full support from Sun. Years passed with many reviews, re-reviews and parallel multiple implementations.

In 2007, Android came, with a big push from Google (as usual they bought the technology). With Android came a big hype and tremendous support from OEMs. Seeing it closely, its nothing but Java Phone, which Moto and Sun thought of and never made it public. So what exactly they missed, I know I know much bureaucracy and impractical leadership are core reasons but I am trying to think of what technical steps they missed and Android Inc. did, a just 22 month old startup, headed by Andy Rubin who also co-founded Danger Inc. (now with Microsoft):

1/ JVM should have been redesigned with close association with threads and the kernel. Sun had solaris with excellent thread support from kernel, infact the first OS to realize the importance of threads. They did a bit to port the Solaris on x386 architecture and make it open, but never ever realized to make micro Solaris for smaller devices. Sun was just stuck with J2ME and generic implementation, never believed for extended support from platform, or never realized the need for full end to end platform support.
 

2/ A good post-processor which should have optimized class files more closely to fasten the execution. BlackBerry did this to generate COD files, and that makes the application near to native and so what Android followed. Sun kept class and jar format close to the heart, did not believe in to optimize more and kept it very rigid to the RFC. That may be because of the existing OEMs with J2ME implementation, forcing a reference HW platform could have been too harsh. Sun failed to see the need of it and J2ME was always seen as interpreted language, too naive for real phone application.
 

3/ Application store, the key stimulus for OEMs. Sun never gave this platform to any OEM, they were stranded to load the pre-apps or leave users to the mercy of websites with mobile apps. OEMs never gained the confidence to build a full device on Java, so spirally it affected Sun back to never think or push more on Java phone.
 

4/ Closed capsule in entire approach. Its well known and well accepted feature of J2ME to run the application in close capsule for good security. But it affected the entire J2ME to reach where Android is. For every new thing as File system etc, new JSRs were filed but they were like optional packages.

There are some more technical reasons as no application manager to check responsiveness or poor SDK to not to simulate the real conditions, but I feel above 4 were core to the android's success and J2ME's limitation to OEM devices but not the entire platform on which full device could be build.

Tuesdays with Morrie

I am somewhat moved by this book. Morrie, a person on death bed told the world how to live. The closest book to this one was "The Last Lecture". I think both the books together shows how one can learn how to die and then can learn easily how to live. Apart from this, this is the kind of very rare, affectionate teacher-student relationship. Its just a chance, I read this book on 5th September.

Trying to paste some good text and some images of Morrie.

About the book: This true story about the love between a spiritual mentor and his pupil has soared to the bestseller list for many reasons. For starters: it reminds us of the affection and gratitude that many of us still feel for the significant mentors of our past. It also plays out a fantasy many of us have entertained: what would it be like to look those people up again, tell them how much they meant to us, maybe even resume the mentorship? Plus, we meet Morrie Schwartz--a one of a kind professor, whom the author describes as looking like a cross between a biblical prophet and Christmas elf. And finally we are privy to intimate moments of Morrie's final days as he lies dying from a terminal illness. Even on his deathbed, this twinkling-eyed mensch manages to teach us all about living robustly and fully. Kudos to author and acclaimed sports columnist Mitch Albom for telling this universally touching story with such grace and humility.

From Morrie

• So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they are busy doing things they think are important. This is because they are chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.
  
  
• Forgive yourself before you die. Then forgive others.
  

• ... I embrace aging… It's very simple. As you grow, you learn more. If you stayed at twenty-two, you'd always be as ignorant as you were at twenty-two. Aging is not just decay, you know. It's growth. It's more than the negative that you're going to die, it's also the positive that you understand you're going to die, and that you live a better life because of it.
  

• ...There are a few rules I know to be true about love and marriage: If you don't respect the other person, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. If you don't know how to compromise, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. If you can't talk openly about what goes on between you, you're gonna have a lot of trouble. And if you don't have a common set of values in life, you're gonna have a lot of trouble.
  

• Death ends a life, not a relationship.

--Morrie Schwartz

Mitch and Morrie after graduation.

Heart and Ring

One of my college mate, Partho took this one. Really liked the same :)

Linux Chaos

I just read abt the big news about Google Chrome OS yesterday. Not sure what Google wants to do and where they will place Android. Some time back I did read a news that Dell is planing to port Android on netbooks and now this comes. I think these are the reasons why Linux cud not make it to desktop market ever. The open source gives such troubles along with the the powers.

Why Google does not stick with android, create a bigger version for netbooks, what extra with this chrome OS will have than android. This is like Motorola, they had their hands in every OS be in Symbian, Linux, Windows CE, Android, UIQ. The customers got confused and gradually they dumbed the whole products. I still do not know why Ubuntu was not taken up by Google when they funded it and made two variations, they went to Android and now Chrome OS. They made Dalvik on Android now added Native SDK. I am not sure Google knows what to do apart from Search and Web.

Linux needs to be nurtured for Desktop market else it will be only for server class machines and not for the common user.

Thats the reason Apple stands so much ahead in such cases (actually in all cases). They have nurtured the Unix during last two decades and they have that on Mac and also on iPhones, they do not confuse users with 100 OS terms and UI.

Ethiopia is thirsty, diseased...

Qutub Minar

Qutub Minaar or Qutb Minar, I visited this place recently in the month of May 2009, when one of my friend wanted to see the place. I had visited the place when I was kid and I never included this place in my list to explore. When I went there and saw the place I wondered on my decusion. By chance that day was awesome, the temperature at May at Delhi was quite good. Very exceptional :)

This is worlds tallest brick Minaret. It is situated in the Qutb complex, amidst the ruins of ancient Jain temples which were destroyed & their stones used to build the Qutb complex & minar. [3] Constr uction commenced in 1193 under the orders of India's first Muslim ruler Qutb-ud-din Aibak, and the topmost storey of the minaret was completed in 1386 by Firuz Sha h Tughluq. The Qutb Minar is notable for being one of the earliest and most prominent examples of Indo-Islamic architecture.

The Qutb complex, also spelled Qutab or Qutub, is an array of monuments and buildings at Mehrauli in Delhi, India, the most famous of which is the Qutb Minar. It i nitially housed a complex of twenty-seven ancient Jain temples which were destroyed & their material used in the construction of the Qutb complex by Qutb-ud-din Ai bak, the first ruler of the Slave Dynasty, and his successor Iltutmish (aka Altmash) on the ruins of Lal Kot and Qila-Rai-Pithora (Prithivraj Chauhan's city). The complex was added to by many subsequent rulers, including Iltutmish and Ala ud din Khilji as well as the British.

Let me now try to paste some specs of Qutub Minar, followed by a good shot I was able to take :). The Qutab Minar is 72.5 metres (238 ft) tall with 379 steps leading to the top. The diameter of the base is 14.3 meters wide while the top floor measures 2.75 meters in diameter. Surrounding the building are many fine examples of Indian artwork from the time it was built in 1193. A second tower was in construction and planned to be taller than the Qutb Minar itself. Its construction ended abruptly when it was about 12 meters tall.The name of this tower is given as Alau Minar and construction of recent studies shows that this structure has been tilted in one direction. It is made of red sandstone all the way except for two stories at the top. This part is of white marble and was made by Firoz Shah Tughlaq.He had decided to put a more prominent finish to the magnificent minar.

This is the second tower mentioned above (Alai Minar). Its in ruins now. Here is the cool shot I was able to take. Its a cool comparative shot :) When I saw this one I just thought of a well known idiom. "Man Proposes, God Disposes".

Then we went to Jain Temple. A nice piece of architecture and a mixture of Aryan and Islamic art. Look at the image below. These pillars are from Jain Era and the persian work is much after. These looked very very gongeous in live!! These pillars from the Jain temples were actually reused in the Quwwat ul-Islam Mosque.

Here comes the famous iron pillar. The iron pillar is one of the world’s foremost metallurgical curiosities. The pillar, almost seven metres high and weighing more than six tonnes, was erected by Chandragupta II Vikramaditya (375–414 CE). It is the only piece of the Jain temple remaining, which stood there before being destroyed by Qutb-ud-din Aibak.

One more cool shot of Minar below. Its a must visit place and best ime is from September to March. Place for nice weekend :)

Stop flying by Air France !

I have myself felt this and here are some real stories which really disturb. Its a shame for such countries who claim to be developed and from first world and believing in racial discrimination. This is far worse from discrimination on the basis or religion or caste.

Racial bias: Air France says sorry to passengers

Puneet Bhatia,New delhi,says:I happen to be a "Platinum Member" of KLM/ Air France's frequent flyer program "Flying Blue" and I have to agree with what has happened. The airline especially their ground staff are highly racial and that is what I experienced last year in Amsterdam. I saw in front of me European passengers being treated preferentially, there was a couple who got an upgrade by KLM just because they happened to be Dutch (in front of me, without paying anything) while I was refused even an upgrade even though I was willing to pay up by my miles. I told the staff supervisor about my ill-health and that I was willing to redeem miles for an upgrade, but she was rude and threatened to remove me from the flight. I travelled without food on the flight because they had a non-veg meal and when i returned I had to spend 7 days recovering from the trauma. I have since ceased to fly with KLM. Due to their racial and biased attitude, I had to fly 10 hours without food and also basic amenities one would expect that can be extended to a frequent flyer. It is so frustrating that we dont have a forum in India to highlight the racial attitude of the European airlines. I wish there was a forum created by Govt. of India on prventing racial abuse of Indians outside of India. [14 May, 2009 1608hrs IST] Taposh Chatterjee,Boston,says:I am very frequent travel - travelling on an average 1 to 15 times world wide. I have been doing this for the last 22 years. I always make it a point NOT to travel by Air France no matter how inconvenient it is. I have had some very bitter experience with Air France thrice. In one case I flew from Braga, Portugal to Paris to take a connecting flight to Delhi - the inbound flight to Paris from Braga was delayed and consequently I missed my connecting flight to New Delhi. In Spite of having French Visa - Air France just did not care. I spent more then an hour running round trying to get them to give me hotel, transportation - all in vein. In the end I spent my own money to go to a hotel to stay for the night and then take the next morning flight to Delhi. This treatment was melted out to me in spite of being a Business Class passenger - I can well understand what must be happening to Economy Class. I suppose Air France believes in service on the basis of nationality and the colour of ones skin. It is high time DGCA or other authority take action. In the mean time I would appeal to all Indians worldwide including India to boycott all Air France flights [14 May, 2009 1606hrs IST] Vishal Shinde,London,says:I think Air France has habbit of doing mistakes and then saying sorry. The same incidence happened with me. I fought back and got 500 Euro as compensation after my complain(in 2004). In my case, Air France also provided me visa and arranged for a stay in Hotel. In this case there are 52 people who can fight back and claim for good compensation. Mere sorry will not do.... [14 May, 2009 1605hrs IST]

Leh and Pangong Lake

We had been there a bit months ago for some days. Had been a long time desire to be there and spend some days at Leh. After 30 minutes of flight, we began to realize that this trip is going to be different. We were amazed from the views we seeing from the window of our seat. Real Himalayan beauty. Unfortunately I could not take photos at that moment.

In 1 hr, we elevated to 12,000 ft of height !! The airport is controlled and maintained there by Indian army and its an Army Airport. No cameras etc are allowed inside so the airport. So It was different :)

Some background abt Leh. Leh was the capital of the Himalayan kingdom of Ladakh, now the Leh District in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, India. The town is still dominated by the now ruined Leh Palace, former home of the royal family of Ladakh, which resembles a mini-Potala Palace. Leh is at an altitude of 3,500 meters.

Leh has a cold, arid climate with long, harsh winters from October to early March, with minimum temperatures well below freezing for most of the winter. The city gets occasional snowfall during winter. The weather in the remaining months is generally fine.

Some very unique census statistics. According to 1981 Census, 81.18 % of Leh District's population is Buddhist, 15.32 % Muslim, 2.99 % Hindus, 0.27 % Sikh and 0.23% Christians.

We went to stupa the same day. May be we shld not have gone the first day as its suggested to stay at hotel for the first day for good acclimatisation. I shld first paste a good photo of our resort . I shld say thats one on of the best resorts we could find there. Excellent food and good services. It was of wood and okay centrally heated. I liked all fod except the laddakhi tea. More of bad soup kind :(.

The stupa we saw was shanti stupa and was at a bit height from the city central. This was the second time I saw stupa after Sarnath.
We took rest that day and prepared for the big drive to Khardungla pass, highest motorable road. Khardung La (la means pass in Tibetan) (elevation 5359 m) is a high mountain pass located in the Ladakh region, Jammu and Kashmir, India. The international spelling is used here, but it is locally spelt "Khardong La".

The pass on the Ladakh Range lies north of Leh and is the gateway to the Shyok and Nubra valleys. The Siachen Glacier lies partway up the latter valley. Built in 1976, it was opened to motor vehicles in 1988 and has since seen many automobile, motorbike and mountain biking expeditions. Maintained by the Border Roads Organisation, the pass is strategically important to India as it is used to carry essential supplies to the Siachen.

Khardung La is situated 37 km by road from Leh. The first 24 km, as far as the South Pullu check point, are paved. From there to the North Pullu check point about 15 km beyond the pass the roadway is primarily loose rock, dirt, and occasional rivulets of snow melt.

We were not able to stay there longer as we felt we needed more oxygen. Thanks to the army medical officers for helping my mother and wife with oxygen supply. Yeah a bit risky. We went down withing 10 minutes. But not before taking some family pictures in front of this board :)

The same day we did some shopping in the evening and some really good tibetian food :)

The next day had a big aim. The place I wanted to see from many many years. Pangong lake. The images itself speak. I mean at first one can't realize that such place exists. So much near to the nature.

Pangong lake can be reached in a five-hour drive from Leh, most of it on a rough and dramatic mountain road. The road traverses the third-highest pass in the world, the Changla pass, where army sentries and a small teahouse greet visitors. The spectacular lakeside is open during the tourist season, from May to September. A special permit is required to visit the lake. While Indian nationals can obtain individual permits, others must have group permits (with a minimum of four persons) accompanied by an accredited guide; the tourist office in Leh issues the permits for a small fee. For security reasons, India does not permit boating. Now next just see the images. I mean amazing !!!!

I felt some one has made so live 3D paitings. I have never ever seen such a place in my all travel trips. We did face some health issues due to extreme height, less pressure and oxygen.
One more thing I shld mention here. Army there is extremely helpful. They live in such miserable conditions. Its not the resources, but the natural conditions are so harsh. But they are really very very helpful. A must visit place for anyone. Shld be in the list of "100 Places to visit before you die".

Naxalite

This is one of the biggest threats to the nation. I was reading a book called India After Gandhi and got to know this interesting fact. This text is from web and is more or less the same which I read in the book.

"The term comes from Naxalbari, a small village in West Bengal, where a section of Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) led by Charu Majumdar and Kanu Sanyal led a violent uprising in 1967, trying to develop a "revolutionary opposition" in opposition to the CPI(M) leadership. The insurrection started on May 25, 1967 in Naxalbari village when a peasant was attacked by hired hands over a land dispute. Local peasants retaliated by attacking the local landlords and the violence escalated. Majumdar greatly admired Mao Zedong of China and advocated that Indian peasants and lower classes must follow in his footsteps and overthrow the government and upper classes whom he held responsible for their plight. He engendered the Naxalite movement through his writings, the most famous being the 'Historic Eight Documents' which formed the basis of Naxalite ideology. In 1967 'Naxalites' organized the All India Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries (AICCCR), and later broke away from CPI(M). Uprisings were organized in several parts of the country. In 1969 AICCCR gave birth to Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist)."

How much do you believe: I will resign, says Maharashtra deputy CM

See the more irony here: "I pondered over the issue the whole night yesterday. Finally, I have decided to quit as per my conscience," Patil said.

How much do an average Indian believe in this. He did this after 3 days ? I mean what kind of leaders we have and with what hope we can live. There are thousands of Indian who relocated or wanted to relocate to India and work on Mother land. And our family, our life, our career, our generations depend on these persons who do not realize what happened, its not a small incident in a big city, but a kind of assault to our mother India.

Many times I feel they are not capable of understanding all this. What they understand is power, vote, money. And worst, we are no t left with much choice too. The big brother of this person brings the actor son and director with him. Walking over the BLOOD of Indians and planning for a new good movie. I am perturbed, I am hurt, I am scared, and I am angry.

Last evening my cousin said a very imp thing. Nehru died because of shock. Shock that despite his stature, work on international level, China duped him and because of Him the country suffered so much. He died of this shock. And see the generation now. They are no even affected.
I do not know how a human can be so insane. I am not normal from past 5 days, I keep thinking abt this, keep thinking about torture and trauma the innocents had, keep thinkin abt Mossie, who lost parents on his second birthday.
CAN'T THESE EXPERIENCED AGED POLITICIANS THINK, FEEL, REALIZE, DO SOMETHING ?

Love

Once you surrender do not look to see whether it's working or not. Expectation is a kind of ego. Love is surrender. Love teaches you only to give and give and give and do not ever expect anything in return. That is the true love.
--Bhagvad Geeta

Bhagvad Gita

A person in Krsna consciousness is always transcendental to the material modes of nature. He has no expectations for the result of the work entrusted to him because he is above false ego and pride. Still, he is always enthusiastic till the completion of such work. He does not worry about the distress undertaken; he is always enthusiastic. He does not care for success or failure; he is equal in both distress or happiness. Such a worker is situated in the mode of goodness.

Forgiveness

Bitterness is like drinking a glass of poison and waiting for your enemy to die.
--Nelson Mandela

Helsinki

Was there recently for some business meetings. Quite impressed by the statistics of the country. Its eighth largest country of Europe, historically was part of Sweden. May be that explains why all the street names were written in Swedish and in Finnish !

Was a surprise to see tonnes of Chinese people :). May be another factory proposal at China. I stayed much closer to Airport though and nice to have a free airport shuttle :)

Thing I disliked was Finnish food. Bad Bad Bad Bad Bad!

Hotel had the breakfast timings from 4 AM to 10 AM. Yes 4 AM :) My business counterparts there are Helsinki office told me that they are used to have lunch at 10:30-11 AM. I am used to have breakfast at this time on weekends :)

Though my schedule was very tight, we were able to roam around, in local markets and not to forget the Nokia showroom at Helsinki !
One very nice surprise was the cool local music bands performing there. Music has no language and we were glued to that place for nearly an hour ! Amazing talent. Weather was very nice, though 30 minutes of drizzling.


Finland currently numbers 5,302,778 inhabitants and has an average population density of 17 inhabitants per square kilometer. This makes it, after Norway and Iceland, the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Isn't this amazing and Nokia comes from this place.
And last the rickshaw, but in Europe ;)

Best Place to work !

This is another text from the same book. And probably the most imp one for every individual.

And the other Jim Graham story I have is there was one practice where he just rode me all practice.
You’re doing this wrong, you’re doing this wrong, go back and do it again, you owe me, you’re doing push-ups after practice. And when it was all over.
One of the other assistant coaches came over and said, yeah, Coach Graham rode you pretty hard, didn’t he? I said, yeah.
He said, that’s a good thing. He said, when you’re screwing up and nobody’s saying anything to you anymore, that means they gave up.
And that’s a lesson that stuck with me my whole life. Is that when you see yourself doing something badly and nobody’s bothering to tell you anymore, that’s a very bad place to be. Your critics are your ones telling you they still love you and care.

Fundamentals !

I was reading a book and this is something worth. We all know this and very few apply in day today work. This is applicable to profession, life, relations and in any approach !

OK, let’s talk about football.
My dream was to play in the National Football League, I did not make it to the National Football League, but I probably got more from that dream and not accomplishing it than I got from any of the ones that I did accomplish.
I had a coach, I signed up when I was nine years old. I was the smallest kid in the league, by far. And I had a coach, Jim Graham, who was six-foot-four, he had played linebacker at Penn State. He was just this hulk of a guy and he was old school. And I mean really old school. Like he thought the forward pass was a trick play. And he showed up for practice the first day, and you know, there’s big hulking guy, we were all scared to death of him. And he hadn’t brought any footballs.
How are we going to have practice without any footballs? And one of the other kids said, excuse me coach, but there’s no football.

And Coach Graham said, right, how many men are on a football field at a time? Eleven on a team, twenty-two.
Coach Graham said, all right, and how many people are touching the football at any given time? One of them.
And he said, right, so we’re going to work on what those other twenty-one guys are doing.

And that’s a really good story because it’s all about fundamentals. Fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals. You’ve got to get the fundamentals down because otherwise the fancy stuff isn’t going to work.

Quick Trip to Goa !

Trip To Goa !

In a quick thirst for some rest we went to goa for the weekend. Though not 100% the tourist season, the vacation was great.

Goa is India's smallest state in terms of area and the fourth smallest in terms of population. Located on the west coast of India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its western coast.

I have been to goa in my eductaional tour also, the climate, people and joyous environment makes it a perfect place to relax. Not to forget the fabulous beaches.

We stayed at Riveirra De Goa resort. Nice built and good location.

We went to beaches near the hotel on day one, most the time went in pool and sports. 2 rounds of Go-Karting were thrilling too.

We visited Panjim next day. There was short cruise also with some cultural dances and nice sunset.

Panjim is the state's capital. Vasco da Gama (sometimes shortened to Vasco) is the largest city. The historic city of Margao still exhibits the influence of Portuguese culture. Portuguese first landed in Goa as merchants, in the early 16th century, and conquered it soon after. The Portuguese overseas territory existed for about 450 years, until it was annexed by India in 1961

We got tattooed too. Though a temporary one :)
I personally can visit goa N number of times in an year !

Taj!

We went to Agra by road. Exceptionally well maintained road in Uttar Pradesh. It was a cool thing to have awesome weather in June for this trip !! It was raining and temp was near to 22 degree celsius. We had breakfast at Dabchick resort, maintained and run by Haryana tourism.

We first visited Mathura, Krishna Janmabhoomi. Mathura is a holy city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is located approximately 50 km north of Agra, and 150 km south of Delhi. Krishnajanmabhoomi, which means 'the birth-place of Krishna', is a temple built on the birthplace of Krishna (an avatar of God in his original form in Mathura). It is believed that Lord Krishna was born here in a cell of a prison, which once stood there. Krishna was son of Vasudeva and Devaki. Devaki was cousin(sister) of the local King Kansa. Kansa was told that the eighth son of Vasudeva and Devaki will kill him. Fearing this he imprisoned his sister and brother-in-law and eventually killed first seven children of the couple.

Krishna was the eighth child of the couple, and he was hand carried to Gokul by Vasudeva in thunder and heavy rain. The child Krishna was brought up by the local village-head of Gokul, Nanda (that is how he got his other name, Nandlaal). Eventually Krishna led a rebellion against the kingdom of Kansa and killed him. Gokul is around 14 kms north from Mathura. We could not visit that place this time. Lord Krishna was brought up in Gokul till he returned back to Mathura and killed Kansa.

The current temple complex is at the site of the prison (partly occupied by the mosque built by Aurangzeb). However, the temple complex is not entirely undisputed birth place temple complex for Krishna. There is at least one more temple close by which claims to be the real birth place of Krishna. The local populace is quite divided about the reality.

We then headed to Agra. Oh I forgot, we had kachoris and jalebi at Mathura. Agra is a city on the banks of the Yamuna River in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It finds mention in the epic Mahabharata when it was called Agrabana, or Paradise. Ptolemy, the famous 2nd century geographer, marked it on his map of the world as Agra. Tradition and legend ascribe the present city of Raja Badal Singh (around 1475) whose Fort, Badalgarh, Stood on or near the site of the present Fort. However, the 12th century Persian poet Salman writes of a desperate assault on the fortress of Agra, then held by one King Jaipal, by Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni. It was ruled by Sultan Sikandar Lodi in the year 1506. It achieved fame as the capital of the Mughal emperors from 1526 to 1658 and remains a major tourist destination because of its many splendid Mughal-era buildings, most notably the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri

And guess what, we were in flood :). Due to bad drainage system of main city Agra, our car was 2 feets in water. Thanx to the SUV makers, we did not stop and cud get through the flooded road an reached our hotel. Tajmahal was 1 kms away from the same and thats one of the reason we booked that :D

After say 1 hr, we headed o Tajmahal, surprisingly it was less than 1 kms and was a cool walk. Tajmahal is a mausoleum located in Agra, India, that was built under Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal.

The Taj Mahal (also "the Taj") is considered the finest example of Mughal architecture, a style that combines elements from Persian, Turkish, Indian, and Islamic architectural styles. While the white domed marble and tile mausoleum is most familiar, Taj Mahal is an integrated symmetric complex of structures that was completed around 1648. Ustad Ahmad Lahauri is generally considered to be the principal designer of the Taj Mahal.

We roamed around, some best shots we took from the cybershot we have and then headed back to hotel.

In evening, from rikshahwallas and local persons we gathered the place from where we can buy pethas, pachii pethas to be specefic and the leather goods, mainly shoes and sandals ! And it was Sadar Bazaar ! and then food at "Only" before heading back to hotel.

Next day, we headed for Vrindavan. Vindavan or Vraj in Mathura district, Uttar Pradesh, India is a town on the site of an ancient forest which is believed to have been the region where the famous cowherd boy, Krishna, from Hindu scriptures spent his childhood days. It is about 15km away from Mathura city (said to be Krishna's birthplace), near the Agra-Delhi highway. The town includes many hundreds of temples dedicated to the worship of Radha and Krishna and is considered sacred by a number of religious traditions such as Gaudiya Vaishnavism, Vaishnavism, and Hinduism in general.

We visited Baanke-Bihari mandir. There are more than 5000 temples in Vrindavan, but this is the oldest one and must visit. And then Vrindavan-Bihari. Not so crowded as compared to Baanke Bihari. Finally we headed back. We had lunch at Dabchick Resort, run by Haryana tourism. Somehow we are addicted to it whenever we cruise on NH2.

Optimism is the first cousin of love.

This is one of the nice lines in "Shantaram". I finished this book yesterday and i wished some more pages.
There are many twists turns and events and the best is the series of events starting from Afghanistan till Bombay, before and after khaderbhai :)
Amazing book and must read. After Kite Runner and Thousand splendid sun, I thought I may have read the best book this year, but this was amazing.

A Must Read, and I am not sure, I had a feeling of another volume with Gregory's exp in India and in Germany and finally in Australia.

If Mira Nair succeeds, it shld be a cool movie with Amitabh Bacchan (Khader Khan), Amir Khan (Abdullah) and Johny Depp (Shantaram) ! Donno who will be Karla, Ulla, Modena and Lettie and Didlier :D.