Dragon of Camden Town Market

It is the dragon of Camden Town market

Camden Town market

A music artist performing at Camden Town market

Camden Town Lock

Camden Town market is good place to spend saturday afternoon, discover different types of take-away food.

It is the best area to buy some punk clothing and artifacts. There are some tatoo shops. You can also increase your punk-friend circle here ;-).
There are lots of small shops in this area where you can find cheap and trendy necklaces, rings, small gifts etc. Shops here reminded me of Palika Bazaar in New Delhi.

Overall, it's a good place to have some beer and enjoy the canal view as there are lots of pubs in this area.

Chalk Painting

One artist made this painting using color chalks on one of the streets near Trafalgar square in London. Very impressive, something with theme and perspective.

Xobni: A different outlook of your inbox

This is for people who spend most of their time in sending and reading emails. Today, I came across an Outlook plug-in that helps you organize and analyze your mailbox and PSTs. It is called Xobni (reverse of inbox).

It appears as a sidebar in your outlook. When you select an email in your inbox (or any other mail folder), it provide following information in the Xobni sidebar:

• Contact Details
• Statistic about the email exchange
• Actions to communicate with the contacts such as sending email, meeting request, and making a call from your computer
• Contact’s social Network
• Conversation between you and the sender
• List of files exchanged between you and the contact

Xobni dynamically generates this information, and provides it to you in a nice colorful and Hypertext format.

• You can see basic details in tooltip style.
• You can click any information item to see more details in a new open page inside Sidebar.
• A horizontal slider bar allows you to control the amount of the information you want to see.
• Each of the information items is again in Hypertext format.

It provides a search facility which can scan through your emails (including PSTs), and it seems to work faster than Outlook itself.

It also provides Email Analytics. This tool can provide various useful statistics from your mailbox within seconds. I just used its Analytics to find out all major conversation I have done in last 6 months. I have used this data to create my performance report of last 6 months. I was able to do it 20 minutes, instead of spending hours going over my mailbox and figuring out what I was doing for last 6 months :-).





You can download free beta version and can checkout more features at its website http://www.xobni.com/.

If you call it a testimonial, then yes it is.

Ice on fence

After snow storm

One more snowfall

Xmas 2007

December near office

Klueless³

This weekend was good. After a hectic fortnight of work and late nights of klueless3, i conquered the prod release and the klueless3. I also got into HOF.










Try it, you might find it more fun than The Da Vinci Code.

mesmerizing fog

It is the starting of the winter, and the end of the autumn. It is first time that I am seeing fog in this area. Sun is just rising from the other side of river, and causing some of the mesmerizing display of colors and lights in dense fog, most of which can’t be captured by my small camera.

This one is my office building, looking really spooky today.

Riverwalk

When I am fed up with continuous emails, meetings and conf calls. I desperately need a walk to unwind my mind. If second half of my day is not so hectic, I try to extend my time and take a walk on this wooden track, which is along river side.

I feel the cool wind coming over the river in my face. Some time, it reminds me of the banks of Ganga.

Ducks in Hudson River

Water is not blue, it is was just a cold day.

one more fountain

this is one of the good thing in front of the office.

Some deleted scenes from RDB

Hindi Raagini

This a hindi raagini. Bhagwan Shiv is asking Gauri (Parwati) to help him in preparing bhang and she is complaining the she doesn't like this task and his likeness for bhang.
Nice voice and acting by small kids. If you understand the lyrics, you won't stop laughing.

Amitabh Bachchan India Poised

Khatmal - BedBugs - An unwelcomed guest

An unwelcome guest

Bed (bad) bug

Some tips to fight these bugs (kill khatmal)

• Clean and Vacuum your house on weekly bases.
• Bed bugs like to hide in cool and dark places. Look carefully at the bed and mattresses contours.
• Kill the bug as soon as you see it. This might leave a dark red color blood mark on the surface, so give it a thought before you spoil your wall or bed sheet.
• There are some insecticides in markets to kill these bugs. You can apply it in the corners after cleaning the room. Keep them away from the reach of the kids.
• If you find an infested bed/mattress/cot, which you can wash with hot water, bring them out in a open compound or in bath tub and then pour boiling water over it. This will kill all the bugs.
• At night, wear a full sleeve shirt, a full pajama, and socks. Bed bugs attack more on naked skin.
• If you have wooden flooring, check for the little cracks. One round of floor polishing will fill most of them.
• Regularly clean your electronic equipments with vacuum and brush. Bugs like to hide in laptop, speakers, music system.
• Once your home is infested with bed bugs, there is little you can do about it. Your first option will be extermination, for which you have to hire a professional, who will disinfest your mattresses, corners of the cupboards and rooms, couch, tables, carpet, windows, curtains, electrical switchboards, computer, television etc. He might use insecticide sprays and fumigation. Generally, the whole procedure takes 1-3 days. He should also provide a warranty period, during which if you find bugs again he has to provide free service again.

Other observations

• Bed Bugs do not like sun light.
• Infants, vegetarians, and thin skin people are bitten more frequently than others are.
• You will not feel pain when it bites. A small bump will develop at the bitten area, and then you will feel lots of itching.
• If you scratch, an itch-scratch-itch cycle will start. So please avoid not scratching the surface with your nails. Try itch-reducing creams.
• If you are staying at a friend’s place or in hotel, keep your bags closed and zipped. Open them only on need basis.
• Bed bugs have nothing to do with cleanliness of your kitchen and bathroom. A very clean house can has infestation, while a dirty looking kitchen and bathroom can be bugs free.
• Bed Bugs locate their target by body heat. Sometime you may also find them hiding in your laptop.
• Bed Bugs come out and start crawling in your bed in nighttime.
• Bed Bugs run quite fast. So make the kill as soon as you see it with whatever you find handy.
• Bedbug bites are not contagious.
  
• Many apartments and building are severely affected by the infestation of bed bugs in New York, New Jersey, Jersey City, and Chicago. Hence, when renting a new apartment, check with the landlord about the infestation of bed bugs. Also check with him/her that who will pay the cost of extermination in case infestation occurred in future. Check the New York Times article “Everything You Need to Know About Bedbugs but Were Afraid to Ask” for more details.
  
• Bed bugs rapidly multiply. By the time you notice them, sometimes, it is already too late. However, if you keep cleaning and vacuuming your carpets, rooms, couch, cupboards on weekly or biweekly bases, you can put an effective stop at their growth.

When I got bitten for the first time, I was scared and did not know why it happened and what to do. With some search and research I realised that these are bite marks from bed bugs (khatmal in Hindi).  I used some anti-itching cream to reduce the itching and pain.

Here are snaps of my hand, severly bitten by Bed bug:

2 hrs after attack (in the morning)

In the afternoon

By the evening

You can also go through the following links to get more information on bed bugs:

• On WebMD
• Everything You Need to Know About Bedbugs but Were Afraid to Ask
  

Please leave your comments if you have some information to add.

Aye mere pyaare watan

Aye mere pyaare watan aye mere bichhade chaman tuz pe dil kurbaan
too hee meree aarajoo, too hee meree aabaru, too hee meree jaan

tere daaman se jo aaye, un hawaaon ko salaam
choom loo main us jubaan ko jis pe aaye teraa naam
sab se pyaaree subah teree, sab se rangee teree shaam

maa kaa dil banake kabhee seene se lag jaataa hain too
aaur kabhee nanheesee betee ban ke yaad aataa hain too
jitanaa yaad aataa hain mujhko, utanaa tadapaataa hain too

chhodakar teree jameen ko door aa pahuche hain hum
fir bhee hain yehee tamannaa tere jarro kee kasam
hum jahaan paidaa huye, us jagah hee nikale ye dam

Aye mere pyaare watan aye mere bichhade chaman tuz pe dil kurbaan
too hee meree aarajoo, too hee meree aabaru, too hee meree jaan

Quit Smoking

Check out the harm it does to your body. Viewer discretion is advised.

15 Questions Couples Should Ask Before Marrying

An interesting and probably useful article.
------------------------------------------
Relationship experts report that too many couples fail to ask each other critical questions before marrying. Here are a few key ones that couples should consider asking:

1) Have we discussed whether or not to have children, and if the answer is yes, who is going to be the primary care giver?

2) Do we have a clear idea of each other’s financial obligations and goals, and do our ideas about spending and saving mesh?

3) Have we discussed our expectations for how the household will be maintained, and are we in agreement on who will manage the chores?

4) Have we fully disclosed our health histories, both physical and mental?

5) Is my partner affectionate to the degree that I expect?

6) Can we comfortably and openly discuss our sexual needs, preferences and fears?

7) Will there be a television in the bedroom?

8) Do we truly listen to each other and fairly consider one another’s ideas and complaints?

9) Have we reached a clear understanding of each other’s spiritual beliefs and needs, and have we discussed when and how our children will be exposed to religious/moral education?

10) Do we like and respect each other’s friends?

11) Do we value and respect each other’s parents, and is either of us concerned about whether the parents will interfere with the relationship?

12) What does my family do that annoys you?

13) Are there some things that you and I are NOT prepared to give up in the marriage?

14) If one of us were to be offered a career opportunity in a location far from the other’s family, are we prepared to move?

15) Does each of us feel fully confident in the other’s commitment to the marriage and believe that the bond can survive whatever challenges we may face?

Source: NY Times

Its amazing

Use your headphones. This is really great guitar and really nice song.


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