Sanket's Blog

Won a Weekly Challenge on one of the flickr groups

2007-11-16T23:23:00.001-08:00

Tranquil
Originally uploaded by Sanket Bakshi

Again back with the same image. This time, the image has won a weekly challenge on one of the flickr groups. Not really a big thing... but a first timer for me :).
You can take a look at the winning page here.

Thanks to all those who voted for this.

--Sanket

Rejuvenation with light

2007-11-14T00:25:00.001-08:00

Tranquil
Originally uploaded by Sanket Bakshi

So, I am rejuvenating this blog that has been inactive for so long and I want to do it with a makeover. Over a last couple of months, I have been spending a lot of time working on my photography skills.
Now, while clicking almost more than 10,000 with my new camera, I discovered a lot of things about photography that I wouldn't have known otherwise.
This blog will be attributed to my learnings in this field.
What's a better way to start this other than posting one of my best shots here.
Do keep coming back for more. I am sure you would like this new side here.

--Sanket

Alice in Wonderland

2007-01-31T04:39:00.000-08:00

I just love what technology has done to our lives. I had never in my life thought that I would be able to read "Alice in Wonderland" the original version of Lewis Carol in his own writing.

Microsoft has just launched a version of the Turn the Pages section of the British Library for Windows Vista. It runs on the latest .Net 3.0 framework and does some really cool stuff. Take a look at it here.

I bet thats just the starting. We need to see for ourselves - how deep the rabbit hole goes :)

--Sanket

BlogCamp - Indias Biggest Blogging Unconference

2006-09-07T21:16:00.000-07:00

Finally, Indian bloggers are getting into the groove with its rising impetus in the blogging arena.

BlogCamp is going to be Indias biggest and most comprehensive blogging event ever conducted. The event that is to be held in Chennai on the 10th of September and it sure has gained a lot of attention by now.

You can look forward to see the blogging success stories, blogging expiriences and the spirit of blogging. Of course, this is not just a technical jargon speech - its an unconference. Its going to be a mixture of workshops, practical demos, presentations, interactive quizzes, lectures, debates, group discussions and of course games.

Grab a peek at - http://www.blogcamp.in/ and although I wont be able to make it, be sure that you be there. I am sure its gonna be cool.

XBox 360 to be launched in India in Sept 06

2006-09-02T11:35:00.000-07:00

For all you gaming freaks, Microsoft has announced that the XBOX 360 will be available in India from 23rd of Setp 06.

Cant wait to lay my hands on one :)

Enjoy.

Bajaj Pulsar - Copied

2006-09-02T05:44:00.000-07:00

Just bumped on this news sometime ago and was surprised by how non-innovative the Chinese can be. In another cases of copying and cheap re makes, they have lifted one of the most popular Indian bikes - The Baja Pulsar.

The Chinese have simply copied the entire bike and even the name is quite similar (Gosh! they couldnt even think on that). This new Chinese bike, being marketed in the Latin America is called the "Gulsar".

Obviously a violation of the IPR, Bajaj is taking this up with the Indian Ministry of Commerce for IP rights violation.

As the Chinese go, this isn't definitely the first time that they have done that. But what hurts here is Bajaj Pulsar's growing popularity in the Latin American market.

Click here for more on this.

CCF Webcast (for Developers) by Herb Fickes

2006-08-30T10:05:00.000-07:00

While trying to find a couple of other things about CCF, I got to this MSDN webcast today. Its a nice Level 300 web cast presented by Herb Fickes - a Senior CCF Consultant.

The webcast explains the basic CCF concepts like - Hosted Applications, the AIF, actions and lot other stuff. Definitely a must see for all those who want to know more about CCF Development.

Lance Armstrong

2006-08-29T13:24:00.000-07:00

Over the last couple of days, I've been reading Lance Armstrong's book - Its not about my bike. The book talks not just about his cycling stints but his miraculous journey back to life from a seriously life threating state of testicular cancer. The book is so gripping and inspiring that it just holds you right from the start.

I could immediately relate to him in the first few pages - the similarity being that of a "I wanna do it all and I wanna to do it now" type kid with his "neva say die" attitude.

It seems that they are now coming up with a movie on the legends life and the Brokeback Mountain star Jake Gyllenhaal will be playing the legendary cyclist.

Well, that I've been through the book, I just cant wait for the movie.

Elvis videos

2006-08-18T20:38:00.000-07:00

I posted a couple of Elvis videos which I think are really great.
I hope you like those.
Thats my small way of paying tribute to the King of Rock n Roll

--Sanket

A Tribute to Elvis Presley

2006-08-18T20:36:00.000-07:00

A Tribute to Elvis Presley

Before Elvis there was nothing... and after him, nothing much.

Our tribute to the King of Rock n Roll.

Elvis Presley - Heartbreak Hotel & All Shook Up

2006-08-18T20:35:00.000-07:00

Enough of the black n whites... Elvis in one of his color videos and a couple of those rock n roll dance steps. Heartbreak hotel, hound dog & all Shook up.
Elvis still lives and he will forever live in our hearts.

2006-08-18T20:31:00.000-07:00

Elvis Presley - Heartbreak Hotel 56

Just a terrific song... Rocking performance. Elvis in the 1950s

2006-08-18T20:28:00.000-07:00

Elvis Presley - Dont be Cruel

Another smashing hit

2006-08-18T20:22:00.000-07:00

Elvis Presley - Frank Sinatra

Elvis and Frank Sinatra together. Along three cool Elvis tracks - Fame & Fortune, Stuck on You & Love me tender.
Stuck on You is one of my personal favourites & Love me tender is the best for the romantic mood. Frank is great too, but Elvis simply rocks.

2006-08-18T20:15:00.000-07:00

Elvis Presley - Wooden Heart

I dunno this flick... but the video is cool and I just love the song... thats one of my favourites and one of Elvis' best.

2006-08-18T20:05:00.000-07:00

Elvis Presley - Jailhouse Rock (Music Video)

Another video from his thrid movie - Jailhouse Rock. This one is a black and white version of the 1957 flick.
For all the indian guys, now you know where Shammi Kapoor got his dance steps from :)

2006-08-18T20:00:00.000-07:00

Elvis Presley - In The Ghetto...

This and a couple of other posts are going to follow with videos of Elvis songs. Thats just to compile all my favourite Elvis videos in a single place where anybody can easily find them.

A Mystical Journey Called India

2006-08-07T11:27:00.000-07:00

One of my collegues fwded this link to me. This is a gallery of photographs captured from various parts of India. Aptly titled - "A Mystical Journey Called India".
The photographer has done a truely brilliant job at portraying all the aspects of my country.
These are truely mystic. For a very long time, I was hoping that someone would portray a "true" picture of India. It is no longer a land of tigers and snake charmers. Neither is it a land of the poor. Our country is definitely a flourising economy and definitely more than what people just assume it to be.
This collection I would say is truely a marvel. It captures not just the essence of India but also a country on its path to modernisation. The beautiful landscapes of North India (Manali , Rohtang, The Ganges) are just as enchanting as are the the cityscapes of Mumbai (some of you might know it as Bombay). Definitely a 10/10 for this one. A marvellous job.

Reversing Diabetis

2006-08-06T20:51:00.000-07:00

I was going through a couple of videos online on google videos and I came across this one which I thought was worth propogating.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1407054601065907544

This video talks about how an institute in Arizona has successfully reversed diabetis for people. And that only in 30 days WITHOUT MEDICATION. All was achieved with the right diet and (I think) with right excercise.

I think thats really a cool thing and really worth spreading a word about. With all the lifestyles that we lead today, it becomes increasingly difficult to keep this epidemic away. And as we go ahead with it, the age at which people catch this is decreasing day by day.
I am sure this can help a lot of people get out of the dependancy on insulin medication.

These guys have a web site here for further information - http://www.rawfor30days.com/

Pass on the word. Help cure diabetes.

--Sanket Bakshi

Seattle Ahoy!

2006-08-03T22:21:00.000-07:00

(Do click on the images as you read.)

On the 22nd of July, I left Hyderabad for attending the TechReady 3 @ Seattle. Tech Ready is one of the Microsoft's company wide event for field professionals. Started at around 4 pm from the Hyderabad airport. The flight was supposed to go from Hyderbad to Mumbai. Then from Mumbai we were to leave after midnight to Paris, from Paris to New York and then to Seattle. Well that definitely seems and it was a Looooonng journey. The delays started from Mumbai, almost 3-4 hours, then on the Charles De Gaulle, Paris again almost 2 hours and then AGAIN at JFK. At the end of it, we discovered that we were travelling for almost 42 hours.
We were booked @ the Crowne Plaza in the Seattle downtown and it was a good 20 mins drive from the Airport. The next day was Sunday. So we ended up visiting the Musuem of Flight. Personally, I dont think you can get such a consolidated and exhaustive view of the history of aviation in a single place. The place is based right besides the Boeing Factory and they also use the "Red Barn" where Boeing started making his first air planes. The Museum boasts of a life size model of the plane that the Wright Brothers flew over the Kitty Hawk. They also have aviation experts who are more than pleased to offer you a guided tour through the evolution of the flight. Their exhaustive knowledge of the subject simply awes you. They will tell you about the Wright brothers first flight, about how the flights evolved into mail carriers and then passenger carriers before taking you to the World war domains. The Museum also have real to life models of ALL the planes that were used in the World War I & II along with all their information and interesting anecdotes. Well, and thats not all. Just outside the musuem, opposite the Red Barn, you have one of the Presidential planes that was used by JFK on several of his trips. Just besides this one is the magnificient Concorde. You can take a tour of these planes and go right till the cockpit.
Once done with the museum of flight, we zoomed off to a far off place to try our luck at shopping :). We had heard about some factory malls outside the city where you would get some things really cheap. This place called North Bend, was almost an hours drive from the city. The place has a couple of malls and a Burger King outlet. Thats where we had our lunch.
After some meager shopping at the North Bend, we were off to the Washington State Convention Center to register ourselves for the Tech Ready.
From Monday, we started with Tech Ready and then were hooked up in a busy schedule till Friday. Barring two evenings where we went off for team parties to a lake side place called Bells Harbour. That was a great time to meet various other guys from all over the places.
On Thursday, we had a grand party, and I mean - GRAND. Cruises, Music and Booze. Thats what the evening was all about. With a live band entertaining pretty much throughout the evening, it was certainly a beautiful treat.
Friday being the last day, we got out quite early from Tech Ready. Rajiv Shah & me, walked to the Space Needle - thats another attraction of Seattle. Built in 1962, the Space Needle is right in the center of the City of Seattle. the entire structure is almost 600 ft tall with an observation deck at a height of almost 500 ft. Just below the observation deck, you have a revolving restaurant that can give you a view of the entire city as you enjoy your food. Of course, we planned to go in there for dining, but then it seems that you need to call them up and book in advance. Check out some of the interesting facts about the Space Needle.
Over my 7 days stay in Seattle, I had a chance to try out a couple of good restaurants there.
If anybody is going to be in the Seattle Downtown, I would probably suggest Ginger Thai (Thai Cuisine) or Mexico Cantina (Mexican of course) on the Pine street. Or you can try some really nice food and beer @ the Rock Bottom on the 5th Avenue. To try some Indian food, you would need to go a bit out of the downtown. Bellevue has a really nice restaurant - "Chutneys" where you would get some good Indian cuisine. On Saturday, I ended up meeting Anant Agvekar, one of my old buddies. He and his wife had come over to my hotel. From there, we drove up to the Macys and then to Chutneys for some nice dinner.
The next day morning - Sunday, I was off from Seattle. Heading to Chattanooga (near Atlanta) in the state of Tennesse for another project.
My impression about Seattle? Well, I would say its really a nice place, calm and green. The best part that I liked about it is that it has no hustle like any of the major cities and yet you can live there to work for the worlds best software company - Microsoft. I dont think there is anything better that I can really ask for. Given a chance, I would definitely love to be here in Seattle again - obviously along with my family :).

Life at Microsoft and my new Techie Blog

2006-05-26T04:26:00.000-07:00

Since I have been here at Microsoft, two months ago life has been quite exciting.
We have a cool campus here and lots of work as well.
I have been upgrading my skills to Biztalk 2006 and then we had a lot of sessions going around which I presented.

Of course my controbutions to PC Quest are going as usual even within this hum drum. So you can pretty well catch me every month in the mag.

As for an update, well I got my blog on the msdn and now I am actively posting on it.
You can find it at - http://blogs.msdn.com/sanket

However my old tech blog is now shelved since I got my msdn blog working !

From Panchgani ... With Love.

2006-02-26T23:12:00.000-08:00

This weekend was great. It was a lazy one to start with on Saturday. But then we just decided to go for a nice weekend getaway.
After late afternoon lunch, Deepti and me, we set out for a weekend to Panchgani. She had been to this hotel before and had loved it. She even wanted to take me along sometime. So there we were! We booked the rooms on the phone and set off.
Infact its quite a few years that I had not travelled by the State Transport buses. But unlike its reputation, it was a nice expirience this time. Obviously, the 5:30 pm bus left the stand at 6:00 o clock ( did I say "as expected"?).
By the time we reached Panchgani, at around 8:45 in the evening, the sun had already set and it was dark except for a few street lights. Fortunately for us, Deepti knew the place and we never had to spend time scouting for it, or worse - finding somebody who can guide us. Just some 10 mins walk and we were there in our hotel. In the first glance and then forth - It is definitely a beautiful place to be.
The hotel (Prospect hotel) sits right besides the famed table land - a large hill top almost as plane as a table top.
The charm of this place lies in the isolation from the crowd and the splendid weather that it boasts of with every season of the year. Due to its proximity to Mahabaleshwar, it shares almost the same climate. The nice cool climate was a decent break from the tempreatures heating up in other parts of the state.
The hotel is all surrounded by pine wood trees growing sky high and the age old oak trees. Its definitely a treat to the eyes. The hotel itself, standing there for more than 90 years since 1912 marks a landmark on the timeline. The age old charm comes from the British styled building still maintained sparkling white. The wrought iron designs in the verandah and those hanging from the roof top gives it just the authentic feel that is needed.
Waking up in the morning was surprisingly a pleasurable expirience. (Yes, 7:00 in the morning was early for me).
We started off our day by reading the newspaper in the garden outside our room. It was all ready with the wooden chair and a center piece right in the middle of the garden where we can enjoy our coffee. The lush green surroundings added to the mood and you couldn't have anyways missed the constant chirping of the birds around. It just beautifies the ambience.
As we sat in the garden and gazed around, the only thing that we could see was lush green trees everywhere and the hotel rooms in front of us.
Not so far off, through the tall pine trees, we could see the cliff bordering the table land and after a lovely breakfast, we were off to it. It was a nice walk to the table land and back. We also visited the "Den Dine" - The restaurant in the caves. Well I dint find it that interesting though.
Coming back to the hotel, we spent our time idling around sitting in the garden, on the hammock and then on the swing. That was definitely a beautiful way to pass time.
A grand lunch followed it and then we dozed off to sleep. Woke up at 4:00 and then it was time to leave. We checked out, had some coffee and started off - back to Pune.

God's Debris

2006-02-22T05:52:00.000-08:00

Sometime last week, I stumbled upon this link that led to a book by Scott Adams.
Its titled - God's Debris. I am still in proces of reading it. But one thing that I admit is that the author sticks to his words. With the introduction, he promises to have your brains spun inside your skull and then he just sticks to his promise.

You can get to download a free copy of this e-book here -
http://www.andrewsmcmeel.com/godsdebris/

Enjoy,
Some interesting quotes will definitely follow on this blog.

14th Feb 2006 - A gala eve

2006-02-19T21:34:00.000-08:00

14th of Feb 2006 proved to be a great day for me.
It was wednesday. Chaitanya had come from UK and was going to leave on the weekend.
So that was the reason for a nice get-together at his place.
The evening was fabulous. That was also the day when I had got my offer letter from Microsoft.
I was joining Microsoft Global Service (India) - at Hyderabad as a Consultant. So what else would've been a better occasion to celebrate?

We had great fun through out the night and partyed a lot !

You can see me opening up the champagne to start the celebrations!

And there goes an entire group photograph...

Liesure

2005-09-30T23:37:00.000-07:00

For each person living, there are quite a few times when he can simply cease to exist and start to live. Its basically about what you love to do and not what you need to.
Last time when I had been to the Oman dive center, I had a chance to talk to Ahmed, the diving instructor there. He used to be working at a place with a nice sedentary job with a decent salary. But once to diving and he was hooked to it. He joined the diving institute with a small job and learning the nitty gritties of the diving, he soon started as a instructor. Fours years in the trade and he still loves his job. Each day, each dive he enjoys every minute of it. It definitely makes a difference when you are doing what you love to do the best. Thats also the thing at which you offer your best.
Its about those times when the life seems to go in circles. It becomes so predictable that each step, each event seems to be predefined. It is at these points that you think about the option. Something which changes the course. Its the junction at which you need to choose the road ahead. It can be the continuations of the earthly shackles of the mundane rountine and responsibilities that we term as career (I guess thats what most of us run into), or it can be about following what you inner self says. Untying the bonds that keep to confined in the rudimentary system of thoughts. Its just about breaking free.

This change that your soul seeks, can be anything. As simple as spending more time with your family or something that would really trigger the likings. It can be even about pursuing an art or sport that you've always wanted to.Whatever you choose to do, it all boils down to a simple thing - To free your mind from the chains of the mundane chores of life. Its not the work, but the routine that gives us all the tensions that we have. All we need at the end of the day, is what we today call as - quality time. Its that some time that truely belongs to us; that we use to do whatever we desire. That time should not be bound by responsibilities or chores that decitate our daily lives.
William Henry Davies, a British poet puts this in some lovely rhymes -

What is this life if, full of care
We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich the smile her eyes began.

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

Before we engulf ourselves into this monsterous thing called work & career, lets just glance back at what we are doing to ourselves. Cos just as William Henry Davies says, we need to have that time to stand and stare. Thats probably the time, when we just cease to exist and start to live... for our own self.

My Best Friend - a beautiful poem

2005-09-27T23:44:00.000-07:00

My Best Friend.

I never meant to love you,
It happened quite by chance.

I wanted just to be your friend,
not to share a new romance.

But something happened suddenly,
Before my heart could know.

I came to see a side of you,
that caused my love to grow.

The tender way you've touched me,
I pray will never end.

A miracle of circumstance my love,
you are my very best friend.

-- Anonymous

New blog and rss feed

2005-05-22T07:53:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys,
Guess what, I just started with another blog where I can dish out all the things I want about .net and Biztalk.
This one will be dedicated to .Net and Biztalk only !
I am working on my first article that will try to explain the Biztalk message Box.
Well, hoping to keep posting to that as well.
Check it out at -
http://mydotnetandbiztalkspace.blogspot.com

Also, I have started an rss feed for this blog. So now you can keep yourselves updated about the new items being posted here from your very own desktop using a rss reader.
the link is -
http://sanketbakshi.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Oh yes, my new blog has a rss feed as well, you can find it at -
http://mydotnetandbiztalkspace.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Enjoy !
Sanket

Height of Mount Everest

2005-05-21T07:01:00.000-07:00

For the past two days, I've had an argument with Ashwin regarding the height of mount Everest. (For those of you who dont know Ashwin, he is an MBTian, my room partner in Oman).
Finally, today afternoon we decided to google it.
Not just that I was wrong with the numbers, but also I discovered an interesting fact.
The height of Mount Everest was recalculated in Nov 1999 and differed from what was previously accepted worldwide.
In 1954, the Survey of India determined the elevation of the highest point on earth to be 29,028 feet.
On May 5 1999, climbers using GPS equipment determined the new height as 29,035 ft (8,850 mtrs), seven feet or 2.1 meters above the originally accepted height.
The announcement of the new height was made on Thursday, November 11 1999 at the Annual meeting of the American Alpine Club.
Some claim that the new elevation may be distorted by faulty sea level data. However, another interesting fact revealed by the expedition is that the Mount Everest is moving north-east with the Indo Australian plate at approximately 2.4 inches (10 cm) a year.

So next time somebody quizzes you into the actual height of the highest mountain, you better know the answer !

First few shots under the water

2005-05-21T00:39:00.000-07:00

Check out my first few **good** pics under the water...

An Arabian Butterfly over the corels. Down at the Fahl island

The Corel Gardens

A school of Baracudas

The Perfect World

2005-05-18T07:04:00.000-07:00

Quite a lot of times we've come across situations where we find ourselves saying... "It would've been great if everything in the world would've been PERFECT. Everything happens exactly on time, exactly as scheduled. You are never late for any appointment, never does anyone do anything wrong, never a wrong word, a wrong deed... Never. When driving on the road each of us knows exactly what time it will take for us to reach the destination because each one is driving perfectly. It would be such a wonderful expirience living in such a world."
Well, really, at a first glance, it seems wonderful ! You open up the newspaper in the morning to read about some recent developments or a wonderul music concert that rocked last night.
A great though isnt it ?
But then, there is a flip side to it. I would not definitely like to go ALONG WITH the people. I always want to lead, I want to be ahead of the lot.
Is this the same point where the equation of perfection begins to distort ?
I feel yes. Its the competition that moves us away from the perfect world.
Everybody of us just competes with every other person we meet.
Yeah ! I want to be a better programmer than him ...
I know, I can drive better than him ...
Its this passion that leads the world away from being near perfect.

But thats the thing that I like to do...
Because its brings out the perfection in me..
It gets me closer to being PERFECT.

Finding Nemo

2005-05-18T07:00:00.000-07:00

Few of the best quotes from the animated movie - Finding Nemo.
Thats one of the best animated movies I've seen so far !
"There are moments in life when you
miss someone so much
that you just want to pick them from
your dreams and hug them for real!"
--Nemo

Dream what you want to dream;go where you want to go;be what you want to be,because you have only one lifeand one chance to do all the thingsyou want to do
--Nemo

When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling.Live your life so at the end,you're the one who is smiling and everyonearound you is crying.
--Crush the turtle.

Probably the best in days to come.....

The Snorkeling Excursion

2005-02-15T10:00:00.000-08:00

Date - Friday, 11 February 2005
Place - Oman Dive Center.

My last experience with snorkeling was quite a quick one. Or probably I felt it swooping past as that was my first experience with it. But it definitely left me aspiring for more. And so there I was again at the Oman Dive Center for another snorkeling excursion.
Here in Oman, Fridays are the days to enjoy as you really dont get much time over the weekdays (Fridays are the weekends in all the gulf countries). So I was up early morning on a Friday, ready and reached the Dive center at around 8:30 in the morning.

We had the boats waiting for us. So just some moments renting the equipment and we were off.

The sea seemed to be very rough that day. Unlike my previous experience, we had big waves and you could really feel the boat to be just a small spec in the sea... It could barely manage to move over the waves. So, needless to say, we were going quite slow.
(I later discovered that this phenomenon of rough sea was called Rebalses. It when the sea becomes really rough just following the full moon or new moon day. More info at - http://www.tomzap.com/rebalses.html)

The Mermaid Bay

Some 15-20 mins later, we approached our first snorkeling destination. That was the Mermaid Bay. I don't know why the mermaids, but the geographical shape of that place definitely suggested a bay. It was the sea running between a wide gap between the two mountains. And whilst we had to stop our boat in the midst of the sea you could see the land at a distance and feel the waves literally playing with the boat.

I must admit I had to really gather the guts to dive in there. Especially when you see the waves jumping over 10 feet high in the air. Nevertheless, feeling very stupid about my fear, I decided to jump in.
Once in the water, that was a tough experience. Never before in my life have I swam in a sea so rough !Being quite new to snorkeling and much because of the rough sea, I just could not breath with the snorkel. So I just took it off in my hands and there I was, with the mask and snorkel in one hand and my underwater camera in the other. Trying to reach the coast.
After moments of tough swimming, while still in the middle of the sea, I just realized something.
I had lost my snorkel. Gosh ! I don't know what next ?
Would I be able to do some snorkeling at the next site ?
If not, all the things that I spent on this trip were waste.
And what if they asked me to pay for it ? How much would that cost ?
After some fruitless attempts to search for it in the midst of the sea, I just gave up and swam to the cost.

There was no way we could see anything under the water (even with the masks on). The visibility was too low. Again thanks to the rough weather.So then I just spent a few minutes on the coast and again started back to the boat. On the way, I did keep looking for the snorkel, but just without luck.
Back in the boat, I started feeling that it was really a bad trip and that I should've come some other time. At least the weather would've been fine. The boat was just rocking over the water and thats again when I had some experience for the first time in my life. I guess that was what they called being sea-sick...
Notwithstanding, I just kept normal and we moved ahead for some coffee break.

After a few minutes, we were again back in the tides and before long, we were out of the rough sea.
The place was in midst of the mountains.
It was like a part of the sea that has come in to reside with the mountains.

I must say that makes a beautiful and scenic sight even to just look at.
The sea was calm as we were all safely behind the mountains, of course while still in the sea. That was an amazing destination.
The natural arrangement of the mountains and hillocks and the sea has created a number of small beaches there. Its like a perfect dream destination for somebody who just wants to get out and unwind. It's like you have innumerous private beaches of your own. Just get a yatch and reach out for one of those; and you know you are far far from the world in a complete different world of itself.

So there we were, on one of such beaches. Enjoying a nice coffee in the sun. After a short coffee break, we were again off for another destination. This time, we had taken care to chose a destination that would not be affected by the rough weather. Needless to say, again in the midst of those mountains. A cool calm sea.

It was the Rock Island !
Its like a big rock right in the middle of the sea. Beneath it you have beautiful fishes, corels and the sea flora.

Preapring for another dive, I just got all my things ready. Everything was right, the camera, the fins, the mask. Oh well, I dint had the snorkels.
"Never mind" said one of the boatmen, "there are a few spare in the boat, you can just grab one of them. When we go back to the mermaid bay next time, we will try to find it out"
Ah. that eases me out a bit. So now, its all ready. All set, and time for a jump.

This time, it was a lot easier. The water was calm, placid.
And it was just proper for some good snorkeling time.
As I went below the water, all I could see was sand and I wondered if I will see something good here?
I decided to try the right side.
On the right, you had the corels showing up. There I got my first snap. Further ahead, you could see the sand forming a pathway between the corels. It looked just amazing. But still I could not see much of the fishes.
Desperate, I started checking out on the left side.
And there was a sight that I was waiting for. It seemed like all the efforts that I had taken were fruitful.A splendid cluster of corels and a lot of baracudas just cruising past. Yes thats exactly what I wanted to see.
Small white fishes going past. They will quickly hide themselves in the corels if you head towards them.Finding them, Chasing them and looking at more, it was a great time.
Going further away from the rock, there was a wide variety of colors. All in different colors. The sea bottom started going down. It was deep there and hence the visibility reduced.

I started going towards the rock and decided to stick there. Beneath the rock, you could see a lot of tiger fishes. They usually move in big swarms and are a very common sight in such places.After clicking a few snaps with these guys, I just kept on moving ahead. There you had the Arabian butterflies. Bright orange fishes with black tails. That was a wonderful sight. It was a pair of Arabian butterflies romancing around.You could easily tell them cuddled upto each other.

As I moved ahead, I was lucky enough to catch a sight of the bigger fishes, about a foot long.
Everything was so well-balanced , so harmonious. All was fine in their world.

I looked out of the water for a change and discovered that they were calling us back. The boat had hosted the flag and it meant that we were to head back. So that was it.As I went over towards the boat, I got a last picture. This time, out of the water.
That was my boat.

For a moment it felt like an end of an adventure. But then I realized, it was just a start of a sweet, long lasting memory.

As I climbed up the boat and we headed to the dive center, I had a feeling of accomplishment.
A feeling that still lasts. It was certainly a great trip.

Little do we know what lies beneath the surface when we normally cruise on the waters.
Its a whole new world out there as beautiful or probably much much more beautiful than its terrestrial counterpart.
Its something that we cannot really imagine. A pure, virgin world where everything is just perfect.

First Day at Blogging

2005-02-13T22:43:00.000-08:00

And there starts my blog.
Lots of things to write down...
So here I go.