News..

I read digg.com quite frequently and I decided to share the news I find there with you all. So here goes the first news in the label News.
Follow this link for some great stories

weird place

this is something awesome

this one is funny

this one too

Washington DC

Capitol, originally uploaded by digijinx.

It was trip to DC on a hot hot weekend this summer. Visited the White house, the Capitol Building, the Air and Space museum, the Renwick Gallery (smithsonian museum), some memorials and of course lunch buffet at Minerva,Fairfax VA. It was one awesome trip. Thats the brief overview of the trip.

If you don't want to read through the blog, here is the link to the entire set of photos of my trip to DC

It was a hot hot Saturday and I was stuck in traffic in NJ for a long time and finally entered DC. Its one of those cities where you absolutely need GPS yet you would get lost. I think I would say the same about Boston city too. Took the Metro(Thats one of the best thing in DC...and its an awesome metro train all over the city) and went to the White House of course and walked the lengths of it...also made a detour to the Renwick Art Gallery...quite a lot of modern art...queer and funny...but very captivating and intriguing. Also had a small picnic at the Lafayette park. The Capitol Building was really neat and I managed to get some good shots of the building.That was it...we were exhausted. The heat was too much to take I tell ya.

The next day we went to the tidal basin, watched the geese, sat near the Potomac...went to the Lincoln memorial...walked the entire length of the reflecting pool (with all the filth around)..also visited the Korean and the Vietnam war memorials..sneaking time to buy some souvenirs. The view of the Lincoln memorial from the WW II memorial was nice with the reflection and everything. The WWII memorial..has its own charm.

It was then time to visit the air and space museum..we also watched a Cosmic Collision show at the Einstein Planetarium. Also walked into a space shuttle (rocket) model. Awed and amazed by the different displays of the planes and then it was time for lunch at Minerva...DC is one place you must visit...at least once. and Minerva lunch buffet is one thing you can go as many times as you please.

Pssst: With this post I have touched 2000+ photos on flickr. That shows the abuse of my camera hehehe!

Big E--New England's biggest fair

Big E, originally uploaded by digijinx.

Big E is an annual event and is one of New England's Biggest fair happening usually in the month of September. The traffic around the area gets crazy alright. Its lot of fun though, so all the craziness goes right through your head.

To start off there are these State houses of New England ( if you didn't know..Connecticut, Maine,Massachusetts,New Hampshire,Rhode Island and Vermont together make up this New England) and each state carries its speciality. The Maine potatoes are what stand out. They are just sooo yummy! Its also perfect timing for leaf peepers to gather information about the fall foliage in all parts of New England.

Then there is the Mardi Gras Parade with floats and beads. I was so busy collecting beads, that I did not click pix. Thats a sign you went to Big E if you wear those gaudy beads around your neck. Dunno why you would do that...but you would still.

If you want to skip reading thru the blog..here is the link to the whole set of photos.

I also went to a Farm-a-Rama and saw like alpacas,Llamas,Chicks hatching from the egg and well Pigs! There was this huge mom pig and some 11-12 piglets...and two of them were literally on each other's nerves having a huge row over saw dust. It was too funny to watch them. I was reminded of Charlotte's web and I was looking to see if there was a spider web somewhere there.There was also a horse show and well the horses were jumping over a pole and stuff...equestrianism.. I believe is what they call it.

The craft common was a delight..there were so many swarovski crystal jewelry..the international bazaar was very nice too. It had those kewl egyptian paintings, those bamboo shots, lucky stones, lucky feng shui charms...intriguing.

At the better living center, saw a guy with a steam iron. Its a pretty neat product and also a vacuum cleaner which can wash and clean floors...neat product again.

There are these hell lotta rides that you could go on till you throw up or get dizzy and the games you could play to win loads of soft toys. its lots of fun doing that. But you need cash...no cards there and there is always this huge line at the ATM machine there.

Some real kewl garden stalls and furniture stalls. May be i would consider buying them if I owned a house! Sigh!!

There is food everywhere you turn, funnel cakes, fried dough, french fries, lobsters, hot dog stalls,pizza, beer garden,taverns, lemonades, cotton candy, kettle corn...the list is endless.

There is a chinese drum show and a live band playing everyday. You can see kids dancing off stage for the music, its so much fun watching them do that.

There is also a free zoo and then you can ride on an elephant, a camel...man its a mini country altogether this fair I tell ya.
Its on till Sep 30th. If you are in the New England area, don't miss it.

Niagara Falls

Niagara
Originally uploaded by digijinx

The best time to visit this place would be Summer! I did just that and it was one mindblowing experience yet again.
I will shortly list why it was so.

Here is the whole set of photos.



There is a lot of history behind the falls and if you are interested read this.

• Did you know that the American falls was completely diverted in 1969 for erosion control
• All together, Niagara's generating stations can produce about 4.4 GW of power.
• The volume of water approaching the falls during peak flow season is 202,000 cubic feet per second (5,720 m³/s)
• In October 1829, Sam Patch, who called himself The Yankee Leaper, jumped from a high tower into the gorge below the falls and survived; this began a long tradition of daredevils trying to go over the Falls.
  
• In 1901, 63-year-old school teacher Annie Edson Taylor was the first person to go over the Falls in a barrel as a publicity stunt; she survived, bleeding, but virtually unharmed
• In what some called the "Miracle at Niagara", Roger Woodward, a seven-year-old American boy, was swept over the Horseshoe Falls protected only by a life vest on July 9, 1960, as two tourists pulled his 17-year-old sister Deanne from the river only 20 feet (6 m) from the lip of the Horseshoe Falls at Goat Island.
• The flow of water was stopped completely over both falls on March 29th 1848 due to an ice jam in the upper river for several hours. This is the only known time to have occurred.
  

I did visit the Niagara Falls last year and thought that the cave of the winds was exhilarating...and nothing would get better than that. I could remember standing under the Hogenekkal Falls and thinking the same...but I proved myself wrong yet again. This time around I took the Chopper tour of the falls and man was it awesome! It was beyond believable. This picture here, you can see the rainbow across the horseshoe falls. The cave of winds and the maid of the mist was once again refreshing rides. We also saw the fireworks over the falls on Friday evening and also saw the falls in the lights. Yellow, red,blue...That was yet another rainbow altogether.


All facts source:Wikipedia.org
http://www.niagarafallslive.com/Facts_about_Niagara_Falls.htm

If only...Chapter 4

If only…Chapter 4
I know...its been a long time since I posted a followup to my story...I found some time to write...so here goes chapter 4. To catch up read the previous posts under the tag If only



Dhruv Joshi, for all the happy go lucky guy that he was, was a multi talented creature. He was a Robotics Engineer and he was a DJ too at one of the local clubs. He lived in Bangalore. A little shy of 6 feet tall, he was the TDH package bundled into one, throwing in a humorous nature. He was just too good to be true.
DJ sounded a bit happy when he hung up the phone with Roshni. “This time it ought to work”, he told himself, crossing his fingers.And he was getting ready to board the train to NY City and he bumped into Suraj at the station. Suraj was Roshni’s brother.
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Roshni was still wondering how he gathered enough mettle to call her. Not that she didn’t enjoy talking to him again. His voice still had that magic and stirred up so many memories. She tried to brush away thoughts about Viv and get on her with her life. It was difficult, but she was sure she would get through this.
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It was still early October, and the fall in New York City was gorgeous. Vividh was strolling through Central Park and he was still thinking about his conversation (or rather monologue) with Roshni. They had not talked to each other in 6 years and he occasionally would hear DJ mention about her and would gather news. He never pressed him for any info. DJ was always surprised as to how Viv could keep so quiet when he knew in his heart that he loved Roshni so much. The kind of relationship Viv and Rosh shared, it was difficult to explain with words. They were the best of friends, perfect for each other…. And DJ only wished they would grow up.
Viv was lost in thoughts as he sat down in the sheep meadow which was now covered with vivid fall leaves, there was some guy raking leaves at a far corner. Kids were enjoying It was late in the afternoon and it was not much crowded for a Saturday.
“Gosh! I love this place in fall”, he told himself as he pulled out his camera to click some shots. Viv was a passionate photographer and he loved NY City in fall and Central Park was in his daily routine. He would somehow squeeze in a visit in a day. As he started clicking he realized how much he missed Roshni.

He was remembering how the gang used to go upto Nandi Hills and they would trek in the mountains and he would go crazy clicking everything and how she would laugh. Her laughter was so full of life, just like her. Everything about her always amazed him. It was when they went to Nandi Hills just after their first year in college, he realized he loved her and could not imagine his life without her.

Whale watching in the Cape Cod

Nothing can describe this experience. I was skeptical at first too...when I was thinking about whale watching..but when you really see them...gosh they are humungous and specatcular. The videos are a little shaky because the ferry kept bobbing up and down with the waves, so the quality is not so good and may be the videos are not that spectacular since they were shot with the canon powershot A510



Did you know that waves leave footprints on the water too? The oil from their bodies washes out to the surface and creates a big circular oil slick! (whales are hunted for this oil), the males are BULLS and the females COWS and the young are calves. On my whale watching trip in the Atlantic Ocean I spotted 22 Humpback whales.



There was this one whale named Anchor, who did the flipping (officially termed as Breaching...and also Lobtailing) That was really something special. I was watching it flip so I did not really bother to capture it...may be another time. The lobtailing video is the last one.

Friends...

Clicked this one in Boston. Was really cute. To all my friends out there...You all are the best!
Give yourself a pat in the back.

The wait

I have defied hail storms, gusty winds, snow falls, heat waves and stood the test of time and weather. I have seen kids grow up, I have listened to many sad stories, I have witnessed many happy endings. I have played home to many homeless. It has not been easy. I have bore the brunt of wrath and hatred, been hit (I almost died once ,a bus almost killed me once), been spit on, (Thank heavens for the rain, I am all clean and shiny...although a bubble bath once in a while wouldn't hurt). Once in a while I do carry the wet paint sign, yet people touch me to really believe it! Its been a long journey and I carry with me so many memories. Now I am all old and dead beat and yet still wait for those happy moments when I can serve tired legs, when I can listen to those laughter and giggles. I am still waiting.... for that damn bus to comeby on TIME! Am waiting...