September 30, 2008

First snaps !!

Wifey Deepta delivered a healthy baby boy at 6.22AM on the 29th September 2008.

Here are a few snaps...



A big Thanks to everyone who has wished me, wifey n the Baby! Would be deciding on the name very soon and would keep you folks updated on the same.

September 29, 2008

Boy O Boy !!

Folks

The new entrant is a cute looking baby boy.

I'm so happy I can't express.

:-)

--
Sent from Gmail for mobile | mobile.google.com


Vrij
http://vrijilesh.blogspot.com
----

September 24, 2008

Mut-bhed

Ok.. There is a tag again..

Basically lifted from Veens' Rat-a-Tat and Sneha's Warm fuzzies. Taken from THIS.

The Bakras I used were Ankur, Chakoli, Ria, Mia, Veens, Sneha, Cinderella, Ceedy. So u folks are gonna try this one out... Veens n Sneha have done this, so they'r exempted!


1. In a race between you, Ankur and Chakoli, who would win?

A. Two Punekars versus one Hyderabadi.... hmm.. Depends where we are racing to.. but I'm pretty sure I'd beat both of them if the race is in driving, travelling or eating. And sleeping!


2. Who is Cindy's best friend?

A. Her brain. I hope so, considering her blog title.


3. In a race between you, Sneha and Cindy, who would win?

A. Again a race? Who's paying me more to make them win against me here?


4. Who would win in a duel, Ria or Ceedy? And what kind of duel would they pick, anyway?

A. If its eating, it'll be Ceedy, if its sleeping, its gonna be Ria !


5. What would you do if Mia confessed love to you?

A. Accept it.. Man.. she's hot! (With a rider that Biwi should be kept in the dark about it!).
Biwi.. if ur reading this.. this is just a game..


6. If Veens and Veens teamed up, what would they most likely accomplish?

A. Ek bas nahin hain kya?? The Big Bang cauldron would burst again!


7. Who would be a better superhero sidekick between Ria and Sneha, and why?

A. Ria. She would not ask so many questions as Sneha!!


8. Do you miss Ria?

A. In what way?


9. Would you marry Ria?

A. No. I've already committed to Mia ;)


10. What would you do if Ceedy and Mia were going out?

A. Mia two timing me... nahiiiiin :(



Enjoy!


September 16, 2008

Railway Jargon - 1

Its about time that something related to the railways pops up at this blog. So here's a small list of technical terms used by the Indian Railways and what they mean to the common man. And the woman.


Slack / Buffer Time: To increase the punctuality of long distance trains (on paper), some extra slack or buffer time is built into the train's schedule towards the end of its journey and at zonal changeover points. So, if you are travelling to Mumbai and wondering if Kalyan, which is very much a part of the city- is actually a 2 hour ride from VT, then breathe easy. It is only an hours run plus another hour of slack time. If you have taken the Konark Express from Mumbai to Secunderabad and are wondering why the train has reached half an hour early at Wadi, then it is because there is an hour's slack time between Gulbarga and Wadi. The same train on paper takes 50minutes to cover a 4km distance between Begumpet and Secunderabad !

Technical Halt: You thought that the Sampark Kranti express had very limited halts. But it keeps halting every couple of hundred kilometres or so. At some or the other station. Well, these are probably technical halts which are not reflected in the passenger time tables. These halts are meant for operational reasons like crew change, loco change, watering, catering arrangements, etc. So, even though the Sampoorna Kranti Express between Delhi and Patna is time-tabled as a non-stop train, it does have technical halts at Kanpur and Mughalsarai.

Speed Restrictions: Many a times when the train runs slow, we start grumbling and blaming the driver (loco pilot) calling him an oldie or whatever for driving extremely slowly. Be rest assured that it is not his fault. Every driver taking charge of a train gets a sheet of paper in his hands with details of restrictions in speed. Technically called as Caution Order, this sheet has instructions to the driver to drive at a particular speed in a section. There might be permanent speed restrictions due to level crossings, stations, large curvatures, etc or there might be temporary ones due to track repair work or trackside renewal works or even a river flowing dangerously under a bridge. Speeds get slower once the train enters the city limits of any small or big town due to people crossing tracks haphazardly. So next time if the train is running slowly, its not really ideal to blame the driver.

Alarm Chain Pulling: All coaches of trains have chains which when pulled release the pressure in the air brake pipes which make the train stop. This is common for a lot of day time trains with many general/unreserved coaches. Mostly this happens as soon as the train starts and picking up speed and late comers having the chain pulled to stop the train. One way you can identify if the train has stopped due to an ACP is the subsequent sounding of a special horn tone. It goes Toot - Toot- Toooooooot, Toot - Toot - Toooooooot !!

Chargeable Distance: Most fares on the railway network are calculated based on the distance travelled on the tracks. However, on certain sections, the Railways charge more than they should for the stipulated distance. Since the fare structure is uniform for a distance, Railways have factored in an inflation in the distance between two places to the tune of around 40%. So basically, for a 100km section, they charge fare equivalent to that of 140kms. Even the time tables show the distance as 140 and not the actual one. This is done to offset the cost of construction of lines in sections that have difficult terrains like ghat sections. The entire Konkan Railway network kilometreage is inflated by 40%. Even sections like the Bangalore- Dharmavaram section is inflated. Railways have the permission to inflate the distance for 15 years from the date of commisioning of the route. This is only on a few selected routes.

Slip Coach: These are coaches attached/ detached at an intermediate station to be hauled to a destination other than the main trains'. For example, the 7603 Kacheguda-Yeswantpur Express has 4 slip coaches which get cut off at Guntakal and are attached to the Howrah-Vasco Amaravati express and head towards Goa. This helps in giving connectivity to Goa from Kacheguda(in Hyderabad) as there is no other dedicated train between the two places. Similarly the 1405 Manmad-Kakinada Shirdi express has 5 slip coaches which are attached/ detached at Vijayawada and head to Visakhapatnam hauled by the Tirupati-Puri/Bilaspur expresses.

I guess that should be enough for the post, so that any symptoms of indigestion are avoided ;) More for a latter post..

September 15, 2008

Hits and Misses

Firstly, apologies for being out of the loop for almost the entire week. Was a bit tied up with work, and then thanx to the Ganesha Festival and the idiotic shenanigans that our people have started with it, there was inclement weather when it came to power and net availability since Friday. Could not even reply to the comments earlier. Sorry sorry sorry...

Secondly, a big thanx to all those who have left comments here, just kept visiting to check why there was no refilling of the chai and to those who dropped by for the first time... and yes.. to all those who have 'followed' me :)

Another big Thanx to Sneha (aka Solitaire) for having a post on my request on Short and Sweet. And to all those who contributed there. Will surely get back there in sometime and reply to all the comments. Thanx dudes n dudettes. Just clarifying the status here.. I'd be promoted to a higher level in life in the first week of October. So requested Sneha to help out with the names of girls, since the boy names were discussed there in a previous post.

Ok, now for the external rantings....

Kimi dude.. U continue to disappoint me. U started 14th and ended there. Ham moved from 15th to 7th. Grrrrr.... And another Grrrrr to Massa for not going for the kill. And yes, A huge congrats to Sebastian Vettel. It was a pleasure to hear the German anthem followed by the Italian. Reminded me of those glorious Schumi days...

A big middle finger salute ..|.. to all the Ganesh pandal owners. The festival is meant to enjoy, and not create trouble for others. On Friday, we had power outage from 2PM to 1AM because the electricity dept had to switch off the power lines so that the revellers dont get electrocuted. Plus they install 15-20ft high 'murtis' in a small residential lane.. it just blocks the entire route. A bigger middle finger ..|.. to all the authorities who allowed big installations, to the police which allowed band after 10pm even though it was banned, allowed free boozing on the streets to the revellers and did nothing to allow free flow of traffic on the street. It was chaos.

A big thumbs down to the bastards who bombed our capital. Heartless brainless cowards.

More later... have to get ready to work.. ciao !

September 05, 2008

Chuck de !

It seems like its the season for getting slimmer. I've had a couple of friends trying to cut their bellies into half talk about their experiences in the last one week. And today I see Ria doing the same. So I thot wats better than giving some free advice to all of them here to help them Chuck de some weight!

* Drink loads of water. Water helps in flushing out all the unwanted stuff out faster lest it should affect the body. It can reduce ur craving for excess food.

* Dunk the Junk. 99% of junk food (be it pastries/pizzas/burgers/subs or even ragda/bhel) contains carbohydrates and fats. Remaining 1% is made of salts and chemicals. Does not keep you fit. Makes you fat. And unless taken in an optimal proportion, carbs do not get properly digested.

* Eat Healthy. Fruits and Veggies might seem to contain enormous amounts of carbs like glucose and fructose, but these are energy giving and not fattening. Plus the proteins, vitamins and essential minerals you get from them. Most importantly, you get truck loads of fibre from these. This helps you digest your food properly and also helps the intestines in churning the food nicely. Avoid rice and gulp in phulkas(without oil).. and not binge on aloo parathas ! If you really want to test the difference, eat only junk one day and only healthy veggies another day. Note the consistency of your shit the next morning. The bulkier it is, the more fibrous it is and that means that max nutrients have been derived.

* Gymming is optional. Yes, you need not head to the gym unless you plan to practice for Biggest Looser Jeetega. All you need to do is decent exercise which can be done at home or in the garden. Just enough to break a sweat. And be regular, not enough if you exercise Sunday ke Sunday.

* Ouch Potato. Being a couch potato kills you. Do not plonk yourself down on the sofa to watch Big Boss the moment you finish your meal. Never. This makes it tough for your stomach to process what you have eaten. Ideally when you do some light activity like a walk or a brisk stroll after a meal, it helps your stomach coat all what you have eaten with hydrochloric acid so that the enzymes can easily act on your food. However, if you do nothing much, then the food gets incompletely coated, which makes it difficult to digest and some of the carbs are taken in per se, which is not exactly the healthy way. The proteins too miss the bus to get a taste of your blood. So, after every meal, take a short walk for about 10mins. Or help wash the dishes. Not in the dishwasher though. I meant Indian style.

* Go Slow, not Fast. Most people on a weight loss regime try to fast so that they loose weight faster. This kills your gut. Dont ever go on a crash diet. Crash diets are meant only for those who have just been detected with a huge risk of heart disease. Not for weight loss. Remember the tortoise? Slow and steady wins the race. Going slow helps you body get adjusted to you new regime more effectively. On a crash diet, your body does not know whats going on. Its like you are in a 737 which is about to crash. You are cluseless.

* Meditate. Keeping your mind and body in meditation helps you in channelizing your energies. Keeps away the boredom.

* No Laptops. Literally. We have a habit of doing work/chatting on the bed with the laptop.. bad for the body. Wrong postures kill not only the muscles but also the intestines. Remember your school anatomy. The stomach and intestines are lined by muscles.

* Try different positions. While exercising in the lawn or on the bed. Yes, sex is also a wonderful exercise. Not just for the man, but also for the woman. It burns a lot of fat. And of course trying out different positions helps in making the quantity of fat burnt a wee bit more than the regular.

So, there you go.. Chuck de fat ! Go slimmer and go healthier.

September 02, 2008

Technicolour Browsing

Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Opera and Safari beware.

Chrome is coming tomorrow to colourise our browsing! And yep, its gonna be good.. its from the Google stable.

The first beta of the browser debuts on the 3rd Sep. I hope it'll be good.

Updates and Downloads from here.

September 01, 2008

Titanic

Do u know how Titanic sank...?


DUBUK


DUBUK


DUBUK


BUDUK


BUDUK


BUDUK


BUDUK...


GULUM...


Gulu gulu gulu


PUCHIK !!


:)