The Story of My Tour to Puri

It is often said, we Bengalis have only three places to go,Di-Pu-Da. Digha, Puri & Darjeeling! I myself being a Bengali, am no exception. I have visited two of them Di and Pu, yet to go to Da. The pictures are some of the snaps of my tour to Puri.

The tour is a memorable one to me. It was January, 2010, me and my wife was going there on our own. Though my cousin brother and his wife had promised to accompany us and their tickets were booked with us, they cancelled their journey citing some silly excuse. So it was left to us alone (though we were two but got the opportunity to get alone). I was a little bit nervous since this was going to be my first expedition on my own. My wife had just entered college, she too had very little experience of outing. But we decided to go forward (now looking back I feel how good that decision was) and our family, though a conservative one, approved. So we set out. From where we live, we had to come to Howrah and catch the train that carried us to our destination.

After reaching Puri at the dawn, we caught an auto-rickshaw and went for a suitable hotel and got a quite good one near a relatively less-crowded beach. It was the first time my wife came face to face with the greatest feature of the earth, the sea. 

The countless waves, roar of the sea and the white bubbles on top of the sea water made her speechless. We just completed the necessary check-in formalities of the hotel and rushed to the beach. The water was coming continuously, kissing our toes and asking us to join her in her play. We could not deny her anymore and jumped into the water. The water was caressing our body and mind with soft touches and soothes us. The fatigue due to overnight journey just washed away. When we returned to our room which was by then prepared by the room service, we were literally soaked in salt water. “It is the best morning in my life ever”, my wife had told me many times by then. That day and the next we spent embracing the sea. We took long walk along the sea beach, took part in making castle of sands, enjoying the beach-side foods and bathing in every available opportunity.

Then came the day we decided to go to the famous ‘Jagannath Temple’ to pay our tribute to the god. Though I myself is not a believer of gods (actually a hard core fan of the ‘God of War’ game series), but went there to see the magnificent artworks of the temple. Only downside is that camera is not allowed there, photography is strictly prohibited. However my wife said her prayers and offerings though through some ‘Panda’(another downside).

 

Then we started for ‘Chilka’. Chilka is a brakish water lagoon spread across Puri and its neighbouring districts. One of the USP of Chilka tourism is boating at the vast water of the lake. There are several packages consisting of different features. We bought the best one and sailed. There was a point in the options to watch the Dolphins, but they were somewhat displeased with us, I guess, cause they seldom showed up and whenever I was ready with my camera, they just disappeared! Alas no picture of the Dolphins were shot. Then after cruising here and there for some time, we came to the sea mouth. It is the place where the sea meets the lake. The outwardly beauty of that place left me mesmerising. The different colour of the water and their mixture was a must see. The deep blue of the sea and the green of the lake and it gradually becomes a little transparent towards the land in which we were standing.  I have never been in Kashmir or Switzerland, so I cant compare, but it seemed to me a piece of heaven had dropped here. We could have spent the whole day there, but the time was coming short and we had to return.

Read on to see more.

Let's make the world better

In recent times we saw the power of people through online activities, whether it's the gathering at Anna Hazare's campaign or the dethroning of the Egyptian president. We also saw its dark side at London unrest. In a word, the online world, specially facebook, had given us enormous power. A power beyond imagination. Many of us as individual had little  value to them who sit at power. Our voice did not reach to them let alone our demands.

That's where online world comes in. It gives us power to raise our voice, to raise our demands to those who had been reluctant to us before. Before that there was none to listen us. But now we can spread our words through the wall or blog or some other means and get noticed by a number of people. If there is something important, something touching in those words it would cause a stir. That stirring could change the present. The change could be good, could be better but could be worse too.

With great power comes great responsibility. We could use it against corruption, exploitation. We can tear apart the mask hiding the corrupted by taking the advantages of modern technology and sharing them online. We have the power in our hands and the key to the future. It is in our hands to utilize the power to make a great future rather than causing it harm beyond repair. A new horizon can be seen. Let us make it a better world.

It's the month to get confused

November is going to be the month to get confused!

It's going to be hard for smartphone lovers to chose from the offerings of different manufacturers.

First of all the Nokia Lumia series. From the day they showcased their new flagship models at London, Nokia put those phones on their India site as well. And now they had launched the same here. These highly anticipated phones are sure to make an impact on potential Indian customers.

Next comes the Samsung Galaxy Note. There is many speculations whether it can be said a phone or a tablet! It's giant comparing to other phones with its massive 5.3" HD screen. Though some people wonder who are going to buy this giant, but there is always someone who fascinate such things. And the Sammy Note in your hand would certainly make you noteworthy in the crowd.

Then there is the Motorola Razr. But I doubt how many people in India are interested in Motorola. But it should also be mentioned that this one is a gem. If you are looking for something eye-candy, this is one of the very few to look for.

And there comes the King, the iPhone 4S. Although Apple didn't say anything about the launch of 4S in India, Aircel did. In their facebook page and now in their official site too, Aircel announced the arrival of iPhone 4S on November 25th. Advanced booking starts on 18th Nov.

So as the heading says, it's the month to get confused. At least I am. Are not you?

Sony Tablet S launched in India

Sony had entered into the Tablet war by launching their flagship tablet S in India. In the reign of India's own Akash tablet, priced at Rs. 29,990 how many people will be interested to buy Sony Tablet S? Although there can never be any comparison between the two regarding features or hardware specifications, but seeing the market share of cheap China made mobile phones, the doubt still remains.

You can have more information on this Tablet here.

Kevin Carter

Kevin Carter. Does the name tick anything to you? Have you ever heard of him? I, myself never had, until yesterday, when I saw a photo taken by him.

Kevin Carter was a South Africa born photographer. He grew up in a middle-class family. After early struggles in his life, in the year 1983 he decided to become a journalist-photographer. In March 1993, while on a trip to Sudan, when Sudan was suffering from feminine, he took a photograph of a vulture waiting for a little girl, who was going to some feeding center, to die. That picture alone took him to instant limelight. In 1994, that photograph won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography. But that was not the beginning of the story, it was the beginning of the end.

He suicided in the year 1994 leaving a suicide note that says....

"I am depressed... without phone.... money for child support... money for debts.... money!!!!..... I am haunted by the vivid memories of killings and corpses and anger and pain.... of starving or wounded children, of trigger-happy madmen, often police, of killer executioners... I have gone to join Ken [one of his friend] if I am that lucky."

On the Children's day (14th November) absence of that kind of people is felt very much. We will not forget him. Children are the gift of God, we must take care of them, need to take care that such situation should never take place. And no more people like Kevin Carter had to kill himself for such things.

iPhone 4S on November 25th?

Apple may not disclose it but Aircel does. Aircel on its facebook page reveals that Aircel is bringing
iPhone 4S in India on NOV 25.

Click on the link and see it yourself.

iPhone 4S yet to launch in India

Apple is yet to launch their flagship iPhone 4S in India. In a recent EMail conversation with Apple India reveals that Apple is not going to launch it in recent future. However we are having our fingers crossed, in the hope of getting it sooner.

Are you listening it Apple?

Video Downloading Add-On For Firefox

For those of us, who really wanted to download videos from youtube or youtube-like sites, it was always searching for some good video capturing software or searching the torrents. But popular web browser Firefox had an excellent add-on for this purpose. The name of the Add-On is Video DownloadHelper. The Add-On actually takes a few seconds of downloading and then restart Firefox, and you are ready to rock.

After installing the Add-On, it creates an icon at the left side of the address bar. The icon consists of three different coloured balls (Red, Yellow and Blue). Whenever you are playing a video in Firefox, DownloadHelper detects it and the icon animates and an drop down arrow is visible between the address bar and the DownloadHelper icon. Upon clicking the arrow, options for downloading the video shows up. Selecting the desired type reveals an explorer windows to save the video on the hard drive. What’s more, before download you can convert those videos to another format too. It also extends it’s capturing abilities to photo slides and streaming audio.

Look at the photo below to locate the icon in the Firefox window.

Here are some details of the Add-On:

Name: DownloadHelper

Latest Version: 4.9.7

Developed by: mig.

For more info click here.

But there is one suggestion. If you can afford download ‘Internet Download Manager’, it’s the best for downloading streaming media and also supports bandwidth optimization. To know more keep watching this space.

Thank You.

iPhone 4S price

Apple has started selling unlocked iPhone 4s. Unlocked means without any contract with the operators. these phones are new, Contract-free, and factory unlocked. And as everyone expects the price is relatively high. Here is the list of the prices.
16GB: $649.
32GB: $749.
64GB: $849.


But when are you launching it in India, Apple?

Win a Nokia Lumia 800

There is a great chance to win a gorgeous new Nokia Lumia 800 from Nokia. Read on to know how...

Your Ad Here

Are you a facebook member?


Do you visit facebook often?


Then you shouldn't miss this opportunity.

Just click on this link and a Nokia facebook page will open. Like that page and you could win a Nokia Lumia 800.

Go and enjoy.

Free Media File Converter

Have you ever wanted your favourite video downloaded from internet to your PC to watch on your handheld devices, like Cell Phone or iPod or PSP etc. but never found out how? If yes, then the wait is over!
There are several software that convert media files from one format to another. Here I am going to tell you about a free software for this purpose, Format Factory. 

Format Factory (FF) is not only a media file converter but also a basic video editor cum DVD/CD to iso converter and so on, the list is huge! It supports a lot of codec and uses them efficiently to do the job it is assigned to. The interface is easy enough for a newbie and also exciting for the advanced. take a look at the screenshot below

It is easy to find the necessary menus and settings, the percentage completed and the ongoing task.
FF can handle any format you are known to, name it!

For example: supported video codecs are 3gp, rmvb, wmv, mkv, mpg, flv, mov, gif, vob, swf. Supported audio codecs are mp3, wma, flac, aac, mmf, amr, m4a, m4r, ogg, mp2, wav, etc. Supported picture formats are jpg, png, ico, bmp, gif, tif, pcx, tga.

You can extract your DVD videos into your favourite format as well as your music CDs to your desired audio format. Ever wanted to have a built in iso converter on your computer? FF gives you just that. It converts iso into cso and vice versa. Also converting DVD contents into iso is just a few clicks away.
Here I am showing you how to convert a video from one format to another.

First Select the video tab on the left side menu. Here you'll find various convert to options, like 'All to 3gp, All to mp4" etc. Choose your preferred one. A new window opens.









On the new window you can see buttons showing various options like 'output settings', 'add file' etc. Output settings used to set the properties of the output file. Click it and a new window emerges.

In the output settings window you can change the quality and size of the video as well as the audio. In the advanced menu you can rotate the video to your desired angle too. However change according to your preference and click ok.







 Now click the 'Add File' button. A new explorer window opens which shows all supported media files. Select the file you want to convert and click open. The left side window will show up. Click OK.








The main window shows up. Now click the start button, marked with a green arrow, which reside below the menu bar. Now the start button turns into 'Pause' button and converting starts. The bottom bar shows the elapsed time and also the option to shut down the computer after converting with a check mark. When the task is completed a pop up message on the extreme right bottom side informs the completion.



There are more to explore with this software. But here i just posted a very basic operation.
You can download Format Factory by clicking the following here. The downloaded file is a zip file which needs to be extracted. Download, Extract, Install and Enjoy.
For more information click here.