[mobilePic] yup. This waterfall is also in Paris :)

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[mobilePic] Want some me-made chicken curry?

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[mobilePic] Look what the cat dragged in :). #android #newPhones

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Happy 63, India!

63 years ago, India gained its freedom, and our first prime minister gave this speech



The country has still a long way to go before all its citizens have the basic roti-kapda-makaan (food, water, shelter), but there seems to have been decent progress.

I am still to figure out how exactly I am to contribute in all this. For the moment, I celebrated I-day at home, rain bound [reminded me of all the rain soaked I-day parades I did in school :)], and made some atta halwa for the first time. Came out pretty well :).

On a sidenote, today marks one year of the launch of Jay Hind, India's first full-time online stand-up and fake news comedy show. If you can understand Hindi, check it out. My dear friend Varun writes for it, and does a pretty good job at it :). He also acts in some segments, such as the gem here (LNN - Indo-Pak Talks Secrets Revealed). Check it out! I think good satire will go a long way in keeping the country on track.

Jai Hind!
-A
P.S. Happy I-day to my friends across the Punjab border too.

[mobilePic] FSM, is that thou who thus shineth?

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[mobilePic] And it is done! Time to eat. :)

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[mobilePic] The lamb roast is in progress. :)

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[mobilePic] The view of Château de Versailles. Seen during this morning's bike ride to work.

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(Re) Discovering awesome Pakistani Music

[Note: Feel free to click on the links in this post. They open in new tabs, and hide melodious treats :)]
I have been lucky to have been exposed to Pakistani singers and their music since my childhood. When I was a kid, dad used to play the songs of Reshma (who sung the song from which "yaara seeli seeli" was inspired). I loved her rustic voice, which I think is why I like Rekha Bharadwaj's songs today. In those days, it was just "folk song", and not "songs by a Pakistani singer" ... ah the innocent days :).

During my college days, the band Junoon, with its anthem "Sayyoni" rules the airwaves for a bit. Even now, I have the "Kabir by Abida (Parveen)" album, rendered wonderfully.

And yesterday, I was pointed by Yasser to the wonderful video below, at the CokeStudio channel on YouTube. A wonderful sufi kalaam, rendered as a melange of old and new styles. Be sure to read the captions. If they are not visible, hover on the triangle at the bottom-right corner, and click the "cc" button. If you still cannot see them (or want to see the interactive transcript), click this link to open the video in a new tab/window.



Feel free to browse the Coke Studio channel for other gems like the one above.

The melody in these songs, and the (mostly positive) comments on YouTube, both from Indian and Pakistani listeners, give one hope that someday, through cultural exchanges, there will be lasting peace between the neighbors.

Amen to that.

[mobilePic] Working on a paper on a park bench while next to a red panda couple: priceless. #paris #junglebook

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[mobilePic] The goats of château de Versailles. Seen during bike ride back from work.

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[mobilePic] Rice, Dal, and Tilori: une bonne diner pour le world cup finals. :)

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[mobilePic] Driving through a long and not-tall tunnel near Paris. Ours was the only car apparently.

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[mobilePic] The bigots of Versailles have a home now. :)

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[mobilePic] Preparing for a delicious italian dinner

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[mobilePic] Take your bike to work day. Hopefully the beginning of a habit.

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Froyo'd: Thoughts on Android 2.2

This morning, I was treated to this Engadget post, about Froyo being released officially by Google. Finally. [What is Froyo? you ask? Click here then :). In short, Android 2.2]

I waited till the evening for an over-the-air update on my Nexus One, but then, decided to take the plunge during my train ride home in the evening. Using the instructions from this comment, I downloaded the latest update from Google's servers, started the update process, and waited.

and waited.

and waited.

After the update, the phone rebooted to its pretty boot animation, but nothing else was going on. After waiting for a bit, I pulled the battery out, put it back in, and rebooted it with crossed fingers.

And it worked!

So I now have Android 2.2 running on my phone, and have also installed Flash 10.1 on it :). [Take that iPhone folks!]

First impressions:
So, is Froyo all that is was hyped to be? Well, here are some initial thoughts (after 30 minutes of playing around)
- Give it some time to sync etc. after upgrade. The speed is sluggish at that time.
- The home screen is snappier. I like the minor bounce it gives when settling on a screen.
- The move to SD card option for apps [accessible under settings->applications->manage applications] is great! I can finally install new puzzle apps :).
- The ability to switch between gmail accounts from right within the compose window is also very useful. Makes sense when you click "share" from the image gallery, and want to use your office gmail account. Now only if it gave me the option to send mail "from" another account, like it does from within Gmail.
- The overall feel is definitely faster. Which is nice :).
- Flash installed. Have not used it yet. But saw a setting for "plugins" in the browser, which I set to "on demand". So I hope it will not auto-show me flash ads from all sorts of pages [I am looking at you, ToI!]. It is also interesting to see that a lot of flash game websites are now targeting android as their platform, so that should lead to an explosion in the number of 'apps'. [update: confirmed that in this manner, Flash in browser gives me the ability to enable only certain animations. Win!]

So, those were my first impressions. More to come as I play with it. I have changed my voice recognition settings to "English (India)". Let's see if it leads to any improvements :).
[Update: The phrase "This is a test" was not recognized properly under "English(India)" settings. When I changed it back to "English(Generic)" it worked. I guess I do have a random/generic English accent now :P]

Some other reviews can be read here: PC World, Engadget.

[mobilePic] Fullmoon Dance and Sian Mai at Num.

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[mobilePic] Saw this family move a car onto a boat on the Seine this evening.

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The Cake is Back!

[Edit: This post has videos. Those of you reading it on Facebook or Buzz are requested to go to the original post on my blog to see them.]

First, the teaser [direct link]


Then, the hands-on demo [direct link]


Yup. Portal 2 is coming! Am so happy :).

And lastly, where we left off last time. [direct link]


[and for those who don't understand what this post is about, some background]