Google Doodle

Today's google doodle was simply awesome.  A very interesting tribute to Robert Moog (An american piano music pioneer who apparently changed the industry in 1960s with his invention of Moog Synthesizer - Source internet).
Today is his birthday, and hence google dedicated it's doodle page for him with an amazing synthesizer that can play, record and replay whatever you play with either mouse or keyboard.  Isn't that cool? 
Yet another great feature is, once you record your piece of music, it saves them in a link which is displayed in the left end of the synthesizer - just below record button. If you use that link, it plays back what you did!  
If you are still awake, go check out this new play logo in google.  will love it!!

The antagonistic mother!

I was on a long bus journey today.  While I busily settled down with my ear phones on, peeping into the lovely sun lit sky, there were bunch of tourists who came into the bus.  The journey started, and the bus halted in the next stop.  I saw a women in late 30s pulling off the buggy and got into the bus.  Tagged along was her young son (probably of 6-7 yrs old) and a nice grown up dog.  The lady actually gave cold look to the driver, came and sat on the seat designated for buggy owners.   There was a baby girl in the buggy snoring silently and sleeping. The lady threw away a ticket in the seat next to her, where her son came and sat.  He took the ticket and looked at her.  She gave another cold look at him, and put on her ear phones and started to stare through the window. The boy even attempted to divert her and talk to her. She gave no response.  Poor boy, he was talking and smiling with his dog, which was completely looking for his attention all the time.  

I don't know why the mother had to be so antagonistic with her son.  Maybe, the boy was a bit notorious (although he did not look like that).  Whatever is annoying her, can't she not be so adamant at least in the public place?  Can someone be that rude, not even care to respond?  I honestly don't like people fighting or arguing in public.  Can't they keep it within the 4 walls, in their bedroom?  I really hope that this mother is not always like this to her son.  There were so much of expectations and emotions in the boy's eyes.  

Song for today!

I am a great fan of Shreya Goshal.  She has that divine voice that it feels as if you are slicing the butter with a sharp knife.  This is one of my favourite songs sung by her.  Ofcourse, the best idea is to ignore the video for the amateur expressions by actors in this song. Well, we can pardon them..that's their first movie.  

But if you listen to this song with a ear phone, it is so soothing and it will put you to sleep, will unburden your heart, erase your tiredness and make you feel lighter on a stressful day like Monday.  

Palace of Westminster

Commonly known as Houses of Parliament, Palace of Westminster standing on the Thames river,  is an important centre of political life in UK.  There are regular tours available to visit some parts of the building and to attend a parliament debate.  However access is restricted only to UK residents to climb up the big ben tower.  

This is the picture of the palace, along with the famous Big Ben clock, Westminster bridge and the Thames river.  Taken during dusk, the glowing palace along with the reflection of the lights on the river was stunning and a mesmerizing scene one cannot miss. 

Emperor Trajan

Trajan (originally named as Marcus Ulpius Nerva Traianus) is a roman emperor who is said to have reigned during 98AD. He is known for reshaping the city of Rome leaving many landmarks as Trajan's Market, Trajan's Forum, Trajan's column etc.   He was also a famous military commander, triumphing many battles and played a vital role in expanding the Roman Empire. 

It was also said that Trajan's reputation was great, that the new emporers after his reign were honoured by the Senate with a prayer "felicior Augusto, melior Traiano" which means "may he be luckier than Augustus, and better than Trajan".  

This is his statue just outside Tower Hill Tube station in London, in front of the last remaining pieces of London Wall (a defensive wall built by Romans in 200AD).  

Mdina - the silent city!

An old capital of Malta, Mdina is a medival walled city located on the hill overlooking the island. It's well preserved example of walled city in europe.   As the name implies in Arabic, Mdina is precisely located on the centre of Malta.  The history of this tiny city traces back to 4000 years ago. A UNESCO heritage site, Mdina is populated by churches, palaces and gracious houses with large squares and is delightfully a car-free-zone experience.  Home for not more than 300 people, there's a limited vehicle access to some residents.  

                                                          First look of Mdina from the road 
While doing a pre-tour study about Malta in one of the travel books, I read that Mdina should be visited at night.  Hence we planned to spend around half the day there.  

Grabbed our subway sandwich on the way, we reached Mdina around 2.00pm. Although the city was dotted with ample car parking spaces, there wasn't any space to leave my little hired car. The place was pouring with tourists.  I roamed around for good 30 minutes before I competed with another carwala and progressed to park into the tiny space!  There are frequent buses that connect Mdina to the major cities, and the journey takes about 30-45 minutes.  

Before we got into the walled city, little did we know that we are going to have a lifetime experience.  The city welcomed us by a beautiful baroque entrance designed by some French architect which spread on the sides with defensive walls.  

What we saw once we entered was breathtaking.  The place was spotlessly clean, beautiful, charming, full of history! We wandered through the narrow "maze like alleys" endlessly without knowing the direction.  All the streets looks so similar, but still we clicked pictures in every lane posing crazily.  We decided to play hide and seek and actually got lost. For about 20 minutes, what started as a game, made us roam around to find each other..did made me a bit panic :(

Narrow alleys

After the "thank-god-I-found-you-jaanam" session, we started over our debate as to which lane was featured in Hosanna Song (tamil version).  After a lengthy argument, we were too tired, and went to Fontanella Tea Gardens - a tastefully decorated cafe with sweeping views of the island (which is also featured in the song). But remember, this is the only cafe inside the city (I think so!), so there's always crowd.  Goes without saying, waiting time is also a bit more.  But that's totally worth it!!

Some of the houses and lanes inside Mdina

We enjoyed our Maltese cheese cake and a cup of tea over the stunning views.  There are some souvenir shops which are a bit expensive, but the collections were amazing.  When there's flooding tourist, there's always a trap! "The Mdina experience" is an audio-visual presentation about Malta's history from past to present.  Certainly, it's worth avoiding.  

                                      Another cute and colorful corner

These houses have colored doors and windows like any other maltese houses, and unique door knobs - like the face of lion, fish, or horse or anything. 
After our wee shopping, we continued our walk.  After a sunny day, it started to get bit chill as the sun went down.  The skies turned blue, and the alleys were lit turning the limestone into a shining golden.  So true that the streets were even more beautiful with dim lights.  

 St.Paul Cathedral at night

We reached St.Paul's Cathedral. Interestingly the face of the cathedral has 2 clocks - one for time and another for date.  It was also said that one clock showed right time, and another one showing wrong time which serves to confuse the devil!! 

Anyways, it was time for us to pack up and leave back to our hotel.  We both loved this place so much, that bidding a farewell was so difficult. The medival alleys were timeless beauty, an experience so rich as its history, and I will treasure them throughout my life.  While there are 100 things to do in Malta, I would put "Visiting Mdina" as the top most not-to-be-missed-place; A gem of Malta!!

Wordless Wednesday - 17

Colorful Tulip

These days S & I have been competing each other in playing the Tennis game on TV through Wii games.  We are playing for hours and hours together, that my arm is aching so badly.  So I am excusing myself with just posting this beautiful picture.

Stress busting Six!

It was a nail biting match to watch today's IPL mtach - CSK Vs KKR.  We both came back home a bit early from office.  At one point when the main batsmen started to fall apart, I was so not in confidence, until the captain lifted the bat with his turn.  I have this softest corner for MSD - a crush, love, infatuation, respect, trust, confidence - Whatsoever!  He is the best captain in Indian Cricket history - ofcourse after DADA. 


When the CSK fans were so much under pressure, the cool captain played his game, but could not finish it.  The last over was when adrenaline was in its peak, BP shooting up, and I lay there at the edge of the sofa, biting my nails.  And a big sigh after seeing Bravo hitting a six in last ball!  I love that pressure in cricket!    my heart thumped so fast for about that 15 minutes - even after we won the match.  I wouldn't mind getting that shot of high BP to see the team win with a six on their last ball!  Just like how we won World cup on April 2nd last year! It was as though I was re-living that moment!!!

Framed a moon!

First ever proper moon shot I made. It was taken yesterday around 1am in the morning.  When I gazed through my window and saw this half-beauty, I couldn't stop myself from taking a click!  I have experimented various modes for capturing moon and nothing came close to this shot.  
I used 70-300mm Tamron lens for this.  Aperture was set at f10 and Exposure at 0.001sec (Handheld mode).