“To promote his preference, as of 2010, Tesler has equipped his Subaru automobile with a personalized California license plate with the license number “NO MODES”. ” (taken from here)

*looks at the date* I still can’t believe he replied to me!

And, this reply is why I prefer Twitter than friendly spam ( read Facebook and email).

P.S: I really hope that Subaru that Larry drives is an Impreza hatchback, specifically a Impreza WRX. If so, then I would have found my guiding light.

That, though, did leave enough time to roam around the library. *Here comes my favorite part*

The floor was wood paneled. And the staircases were also wooden with coir mats nailed to them. Each step was a boom which was loud enough to give you a feeling of infinite personal space. Windows with green panes and fine grilling curtained with Venetian blinds, the aesthetics intact. There was hardly any empty seating in the Periodicals section on the second floor, mostly covered by men above the age of 25 reading newspapers with the earnestness and intensity of ants toiling for food. I got tired of counting the sections on the ground floor, there were definitely more than ten, of which Economics and History seemed to be more than sufficiently stocked.

Oh and by the way, they hate cell phones. If you do answer a call with a hushed voice (so as not to disturb the reading mantises) the section librarian would swipe you away like a house-fly with a disgusted expression. It’s a polite action asking you to get the fuck out of the library and keep the fuck out till the fuck was over. This expression changes to that of swatting a mosquito bombing a brain in deep sleep, as you reach the baggage counter near the main entrance. The architecture was soothing  after the ambush, with cooing pigeons filling the spaces. Actually the dotted roof-line that you see below are actually pigeons.

The garden behind the building is a square with row after row of planted shrubs. Lush trees cover the land beyond the parking lot making it sound like a forest section echoing with bird calls and wind sashaying through the thick leaf-laden branches. It would be seductive for a nature lover. All this beautiful setting ever would need is free wi-fi.

At the exit, I met a handsome Italian couple looking for a place to eat. Since only coconut water was had for breakfast, two became three. Sear-fish and rasam-meals were devoured with hands, then washed down with Coca-Cola products as we talked over the itinerary. That was when I realized how little I knew about my beloved country and especially Kerala (this shall be fixed soon!). Hope Lonely Planet holds them in good stead.

The garden. This would look even more beautiful on a misty morning.

P.S: Also, the 50mm lens was delivered today and it looks like I won a book! The latter is a first at winning off the internet, thanks to the ladies at the Caterpillar Cafe.

Now, you have a scapegoat if the pictures don’t turn out well. “There was hardly any friggin light, all thanks to that sleepy moose!”

And now, some things to keep in mind if you don’t have such a scapegoat.

1. Plan in advance when hitting the zoo, especially if its winter. By 4.30 pm all the majestic beasts would have retired to their enclosures. At least, that’s what the zoo authorities would say to pacify you.

2. The Bannerghatta National Park has the last safari at 4.30 pm(irrespective of the season, as on 24 Dec 2011). The zoo remains open till 5.30pm. For a fortune that we paid for the safari, we saw three tigers and a black boar. All of them had their heads down except for one Royal Bengal tiger and a Indian tiger, who were at war(Room mate’s explanation: The white one must have called the other one a ‘nigger’. Man!).

And, and, no lions! There are supposedly six of lions alone. Now, re-read point 1.

3. The safari van driver gave me the best seat in the entourage. Front row, center. Right on the engine hood on which I was frying my ass for the next 45 minutes. So, carry a big camera and a damp bed-sheet.

4. Expect nothing. If for a hundred and fifty bucks, you could have the time of your life, people wouldn’t be flying around to Africa for the sightings.

5. The above said zoo or national park, whichever way you may want it, has the most sad animals ever. Tired, heads-drooping, unpaired, lonely animals  walking around in the same patterns in their enclosures over and over again. Except the zebra and the ostriches. The Delhi zoo at-least has excited, acrobatic monkeys(circa 1993).

To make the best of the remaining light, I sauntered into the wafer thin compound of the zoo clinic and then as close as I could to the ostriches. The 550D’s rather loud shutter window attracted one to the railing. It did all it could to observe the noise making object carefully. The spunky hair and its cock expression had me going when it gave one of the signature mocking expressions – here. I guffawed at this and then the zoo doctor came around with a curt, “Excuse me, you are not allowed to.”.

Truth be told, that bird made my day. Merry Christmas to it!

“We think the Mac will sell zillions, but we didn’t build the Mac for anybody else. We built it for ourselves. We were the group of people who were going to judge whether it was great or not. We weren’t going to go out and do market research. We just wanted to build the best thing we could build.

When you’re a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you’re not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it. You’ll know it’s there, so you’re going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back. For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through.” – Steve Jobs

 

 

Pores have closed. Flowers shall blossom soon.

Each time the song nears the end, 00:32 is a good place to start again laced with the guitar and the “Jugni Ji” girls.

P.S: Who was the idiot who wanted partition, again?

*excitedly*

“Good morning, sir. This is Sharanya from Citibank, sir. We are offering a Titanium credit card…..”

I interject:”Good morning!! Today is a Saturday!”

Wait for 2 seconds to let it register. Ten seconds later.

“Excuse me sir? Today is a Saturday, uhh?”

“Abey. Sone de meri maa.”

“But, sir?”

“Citibank ke maa ki…Phone rakh!”

Rightly guessed that this visit would be only for a moment.