Back to India

Came back from Israel last week. Been completely caught up in work since them. A hundred fires all over, and me pissing on them and hoping they will die out. Shit. I bought a lovely digicam from Tel Aviv to replace my old digicam which was stolen. My last camera from Olympus (the D510Z) was pretty good. See the photoblog nightlife photos here and here, or some photos I had shot in Coorg last year here. This time I have got a very expensive digicam from Panasonic (the DMC-FZ2), with these amazing 16x optical Leica Lens. Have to yet do much testing to see what kind of photos I get with this one, but the reviews are very good.

Gabriel Faure

I usually listen to western classical music at work. The music shuts out people and my mundane surroundings. People disturb me a lot lesser when they see me at my desk with headphones on, oblivious to the world around. Thank God for talented composers like Bach, or Faure. Though I dont understand the pieces and movements much, I follow the music keenly and its a pleasure to listen to famous classical music peices.

One of my favourites is Gabriel Faure. Been listening to him all the time these days. He was a French composer in the early 20th century and wrote some wonderful pieces of music. He is a brilliant, unsung genius. One of his very best is this piece called Pavane (that's of course my opinion). Its a slow moving piece and is the most delightful piece of music I've ever heard (and I've heard a lot of classical music).

PS: If anybody wants to hear this piece, drop me a line. I will be glad to mail you the mp3. Believe me, it will make a music lover out of you.

Last week...

was fun. It was my first time in Chicago, and its a pleasure to visit this city. I hope to be there again some day. I stayed a day with an ol pal of mine from college. He is also an Amit (note how I'm referring to him as "an Amit", coz we are a breed apart. heh heh heh. He can be found here.) He was staying at a company apartment in downtown Chicago on Michigan Avenue. Its on the "Magnificent Mile".

Downtown Chicago is a beautiful beautiful place. I arrived in downtown Chicago late in the evening, with millions of lights twinkling in tall buildings. It was simply stunning; I had never quite seen a city like this one. We had dinner at a small cosy place, a Moroccan joint called Andalous.

Next morning (Morning? More like noon) , we went exploring around. Had breakfast at a Mexican joint. Clicked some photographs. Had coffee at Starbucks, another first for me. Checked out the breath taking architecture, skyscrapers kissing the wintry blue above. Stark and beautiful.

Caught a long flight back on Saturday evening to Bangalore, via Frankfurt and Mumbai. Whew. In a couple of days I'm leaving for Tel Aviv. Globe trotter, be I :o

CHICAGO!

So this is the place thats in the movie. The place of the gangsters of the 60s, bootlegging, Capone and cold cold weather. This is the first time for me in the snow, and I find it cold. Thanks god for heated room, and heated cars and heated offices. I'm visiting a client here in Chicago for a week. The first few days were really cold, but its better now. The sun is shining (though it seems to be heating Bangalore not this place), and the snow has all melted. Which is good, right? Thou a teeny weeny part of me cant help missing the snow. Its nice to see outta my hotel window (and I got huge bay windows looking on the lawn), and see the world all white. Sigh.

Wish I was here at Christmas. Shore would've been nice. Cant even take a photograph, coz my camera was stolen. Oh yeah, my house was burgurled a couple week ago and I lsot a lot of stuff, including my precious digital camera.