This April, we made a second road trip to Goa and back. This time around, however, we were far more experienced about what to expect. (For the record, the Mumbai-Pune-Kolhapur-Nipani-Ajara-Amboli-Sawantwadi-Mapusa route is still the best route to take.) I’m sharing my log file with you since many of you have written in about how helpful you found those pointers…

Bombay to Goa

We decided to get a two hour headstart by starting off from Pune early morning. So we ended up staying over in Pune one day prior to departure. In hindsight, that didn’t help much since the time on road (including breaks) from Pune to Goa also ended up taking 12 hours.

0545, 0 kms - Started from Pune (near Baner) via Katraj bypass
0625, 36 kms - Passed by McDonald’s @ Khedshivpur
0711, 80 kms – End of Khandala (Satara) ghats
0750, 96 kms – Clean loo, Petrol pump n Restaurant
0950, 208 kms – Passed by Sai Food Court
1000, 217 kms - Kini Toll Plaza
1025, 240 kms – Passed by 24-hr McD (Kolhapur) on the opp side
1123, 283 kms – Turn off NH4 towards Goa @ Hotel Kavery (very clean Indian-style loo for ladies)
1245, 325 kms – Hotel Minerva Paradise. Very clean loos + Lunch break 1 hr
1430, 362 kms – Passed by Kamat’s @ Amboli just before the ghats begin
1500, 378 kms – End of Amboli ghats

(Then we took a left for a shortcut to Mapusa, but you should avoid it as it’s an unpaved narrow that bypasses Sawantwadi; Go via Sawantwadi instead)

1545, 395 kms – Turn on to NH 17
1622, 426 kms – Turn right for Mapusa city
1645, 440 kms – Reached Hotel in Baga

Goa to Bombay

On the way back, we decided to split the journey at Kolhapur which is almost midway in terms of time taken.

0835, 0 kms reading – Started from Baga towards Mapusa, then onto NH17 for Sawantwadi
1020, 59 kms – Sawantwadi ends
1045, 72 kms – Amboli ghats begin
1140, 88 kms – Ghats end @ Kamat’s. (Loos not too functional)
1240, 120 kms – Hotel Minerva Paradise about 1 km before Ajara town
1345, 160 kms – Turn onto NH4
1430, 210 kms – Reached our Hotel in Kolhapur

Next day…

0915, 00 kms – Started from Kolhapur
1125, 137 kms – Anewadi Toll Plaza
1150, 166 kms – End of Satara (Khandala) ghats – bypassed through tunnel
1210, 187 kms – Big Kamat’s for lunch stop upto 1 pm
1325, 212 kms – New Katraj tunnel to enter Pune city
1415, 249 kms – Turn onto Pune-Mumbai Expressway
1520, 342 kms – Expressway ends @ Kharghar
1610, 371 kms – Airoli Toll Booth
1645, 382 kms – Home

Special thanks to the missus for logging in all this info on her cellphone throughout the drive. Have a safe one…

The truth is that having a more expensive (or larger) camera or lens makes you no better a photographer than buying a bigger piano makes you a better pianist. In fact, most intelligent folks do not make this extrapolation in any other vocation or profession, except in photography.

All that gear comes at a price, of course. And I don’t mean just the monetary kind. Once you have the stuff, you need a place to store it, the means to carry it, the time to maintain it, etc. etc. etc. As this writeup will explain in great detail, for many wannabe photographers, the path is quite well laid out. They keep adding to their gear until, one day (and only if they’re lucky), they realize that those with more basic equipment are making better pictures than them!

Now, some of you may not know this, but DSLRs evolved from SLRs (yes, the film kind!). And the folks at Canon and Nikon who were responsible for decades of investments in the technologies involved, were less inclined to start from scratch and reinvent the wheel. As a result, some of the most revolutionary advancements in this space were born out of research & design by players like Panasonic and Olympus. If you’ve been following the action, you would have encountered terms like “mirrorless”, “EVIL” and “Micro Four Thirds” and the likes.

I’d been watching this space for a while now, and recently concluded that the third-generation of camera technology has finally evolved to a level that poses a serious threat to the world of DSLRs (at least for amateurs and hobbyists like myself). But, like most people who have been practising the art, I already had a Nikon D90, a Nikon F75 and 3-4 Nikon-mount lenses that would not work with these new formats (with some exceptions).

So I sold every thing!

Yes, that’s right. I ditched my DSLR and started from scratch. Then came the tens of manhours of research to find out the best solution for my specific needs. I was looking for something that would be much smaller and lighter than a mid-level DSLR, but would offer comparable image quality. Having reaped the benefits of a “platform”, I was also keen on making a beginning with a platform that would keep up with my evolving needs. HD quality video would just be an added bonus. Finally, I wanted to keep the overall spends to under $900 (or INR 50,000).

I loved the retro styling of Fuji’s X100 and the range & affordability of Fuji’s X10, but they came with fixed lenses. I liked the small body of Sony’s NEX series, but its choice of APS-C sized sensor made its lenses extra large. To be fair, I also evaluated Nikon’s recent attempts with the V1 and J1, but it’s still early days for them. After extensive research, I settled on the Micro Four Third platform as the answer to my needs. Finally, I took the plunge and went for the Olympus E-P3, built on the legendary PEN platform.

The newest PEN series range of cameras from Olympus offers significant advancements over older models, notably in the area of autofocus response and image processing. I specifically chose the E-P3 since it was the biggest of the three models (I have large hands) with more advanced features (like OLED touchscreen, manual zoom ring, etc.) than the others. The image sensor was about 40% smaller than APS-C, but 5-7 times larger than compact cameras, making the body+lens combination much smaller and lighter than traditional DSLRs. Finally, the Micro Four Third platform (jointly developed by Panasonic & Olympus) would also offer me an array of more than 40 interchangeable lenses for all my needs. Yes, the Olympus menu system is nowhere near Nikon’s, in terms of ease-of-use, but the design is so customizable that you don’t need to dig into menu levels to get to your often-used functions, once you’ve set it up.

With the E-P3, I got every thing I was looking for in a camera that is less than half the bulk and weight of its DSLR counterparts, and I couldn’t be happier. You have a choice too – Do you wanna be the guy who “looks” like a photographer, or do you want to shoot more photographs?

The fact of the matter is, sometimes, bigger does not equal better.

See Also:
It’s Not About The Gear | Tools of the Trade | Going Classic

I can think of the following…

TV addicts – Those who never post, only come to watch the show
Lurkers – Again, hardly posting, but eager to comment on (or like) others’ posts
Faceless – Haven’t even got their profile pic up yet!
Super active – A tweet or an FB post every few minutes
Battle pickers – No matter what the topic, they have to pick a battle online
Forward addicts – Treasurehouse of interesting videos and funny pics
Shutter happy – Come back from any outing with 233 pics of the event!
Friend gatherers – Ahem, more than 500 pals on your FB list?!
WTF – They post alright, but you just can’t relate to them no more… 

Did I miss anything?

• Visa rates keep changing – Check the latest consulate webpages to factor it into your plans
• Thailand allows visa-on-arrival for many countries, but if you’re travelling with family, I’d suggest you get the paperwork done before leaving your country – The consulate is very efficient in processing visa requests
• From the airport, a cab ride into the city center will cost you about 350-400 THB plus toll fees; If you’re travelling alone, you can also consider taking the Airport Express (skytrain) to a central location
• Bangkok has terrible traffic congestion for much of the day; The fastest (and often, cheapest) way to get around is to take the BTS skytrain or underground MRT
• Local SIM providers offer many options for prepaid cards with wild variations in call/internet rates; Find out the best plan for your needs by asking more questions on sms/call/data charges
• If you’re travelling on work, and include some entertainment stops, research to find out if your ticket can be purchased at a discount by showing your work papers; Many places will also offer “international tourist” discounts!
• Unlike most places in India, you may not save much money by showing up at the venue and buying the ticket – Online ticket sales will probably be at the same price but include free transport to and from your hotel
• Most hotels will have “contact cards” at the reception with the hotel’s contact details and address printed in both Thai and English – Carry copies with you since many locals do not speak/understand English
• At most popular malls in the city, there will be a designated place to queue up for cabs/taxis; The queues will be long during peak hours but are the quickest way to get a cab, unless you want to pay atrocious amounts for a “tuk-tuk” ride back to your hotel
• Be wary of tuk-tuks that charge you very low fares or offer to take you for free, in exchange for a “quick stop” on the way. Google to know more on this.
• If you’re travelling with kids, do consider including SafariWorld/MarineWorld, Siam Ocean World and DreamWorld in your itinerary; Bangkok’s Dusit Zoo is also a fun way to spend the day
• If there’s one mall you must visit during your stay, make it MBK (National Stadium); 4th floor is full of gadgets & electronics, 6th floor has an inexpensive food court and the 5th floor has a newly-opened upmarket food court
• Siam Paragon also has a very good food court on its lobby level, in addition to Siam Ocean World
• If you’re a vegetarian, please check before you order; Many Asian countries include eggs, fish and chicken in their definition of “veg”!
• Thailand offers some amazing architecture, and I’d recommend Wat Traimit, Wat Po and Wat Ben. If you’re visiting temples, research the dress code – many of them do not allow shorts, sleeveless shirts and other casual wear.
• The Chaophraya River Cruise is a nice and expensive way to see all the major sights along the river while enjoying an international buffet, but you can catch a ferry at very low cost by hopping on to river taxis if you’re in the mood for some adventure
• The Siam Niramit cultural show is a musical extravaganza of very high production values (similar to the Alangkarn shown in Pattaya), but plan to reach there a few hours ahead of the show time to experience the rest
• Thai folks are warm, friendly and speak in a peculiar dialect of English – you may take a while to understand their version but when you do, it’s fun!

Remember, Bangkok can be a perfectly valid “family destination”, and is nothing like the reputation it used to enjoy some years ago (unless, of course, you go looking for it). Hope you get to experience all that it has to offer…

Frustrated by the media?  Disillusioned by our seeming inability to come to grips with difficult issues?  Us too.  We think improving the credibility of the information we encounter is key to solving this problem.  In fact, we think it’s humanity’s biggest challenge.

Hypothes.is will be a distributed, open-source platform for the collaborative evaluation of information. It will enable sentence-level critique of written words combined with a sophisticated yet easy-to-use model of community peer-review. It will work wherever you are – as an overlay on top of news, blogs, scientific articles, books, terms of service, ballot initiatives, legislation and regulations, software code and more – without requiring participation of the underlying site

Hypothes.is is a non-profit effort built on strong principles, and a clear vision of what it wants to achieve.  When I first discovered it via Twitter, I was stunned by its clarity on the subject, from the concept video by its founder – Dan Whaley – to the FAQs that ask hard-hitting questions and answer them.

The project has been self-funded till now, but to deliver a working prototype, Hypothes.is has joined hands with Kickstart to help raise $100,000 via crowdsourcing.  Your pledged amount will not be charged unless they hit the goal.

Every dollar counts, and all of us will benefit from it. I’ve pledged my support, and hope you do too.

Update:
As on 13 Nov, 2011, Hypothes.is has raised over $230k from donors across the world!

Steve was not a spiritual guru or a political leader, but a force to reckon with… someone with both the determination and the talent to change the world.  And, change the world he did. 

Tomes have been written already on the man and his legacy, and a lot more will be said in the years to come.  Sure, he gave the world the iMac, iPod, iPhone and iPad.  But he did much more than that.  Steve’s work touched millions of lives in more ways that even he could have imagined.  I just wanted to take this opportunity to pen down what he meant for me, and to thank him for the contribution he made to my life…

Thank you, Steve, for teaching us that “Design is how you Think!”

Thank you, Steve, for demonstrating that you can follow your dreams and change the world, without compromising on one or the other.

Thank you, Steve, for proving beyond a doubt that Less is More.

Thank you, Steve, for the learning that we don’t have to choose between Form and Function.

Thank you, Steve, for showing the world that it’s possible to raise the bar so high that you touch the sky.

Thank you, Steve, for having the courage and the conviction to go with your instincts and not ask us – the consumers – what we really wanted.

Thank you, Steve, for making a dent in the Universe…

You will be missed.

LED displays
Improved ventilation
Faster fans
And cushioned seats
Mobile phones
Seem to be with all of you
Everything looks new in a Mumbai Local

Shoe-shine boys
AH Wheeler
The smell of popcorn
Eunuchs onboard
Pocket radios for some
And a Ray Ban too!
Life sure is interesting on a Mumbai Local

Abusive cop
Scared little kid
Girlfriend-Boyfriend
And an office exec
Vegetable vendors
And a Parsi bawa too
Every one takes the Mumbai Local

Fast train screams past
Marine Lines sea breeze
I arrive at Churchgate
By a window seat
Reached in no time
In 6 rupees too!
Is there anything better than a Mumbai Local?

Within a few months, it had become evident that the Dr. Singh who was responsible for the visionary practices of globalization and liberalisation was not the Dr. Singh who was now the alleged “leader” of the country.  In fact, over the next few years, India would see multiple scams surfacing, each trying to outdo its predecessor in terms of the millions and billions it amassed for its kingpins.  And, the famous Dr. Singh was reduced to being no more than a mouthpiece for the venerable “G” clan – if at all he ever spoke!

Like thousands of others, I too saw a glimmer of hope when, a few months ago, a frail old man in a “Gandhi” cap – Anna Hazare – decided to take on the cause of “India Against Corruption” by declaring a fast-unto-death in the capital of the country.  He was doing so, in support of the Lokpal Bill that proposed strong measures against corrupt practices. 

Frankly, the amount of activity online (Twitter, etc.) and on-ground, at the time, was a surprise to most of us.  But, the Govt. managed to postpone the problem by seeking some time to correct its steps and table the Bill.  Not one to give up easily, Anna promised that if suitable measures were not taken, he will return on 16th Aug – a day after India’s independence day.

What was eventually drafted by the ruling government was a completely stripped-down version of the Bill, with ommission or reduced liability for key stakeholders like the PM’s office and members of parliaments, and strict punishments for those who “wrongly” make an allegation of corruption!  And, true to his word, Anna was back.

By this time, however, the man had become a movement…

India Against Corruption was now a full-fledged initiative that sparked the imagination of millions of Indians, both here and abroad.  Twitter was abuzz with activity around hashtags like #anna and #janlokpal.  Thousands of people in most major towns responded to Anna’s call of jail bharo (fill the prisons), to mark their protest against the prevalent corruption.  Retired IPS officers and High Court judges were pledging their support in public.  Even NRIs were flying down from across the globe, in a show of solidarity! 

Enough and more has been written about how India is a country that is too large and diverse to manage.  And, about how every coalition government has to make tradeoffs that may not be acceptable.  But today, for the first time, I feel that as a people, we have had enough.  The citizens of India are demanding a better government.  The citizens of India – youth and disabled included – are bunking classes and taking leave from work, to show up for candle marches and protest gatherings, at places like Azad Maidan and Tihar Jail… 

800+ voluntarily got themselves jailed in Mumbai, just a few days ago.   Thousands have been detained in Tihar Jail already.  Hundreds of thousands are spreading awareness via SMS and tweets, to their friends and family.  1.5 million have pledged their support via the Facebook group – Jai Ho!  And, more than 13 million have registered their voice of dissent via missed calls, as reported by the IAC website.

Yes, some of us are still wishing that this is just a phase, and that “this too shall pass”.  Some of us are still squabbling over semantics, and questioning the “unparliamentary” manner in which this movement has grown from strength to strength.  Some of us are still arguing that as long as we continue to grease palms to expedite things, we have no right to protest against corrupt practices.

But, there is no denying that, what started as one man’s fight for an India that deserved more, has become a movement for which Anna is but a symbol – a face.  Nearly a century ago, a man named M.K. Gandhi taught us that you can shake a nation from its slumber, and oust a colonial ruler, by non-violent means. Today, Anna is using those means to re-ignite a spark in millions.  And, he’s doing more for our society than most of us ever will in our lifetime.

I support Anna because Life is hard as it is, and for decades, we Indians have (mistakenly) lived with the belief that we are like this only.  I support Anna because it takes a lot to get the youth of our country to even care about what’s happening to it.  I support Anna because he may be our only hope, in our fight against corruption and injustice, and an ineffective government.  I support Anna because, years later, when my grandchildren ask me if I had any role to play in the “freedom struggle” of my time, I want to be able to say “Yes, I did!”

I do hope that this flame does not die out too soon… for your sake and mine.

Read Also:
Wikipedia on Jan Lokpal Bill (Anti Corruption) of India
Answering Anna’s critics: 10 posers and rebuttals

And so the waves come crashing down on us. With marriage. With graduation. With a job or a promotion. On buying a house. With the first steps of an infant. With the scaling of every personal Mount Everest.

There is no unalloyed joy in this world, no hope, no freedom, no solace – once you have lost someone you truly love.

Anirban’s words will ring true for many of us.  Yes, we all have our own unique ways to cope with our losses.  But, in the end, we are all united in the truth that there’s not much we can do about it…

On weekends you call relatives up. Just as they state the plain truth that they are getting older, you either bluff your way through the conversation by telling them that nothing will ever happen to them or you berate them for not taking better care of themselves. The deception and the anger are your strange way of compensating for the impotence of not being able to do anything at all.

One day you are speaking to a loved one. The next day he or she is gone forever. You know that tomorrow it could be someone else. And the day after, it will be someone else. And one day it will be you.

Driftwood was an affirmation of my belief that Life should be lived to the fullest, every single moment!  That, we cannot choose our circumstances, only how we react to them.  That, all things come to an end, good and bad.  That, all we need is love.

I spent a good part of Sunday moving all her critical information from her old Nokia to the new Android phone.  While Nokia makes it a breeze to switch phones from one of their models to another, try doing it across platforms and you’ll soon be tearing your hair out!  Short story – Nokia doesn’t play nice with anything else.

So, here’s how you can get rid of your Nokia phone and move to a nice Android smartphone…

Before we get started, make sure you have a Windows PC (yes, Nokia still doesn’t support Mac OS X!!!) with the latest copy of the infamous Ovi suite installed.  You can download it for free from the Nokia site.  You will also need Outlook installed on your PC, to make it easier to send your info to Gmail’s services.

If you’re moving to Android, I also suggest you set up a new Gmail account only to use with your phone for the purpose of Contacts and Calendar sync.  That way, your phonebook will not get cluttered with the thousands of email ids already stored as contacts in your primary gmail account.

Once you’ve got the Ovi suite up and running, do the following:

- Connect your Nokia handset to your PC, using a USB cable, and Backup your phone!
- Go to Sync settings and enable Sync with Outlook for Calendar, Contacts and Tasks
- Enable sync for Messages if you’re keen on also getting your messages off your phone
- Now, run the Sync operation till complete
- Disconnect phone and exit Ovi
- Launch Outlook to ensure that Calendar/Contacts/Tasks are all in
- In Outlook, File/Import Export and export these to DOS comma separated files (CSV)
- Launch your newly-setup Gmail account, go to Settings and import Contacts from the CSV file
- Launch said account’s Calendar, go to Settings and import Calendar entries from the CSV file
- If you want to set up Tasks in Gmail too, you may have to add each task manually

(If you have a lot of recurring events or complex entries in your Calendar, you may have to run a sanity check on Google Calendar to ensure the recurrence and notifications are as intended.  Also, if you do setup Tasks in your Google account, you can use the GTask app to sync those with your phone.)

Now, you’re all set to import all this information to your handset.  Start your new Android phone (with wifi on or an active net connection), setup your newly-created Gmail account as the base/default account, and the phone will automatically sync your Contacts and Calendar to your phone!

The best part of this setup is that, once this is done, all new Contact/Calendar entries created using your phone in the said Gmail account will autosync to the cloud, eliminating the need for backups altogether! 

If you’d like to export your Messages to the new phone as well, you can try using a combination of Nokia2AndroidSMS (PC) and SMSBackup and Restore (Android), but for some reason, that didn’t work for me.  If all you want to do it save those Inbox messages in an accessible format, just in case you need some of that info, you can instead download NBUExplorer from SourceForge, and point it to your full-backup Nokia file, from which you can access all your messages.

If you use Notes actively, and would like to move that to the cloud as well, look no further than SimpleNote.  The web service works with just about anything, including MNotes on Android and JustNotes on Mac.  You’ll just have to add your old Notes, one by one, to get started.

So, that takes care of all your Contacts, Calendar, Tasks and Notes. 

Bye bye data backups.  Bye bye Nokia…

Read Also: Moving to Android: Essential Guide