I would like to own

Was just thinking the ever growing list of things I need. Here are a few of them:

A car - Toyota Corolla
A notebook - Apple Ibook G4
A digicam - Canon EOS 10D / Nikon D70
A combination of lenses - ( 28 - 135 mm and 400 mm canon USM lenses )
A Home Theatre - Bose
A Plasma screen TV - LG
A hiking bag - Jansport
A pair of hiking shoes - Reebok
A tennis racquet - Head
A Leather Jacket - Hidesign
A swiss army knife
A pair of binoculars

No wonder I crib about my pay cheque :)

Changi International Airport

The Singapore Airlines Boeing 747-400 flight SQ 249 touched down at the Changi Airport on saturday Feb 21st at 4.45 am. Yes it was punctual to the minute. After 3 hours of flying from Bangalore, the aircraft finally came to a halt. It was then I could see the vast expanse of the Changi International airport. Its more of a shopper's paradise than an airport. The duty free shops sell the finest and the most expensive brands or anything and everything available on this planet. The deal is u have to shell out a fortune. Then there are the restaurants, a movie hall that plays Star Movies on a big screen, there are video game parlours, pool tables, massage centres, parlours and an open sunflower garden. All of these is in just one terminal, the Terminal 2. Now there is Terminal 1 which has almost all of these ( except the star movies theatre ). There is a sky train that runs between terminal 1 and 2. The ariport is like a township ( without the houses ) :). The whole area is carpetted, centrally airconditioned and absolutely dust free. Its no wonder that it has been voted as the world's best airport for the 6th time. Apart from this the airport has won several
awards.
Its a tragedy that Bangalore lost the opportunity of having an internatinal airport built by the Changi consortium. They would've made it the second best airport in the world.

Crocodile basking in Ranganthittu

Autumn In New York

Could'nt help watching this movie for the second time. For what ever reasons loved this movie .. though it doesnt end in a happy note. Loved Winona Ryder .. man she just looks awesome .. and her xpressions are so natural and adorable. Am not able to find the appropriate metaphor to describe her :). I mean I didnt feel like drooling over her but just that sheer beauty coupled with her flow of dialogues kept me glued to the movie. I have never had this liking for 'anyone' in my life. I generally dont watch romantic movies .. but this one was way out of the world. The movie is just about 'love' that blooms between Ryder, a girl in her twenties and Richard Gere a guy in his forties or fifties. A very romantic and a touching movie. I guess the only other romantic movie I've liked is 'French Kiss' ...another post describing Meg Ryan will follow soon :). Guess I tend to like women with short hair .. that prompts me to make a list of the most beautiful women I have come across in the world of films ..

Grace Kelly
Winona Ryder
Meg Ryan
Madhubala
Sharon Stone

Yesterday at the BBC ( Bangalore Bloggers Meet ) all of us were introducing ourselves n I had a difficulty introducing myself as 'questor' .. the nick is kinda difficult to pronounce .. I just thot of cutting it short to say 'Q' .. thnx to Arun ..got the idea from one of his comments box .

Heard that the new honda city gives a mileage of 18 kmpl in city driving conditions. Pheww ! thats a lot better than any of the small cars, forget the sedans. Guys plannin to buy accent, ford ikon etc need to rethink on their strategies. ( Considering the great new looks and the Honda tag ). Another choice to the sedan category is the Maruti Baleno at an ex-showroom price of 5.68 lakhs, its a steal. 94 bhp, 12 kmpl mileage in city combined with the Maruti service should make this a good choice, but for its bulky outdated looks.

Saw LOTR-ROTK last weekend. Some of the breathtaking scenes -
The mountain peaks in and around Minas Tirith bieng lit up by the log fires.
The army of orcs marching from Mordor.
The army of the dead emerging from the ships led by Aragorn.
The battle scene at Minas Tirith.
These scenes coupled with Jackson's direction compel me to watch the movie again and again :). Wish I was in some place like Germany to view the Trilogy at a strech. Its no wonder that this movie won 11 oscar nominations.

Was having a discussion with a volvo top-notch exec (who happens to be a distant uncle of mine). Got a lot of insight into the automobile industry and the practices followed there. Want to visit the Volvo plant once.

Want to venture into fashion photography (just for the heck of it ) .. to see how those dusky models in their true avtars, is it only makeup and the camera that does the magic or is there something else to it ?. Spoke to a not so famous upcoming fashion designer in the city and she didnt have a clue as to where/when/how to start. Looking for better avenues.

India Shining

This is BJP's 'punchline' to get into power for the next 5 years atleast. Apparently the CEC (Chief Election Commisioner ) considers that BJP is using the media at the cost of the taxpayers. This propoganda has costed the BJP a whoophing 200 crores, spent mainly on the print ads. So why has the CEC woken up now ? It is a well known fact that political parties spend crores of rupees on ad campaigns during elections. Y target only the BJP or the NDA ?

As per the latest statistics by the NCAER in the past 5 - 6 years, rural buying power has shot up by more than 20%. It is estimated that by 2006-2007 there will be around 200 million white goods buyers from the rural sector and 240 million potential white goods buyers from this sector. That will be more than the combined population of the European Union. Phew !!. ITC, the cigarette major is setting up 'rural malls' which will sell every possible FMCG item. The malls are suppposed to come up first in Madhya Pradesh, mainly on the country side. India will be one of the biggest markets for consumer goods by 2010 surpassing the EU.
p.s: The data presented here is to the best of my recollection. For details pls grab the latest issue of outlook.

Tata motors are foraying into the heavy duty vehicles market in India, in which Volvo is a major player. They have supposedly publicised their entire strategy for this segment and they expect to bring about a prototype by 2007. Its like telling the competition, 'by 2007 if you dont gear up with something, by 2020 you will not even have market presence, forget being a competition'. The greatest thing I like about this company is their vision. When Tata Motors forayed into the passenger car segment with an indigeneously built car, the whole industry laughed at them. Ratan Tata was made a mockery. Today this man has proved everyone wrong. He is again going to prove everyone wrong by launching the cheapest Indian car for Rs 1 lakh. He will prove everyone wrong by bieng a success in the European markets with the Indica variant called Rover, by bringing the first hybrid engine to the Indian passenger car market. He will be India's answer to the big three in Detroit (Ford, GM and Chrysler, if not today or tomorrow definitely some day he will be.

Heres a pic of Lake Avalanche, a reservoir around 40 kms from ooty. Could not link the pic directly, so bear with me for those extra 'mouse clicks' :)

Had posted a question a few months back and just for the kicks posting it again :)

Is Love driven by Lust or Lust driven by Love ?

Also ppol in B'lore, jam up for the Bangalore blogger's meet