The Goa Image Gallery is here

Often I think how nice it would be to have things that I don't have, more importantly things I can't afford like a big house, a bigger car a more expensive camera. I have also often wished how nice it would be to get the money to buy them, get the money, not earn it. I am not the only who thinks like this, this is the basic human nature and I am sure you have had same thoughts, maybe not as frequently as other but you definitely did have these thoughts.

I guess this is it for the Chivas Regal Whisky in Picturejockey. I have some other shots as well that I am posting on Flickr since they are not significantly different than the ones I have already posted. In past I have finished a series of images only for more to return, Carlsberg being one example. Chivas Regal however in not going to make a return since the bottle belongs to a neighbor and I am not going to but a bottle just to take pictures.

I was once told that Whisky was made when the crop of grapes failed and there was nothing that can be used to make wine. The more I think of it, the more this idea sounds absurd. The first mention of Whisky in Scotland is in 1494 though it was made even before that and also mentioned different names used for this "Water of Life".

In Aberdeen, Scotland, Chivas brothers started making whiskey in 1801 which means the company is in business for the last 208 years. The sales figures of 2007 mentioned 4.4 million 9 litre cases. I am not sure if this means the company sold about 40 million litres of whisky in all or 40 millions litres of whisky in 750 ml bottles plus others. Whichever it is , it is a large quantity of whiskey. This is possible because it is the largest selling premium whisky in many countries including USA and China and many countries in Europe.

Anyone returning from an overseas trip has to buy one thing from the duty free shop to complete the journey - a bottle of an alcoholic drink which happens to be a bottle of scothc whisky in most cases as whisky is more popular in India than anything else. Earlier scothc whisky was bought because you couldn't get it in India. Now it is availabe in India but it is still bought because it is quite expensive in India.

21st February was the Graduation day for the Kindergarten kids of Ryan International School, Goregaon - the school where Manu goes. Although Manu and the other kids in his class still has one more year in the kindergarten before they move to the primary school, they were there along with the kids moving to the primary school. It was fun watching the kids perform. There are a lot of pictures and videos that I have taken there which I will be uploading soon.

We live in a place that is almost as hot as hell so we don't need a fire place but if we needed one, Manu ensured we would not be running short of fuel for it. The choices for pencils is very wide today but back in our day there were only a few limited things available. The most famous were the Natraj and the Camlin Flora pencils. They are still around but they don't have the monopoly they once had.

Although Manu didn't write with pencils, he still had a few of them and sharpeners he got as return gifts at birthday parties and other places. A pencil and a sharpener were a lethal mix and once he gets his hands on both, they would keep Manu busy for a good half and hour to an hour before the entire pencil is converted to these pencil shavings. Like every kid he still likes to sharpen the pencils but now he stops when he has a nice and sharp lead.

The things that we usually miss are the things hidden in the plain sight, things that are very obvious. An example of this is the pencil sharpener. Manu calls it "Pencil chota karne wala" which when translated in English means the tool to make a pencil short. Before he started going to school and started using pencils, the only thing he used to do was take a pencil and a sharpener and make the pencil shorter.

I know I am very late in wishing you a happy Valentine Day, I thought I should forget about wishing you since it is already over. When I looked around myself I saw everyone is busy with Valentine Day and felt I have to wish you.

Shot at the Cafe coffee day at Mumbai Airport. The coffee served at the regular outlets of Cafe Coffee Day are is good but the coffee they serve at the stalls in the Railway stations is horrendous. at the stations it costs much less but the dip in the quality is much greater than the price. After buying coffee from the CST station and throwing it away, I have stopped going to their outlets, inside or outside the station not withstanding. I don't know what inspires a brand to dilute their image to gain a little sale.

When we stopped to take pictures of the windmills on our way to Bombay from Shirdi, Mira took pictures of some plants including this. The title is not original, I have lifted it from a cartoon by Gary Larson. I guess it is Gary Larson but I am not sure.

We reached the Calangute Beach at just the right time. The setting sun gave a very nice backdrop for the pictures I shot of people parasailing. There are more shots that I will be posting in an image gallery of Goa I am working on.

I feel I need to do something about it though I am not sure if I will be able to do it. The posting has become quite random. I am quite busy at work so when ever I get a little time, I select an image and upload it. I need to spend some time selecting the images I want to post and then should edit them and keep them ready. Weekend don't look too good so maybe one night I have to stay up and do it.