Google Earth Chennai Updated!

The Chennai City has been updated by Google Earth on May 18th, 2009. Now the city looks more beautiful than what it did previously which was something like 3 yrs old.

Here are some of the screen shots of the new Chennai City from Google Earth.

The first thing I wanted to see as soon as I knew that Chennai was updated was the Kathipara Grade Separator. It looks very beautiful, but will be more beautiful if there is greenery around it. Greenery is also a part of the plan and hence hopefully it will be done in another year.


The new images are taken in an angle such that u can make out the height of the building too, whereas in the previous version, the images were taken exactly overhead. This is clearly seen in this image. Its the thiruvanmiyur junction. We can see the Tidel Park and also make out its height. The foot over bridges are also clearly seen.


Here is the Padi Junction. Looks neat as well.



The Toll Plaza of the IT Corridor.

The Prestige - A Review

I came across this movie a few months ago and I was kind of obsessed with it for a week or two. This is a movie of a different kind. Directed by Christopher Nolan (of “The Dark Knight” fame), this movie revolves around the life of two magicians. Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) and Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) were assistants to a magician along with Julia McCullough (Piper Perabo), who is Angier’s wife. During one of the shows, Julia is accidentally drowned while performing a trick. Angier blames Borden for the death of his wife as Borden had tied a new knot on Julia’s hands leading to her death. This creates hatred between the two.

Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman

Angier and Borden start their own shows individually with Cutter (Michael Caine) being Angier’s engineer and Olivia (Scarlett Johansson) as his assistant, while Borden works with Fallon, his engineer. Both Angier and Borden set out to destroy each others career. Borden brings out a new trick called, “The Transported Man”, where he throws a ball and go through a door and instantly comes out of the other door to catch the ball. Angier is obsessed on finding out how he plays the trick. But later he creates a similar act, gaining more audiences on his side.

The story follows the two magicians' lives, their tricks, sacrifices and their obsession to find out each others secrets. The story taking place on late 18^th century also collides with the lives of the scientists Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison.

Scarlett Johansson and Hugh Jackman

Both Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale played their roles to perfection. Joan Bergin’s costumes were attractive. Scarlett Johansson was very pretty in her 18^th century attire. The movie is full of secrets and suspense right from scene one and at the end of every scene, a secret or a suspense is revealed. Watch out for the climax!

This movie would keep you on the edge till the end and its a 'Must Watch movie'.

My ratings:

Overall - 9.7/10

Screenplay - 9.5/10

Editing - 9.9/10

Costume - 9.8/10

Encounter With Snakes

I have come across Snakes quite a number of times in my life. I have not been attacked from any one so far (luckily) and I hope it will never happen.

The first time I ever came across a snake was around 12 yrs ago. I saw my dad chasing something in the garden with a stick. I thought of helping him when he called out not to come nearby at all. Out of curiosity I went near him and saw a snake trying to crawl out of the garden and my dad nearly killed it.

The second time was as nearly as 3 yrs ago. I came home after the culturals at IIT Saarang. I was too tired and decided to sleep without eating. As I was entering my room, mom called out not to go to the room as there is a snake. I was half asleep already and I went into the room to notice the snake had curled on the window grill, which was very close to the bed. I went straight to the other room and slept off. Only in the following morning i realized that there was a snake in my room and when I asked my mom what happened to it, she replied that my dad killed it.

The third one was the most funniest and the best encounter i ever had. It was during the third semester exams and me along with Jabez and Barath were sitting together (I was at the extreme right) and studying in one of the atriums. Suddenly a guy ran across us from right to left and shouted, "Snake!". I turned to see a snake just a meter away from me. I was nearest to the snake and hence i was more prone to be attacked. I just jumped backwards, out of reach of the snake. The snake kept on crawling and ended up near my bag. My bag was opened and the snake comfortably went inside the bag and came back out. By this time one of the security guard came with a stick and chased it away. I found it really difficult to use that bag since then but luckily my exam didn't go bad that day.

The fourth one had been fairly recent. It was a month ago and I was walking towards my college, talking with my sister over phone. As I was walking I saw a snake crawling from the river to the other side of the road. This time I didn't even bother about the snake and it didn't bother about me.

All these snakes I have come across are of the same species (I don't know which one it is). And I realized that these snakes will not harm any human until it feels insecure. That is, if you don't try to harm these snakes, they will not harm you.

Am Back!

Hi friends!!!

Its been nearly 5 months since I posted or read any of my friends' blog. For the last five months I was completely cut-off from the internet. But now I'm back.

These five months hold some special place in my heart. It has been the best and the hardest time of my life (so far). It was the last semester of my college life and surprisingly my entire class was so close together throughout the semester. We never bunked a single class and almost all of us had the attendance of above 90% (for the first time after first sem).

Having only two days of college in a week (thu and fri) each of us were looking forward for those days. Had the best time of our college life, had lots of fun, played lots of pranks and laughed our guts out. For a change, we celebrated our own farewell with our staffs in the staff room. We bought a huge cake and gave it to our staffs and made each of them give a speech.

The last working day of the college was very sentimental. Most of us ended up crying. And on the last day of exams we chatted, joked around and had the last fun at college.

Now that the college has ended, everyone has parted on their own ways. Most of us have no idea where our future lies. I just wish that each of us find a happy future and hope to be in touch quite regularly.