Prabhu n Ferrari

Correct me if am wrong, but does the camera flash cover a range more than 3 or 4 metres? No right? When that is the case, why do people fire the flash while taking picture of an object in distance. For instance, if you watch the football matches, when a striker is near the box, immediately you can see people firing the flash like crazy. I dont like taking pictures with flash. It somehow makes the photo artificial.

Talking of flash, I got my new digital camera yesterday. Canon Powershot S2 IS. Old one, I had given to my brother. This year, am on a buying spree. First there was Nokia N70. Then Lenovo N100. And now this. High time I stop But wait. The wide angle converter for Canon seems to be good Should I go for it. Noooooooooooooo

Pronounce these croatian names. SRNA. How will someone call him? (issirrinnaaa?) I am not sure if it is just the initials or his name itself is SRNA? One more player. PSRO or something. Reminded me of ISRO! Hmm

The first set of matches is almost over. The team that impressed me the most is italy. And next one is australia. What a comeback against the cheating Japs? After watching Brazil struggle against Croatia, I wonder how it will be if Italy meets Brazil. Oh yes. My favorite team Czech outclassed the americans. They sure will go a long way in this tournament I guess and wish. The American manager is funny. Especially his facial expressions. He tries his level best to look intelligent, but that makes him look funny.

And what happened to good referees? Ghana deserved a penalty. And yesterday Adriano fouled so much, but no yellow card? BBC came up with an interesting trivia yesterday. Graham Poll was the referee for the fluke koreans vs Togo match. BBC reports ‘Graham Poll celebrated his 14th wedding anniversary by blowing the whistle and starting the Korea-Togo match’

And its better I dont talk about France. Booooooooo

Yesterday I met a guy in the tram. He was having a Nokia N70. And listening to music from iPod. And wearing a nice looking watch, goggles and Nike shoes. Whats the big deal you might ask? You wont, if I tell you that he was wearing just a shorts and nothing else. Hmmm. Summer? What will he do, if he comes to chennai now

Some photographs from Botaniska Garden, Goteborg.

If Germany were shaky, England were worse. Most hyped team. Paper tigers. Winning by an own goal :P. Peter Crouch. A striker who strikes everything but the ball. Ouch! I doubt if England will reach the quarter final. And their exit might coincide with Wimbledon? Then BBC will have Henman to hype with
And yes. Ecuador is very impressive. If England qualify from this group they might meet the Germany,Ecuador group in the next round. I would want to see England play Ecuador. It should be good fun

He has come abroad on an assignment. He meets a She in office and they become friendly. She is staying alone and away from her family.

He: Hey. I would like to explore the city this weekend. Can you suggest me some good places
She: You can visit XX or XXX, its an amazing amusement park. Then you can go to the city central and hang out
He: Err. By any chance you free this weekend? Can you accompany me
She: Sure. Its been sometime since I got out on weekends.
Next day. He and She roam around the entire day. By evening
He: One of the best days in my life. I really enjoyed. Its been lovely
She: Same here. Its been good.
He: Why don’t you come home for dinner? I will make a typical south Indian meal.
She: That sounds excellent!
(After a while, He and She reach his home)

He starts cutting vegetables, and makes sambhar

She: You sure you don’t want any help
He: Absolutely nothing. You keep watching TV. Food will be ready in 15 minutes
(After some time, He and She have dinner. They have a good time laughing and talking. Suddenly She has tears in her eyes)
He: Hey! Are you crying? What happened? You missing home or something
She nods her head in negative. And tries to say something
He: No no. Just relax. Feel free. I am there, if you want to share something.
Saying this he goes and stands next to her thinking it will be of help. He is wondering if she is feeling senti that he cooked for her and all.
She: Gasp! Its so spicy. Get me some water. I have never had this much spice in life. Its burning
He:!!!!!!!!!!!!

And so our He gets a bulb from a foreign gujili for the first time

Sometimes when you buy digital cameras, you get user manuals in languages other than english. I got an user manual in Thai language for my IXUS 430. I was trying for sometime to get the user manual in english. Finally managed to find the right link via this

Yesterday while coming back from office I discovered a library next to the bus stop. I just went in out of curiosity and was really surprised to see a huge collection of english books. Registration is free and I can take 4 books at a time. This was free too. Not just that. They have an internet cafe and browsing is free again. You can return the books in a months time. They have some good movies as well, but the movie rental is 10SEK for 3 days. Not that costly.
Importantly, this library is maintained by the government. If I register in one library I can access all libraries in Göteborg. The staff were very polite and friendly and they speak very good english. Luckily almost everyone in Sweden speaks good english. Just that nothing is written in english though!
And hey. Guess I need to visit this

Yesterday we had an off here due to Swedish National day. I had been to a botanical garden called as Botaniska. On my way back, stepped into the shopping mall here. Right in the middle, there were 3 swedish guys wearing dhoti, kurta and singing Hare Rama Hare Krishna one guy had a kudumi(How do you call a kudumi in englees?) They had a dolak, harmonium and all. There were many curious onlookers and one guy was distributing pamphlets of ISKCON Amazed to see that ISKCON has reached this far!

Hare Rama Hare Krishna!

First thing that I observed in Goteborg was the public transport. You pay 500 SEK and get a monthly pass, which can be used in any of the bus, tram and ferry. Any no of times. Any direction. Pretty good connectivity as well. Maybe its the same all over in europe!

Second. Its 13 degrees in the day and 6 to 7 degrees at night. They call it SUMMER!!!

Third. Sun sets at 11.15 or 11.30 at night and rises at 02.30 in the morning. First time in my life, I had dinner when the sun was shining brightly. You just dont realise how the time flies

It has been an interesting time so far. Though I havent sorted out my net connection etc yet, I have kind of settled down pretty quickly. I am sharing a 2 bedroom apartment with another colleague at a place called Mildvadersgatan. Before someone asks, I dont have a roomie. I have a apartmentie or a flatie. Okay? The apartment is fully furnished with all kitchen accesories, TV, DVD player, washing machine, iron box, edjatra edjatra. And there are couple of indian stores 15 minutes away from home. So no worries with respect to food. By the time am composing this post, my colleague is making chapathi and dal

Its kind of routine here. From home to bus stop its 5 minutes by walk. From there 12 minute bus journey. And another 7 minutes walk, am in office at Torslanda. Will post photos of office sometime next week. Its in the middle of a forest and all green green. By 6 in evening am back home.

Yesterday, I was busy washing clothes and getting groceries for the week. Today, some 6 of my colleagues planned to visit the archipelago near Goteborg. Precisely the island called Vrango. It takes around 5o minutes to reach the place by Ferry. Pretty cool ride. Only thing is, the wind blows strongly and makes you feel the temperature is less than 10 Cant stand outside much, Otherwise the ride was pretty neat.

This island consists of summer homes of many swedes and thats about it. And you can go anywhere and everywhere in the island and do what you please. No one asks any question. We roamed around the island for some 4 hours or so, and then came back. It was interesting, scenic and chill!!! Anyways, thats it for now. Time to have dinner. More, later!

As always do check the notes in flickr photos

When I reached Goteborg, my company had arranged for someone to receive me. After we dumped the luggage, I asked him if I can sit in the front seat. He said okay. By habit, I went to the left side of the car and opened the front door. The guy started off “No No. I will drive. You please relax” I apologised and told him that in India “Right side is where the driver sits”. He said “In Sweden, and many other countries Left side is the right side” If some communists had heard this, they would have been super thrilled

P.S. I didnt tell him I dont know how to drive a car. Naanga oattina Ferrari dhaan oattuvom la