A few days I visited this historical monument in Aurangabad. I knew that the Maqbara was inspired partially by the Taj so I was really keen to see it for myself.

This is located in the heart of the old city in Aurangabad. Its quite well known, so we did not have any trouble in reaching the monument. We did stop at a couple of places to ask for directions and people in general were helpful in pointing out the way to us.

This is the official description written by ASI. It was put up at the entrance of the monument.

They have put up a marble bench in front of the monument just like it is at the Taj. It provides the tourists a vantage point for getting their photographs clicked. The fact that Bibi ka Maqbara has been built around the same time as the Taj is somewhat strange. Because as per the inscription its been built by Shah Jahan’s Grandson.

This photograph shows the lawn in front, leading to the Bibi ka Maqbara(its behind me). One enters from the Arched Gateway, show in upper right and walks to the monument.

Tuktuk had a grand time running all around the Bibi ka Maqbara. She was literally jumping out of my arms. In this photograph we are standing at the rear of the Maqbara with lawns and the mountains behind us.

Tuktuk wanting to get out of her pram at he Bibi ka Maqbara

This is a view of the rear lawns at the Bibi ka Maqbara in Aurangabad.

Me standing besides one of the side doors of the Bibi ka Maqbara.

View of one of the minarets of the Bibi ka Maqbara against the monsoon sky

Evening view of the Bibi ka Maqbara

My parents love taking care of little birds. Currently they have four birds at home. Normally during the day time, their cage is put outside and during the night time we bring the cage inside. The cage has a small pot inside for leaving water for the birds. Also there is a small dish for the grains.

They are a noisy bunch. They make such a racket that you would think someone’s attacking the cage. The cage has to be strong, because Cats have a habit of attacking them. But it hasn’t happened so far in this particular house.

I have very vivid memories of small birds kept in a cage in our house when we were kids.

Afer having lusted after this camera I finally purchased it a few days ago. Ideally I wanted a D90, then I became aware of what it actually costs so I compromised and aspired for a D5000. And I settled for a D3000. It still cost me big money. My only regret is I did not buy this earlier. I clicked so many pics of my Tuktuk on my Z700. I could have shot them using my current one.

It has everything that I used to miss on my Kodak camera. Namely, lightning fast AF, great low light performance, zero startup time, no shutter lag. Its like a prayer fulfilled.

Agreed, there’s no movie mode, its heavy and there’s limited zoom on the kit lens. But image quality more than makes up for everything.

The photographs below have been clicked from my Kodak Z700.(Going strong, 30,000 pics and 5 years later)

I haven’t been able to write of late. Lots of things happening around here.

1. Have attended the Ahmedabad course
2. Been to Abu
3. Got myself a new toy
4. Have delivered a talk at a Business School on IT Org Structures
5. New things happening at work place too
6. ..and the most disturbing thing…Tuktuk has gone on a visit to her paternal grandparents…missing her a lot !

Will write about everything in due course.

Jawed with Mr. Rajendra Mishra, COO (Cables & Conductors)

I started from Pune on the evening of 25th November. Konark Express was on time and it reached the station sharp at 1900 hrs. I did not have a confirmed ticket. Since I had booked it at the last moment the best that I could get was RAC. But luckily my ticket got confirmed and I got a berth.

Since this journey is a long one(around 36 hours) it tends to get boring. I took a couple of magazines and a few novels on my phone to pass the time. Giving company to me was a young student from IIT Bombay. It was nice talking to him.

Hyderabad was the only place where I got down from the train. We reached Hyderabad at around 7 am next morning. Had a breakfast of Idli and Vada.

I passed the day by reading a short writeup on the Google way of doing business and by conversing with my co-passengers. Eventually the day ended and I woke up the next day when the train was just about to reach Bhubaneshwar. Daddy had come to receive me.

Day before yesterday I took part in the Tata Crucible Quiz at Pune. The event was held at the Taj Blue Diamond Hotel. The event was scheduled to be started at 3 PM, unfortunately it started raining at around that time, so they had to delay the start by around 45 minutes. It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience for me. I was taking part in a quiz like this after around 10-11 years…and it was great !

Jawed @ Tata Crucible Quiz 2009 Pune

Originally I had planned to participate with Yatin Suvarna(a colleague of mine). Just when we were about to leave office for the venue, it started raining. As he was not feeling well he did not come..I was very keen to participate so I thought I would take a chance and request them to allow me to take part individually. But that was not allowed, so I requested Prashant Brahmbhatt, our SAP Abaper to be my replacement partner. He promptly agreed and I was able to participate.

In the preliminary round, there were a total of 25 questions. Based on the score, 6 teams were to be selected to compete on stage. The questions were very well balanced and the quiz master ensured that there were enough clues for the participants to think out the correct answers even if you don’t know. That is the hallmark of a good quiz master. The qualifying cutoff was 19 and we could get only 14 correct out of 25.

Some of the interesting questions were like …

• In the world of fashion accessories what does RL mean?
• Under what brand does Pepsi export Basmati
• According to japanese what’s 20th century greatest innovation
• what’s the ad agency Crayon’s claim to fame (clue: elections)
• Identify Ad of Surf Excel
• Identify Ad of Samsung mobile phone
• Origin of the word Limousine

We three used to participate in the quiz competitions together. Vasant was the all rounder, he used to be equally good in sports, extra curricular activities and studies. Soumya was the dedicated quizzard. And I was the bits & pieces person…

From few old pics