process of creating and updating their
resumes, and this would include a large
number of people, there is an excellent
resource at the Mckinsey website. Do
check this out. Cheers!
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Friday, May 9, 2008
Acid2 test for Web browsers.
I came across an interesting piece of info when browsing on cnet.com. I'd just started using a new browser called Safari, from Apple. I was checking reviews of Safari on cnet.com. The review mentioned something called an Acid2 test. It's a test put out by the Web Standards Project to determine whether one's browser is up to date. I had fun doing the test as I have Internet Explorer, Firefox as well as Safari, now, on my computer. So I tested all 3 browsers. All of you could try it too, just for fun. Happy testing:)!
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Mall hopping!
I have to confess I am a mall rat. There's a certain joy in strolling around malls, gazing at the shops, taking in the aromas at the food courts. My favourite malls in Bombay are InOrbit at Malad and Infiniti at Lokhandwala (Wonder why the Cinemax housed in the mall is called Cinemax, Versova? My guess is because Versova is even more upmarket than Lokhandwala!)
Speaking of InOrbit, it has to be one of the best managed and maintained malls in Bombay, if not the outright best. There are a few good shops there as well. The Imagine Store, which retails Apple products is one I frequent. I also liked this concept store called the Colour Factory, where one can paint one's own ceramic articles, available in different shapes and have them fired and glazed for a small amount. Pretty neat concept and makes for highly personalised gifts for family and friends. Among the food shops I'd recommend the Nando's restaurant and the Gelato shop which has definitely among the best gelatos in the suburbs.
Infiniti is another favourite, largely due to the Landmark there. It's a treat to browse among their huge collection of books and music CDs. It also has some decent food outlets and a large Westside. The Cinemax is good as well.
The mall I'm curious and excited about nowadays is the Oberoi mall on the highway at Goregaon. It's taken some time to come up and opened a few days back. It has a Lifestyle store, Bombay's first Central store (Hyderabad and Bangalore residents would know what I'm talking about) and a PVR cinema. What I'm more interested in knowing is about the food court and the othere shops there. In fact I'll be checking it out today and will blog on it soon.
Well that's it for now. Take care. See ya!
Speaking of InOrbit, it has to be one of the best managed and maintained malls in Bombay, if not the outright best. There are a few good shops there as well. The Imagine Store, which retails Apple products is one I frequent. I also liked this concept store called the Colour Factory, where one can paint one's own ceramic articles, available in different shapes and have them fired and glazed for a small amount. Pretty neat concept and makes for highly personalised gifts for family and friends. Among the food shops I'd recommend the Nando's restaurant and the Gelato shop which has definitely among the best gelatos in the suburbs.
Infiniti is another favourite, largely due to the Landmark there. It's a treat to browse among their huge collection of books and music CDs. It also has some decent food outlets and a large Westside. The Cinemax is good as well.
The mall I'm curious and excited about nowadays is the Oberoi mall on the highway at Goregaon. It's taken some time to come up and opened a few days back. It has a Lifestyle store, Bombay's first Central store (Hyderabad and Bangalore residents would know what I'm talking about) and a PVR cinema. What I'm more interested in knowing is about the food court and the othere shops there. In fact I'll be checking it out today and will blog on it soon.
Well that's it for now. Take care. See ya!
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Back from hibernation!
Hello girls (am thinking like a feminst now)!
It's been a long hiatus...if one can call it that. Hibernation comes closer to describing th long lay off off blogging. Without making excuses, there is a reson to explain the first 3 months of no blogging...I was in Chennai from August through early November, with limited access to a computer. Well not really...there was a nearby Reliance Web world...which I did visit infrequently. Laziness probably explains it. I was in Bombay in November and had to go back to Chennai in December. I was there till late January. Then I'd been busy till mid February so I'm covered till then:). However have no excuse from then till now.
As you see I've been upto a lot all these months and I'll be posting about it all in the next few blogs. Look forward to these posts and unlike thelast time I will really post this time around:).
Bye. Take care.
As you see I've been upto a lot all these months and I'll be posting about it all in the next few blogs. Look forward to these posts and unlike thelast time I will really post this time around:).
Bye. Take care.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
My tryst with translation.
As the title says, this post is all about translation. What it belies though, are the tribulations I've had to face in regards to 'T'. That will be explained in the next few paras.
You have to realise that this post was not written in one sitting; the first 3 or so paras were written last week, while the rest fell into place tonight, or should I say this morning as it's almost 5am?
I don't really know what got me interested in translations- it just happened that a few years ago while reading a Marathi travel book, I had this urge to translate it into Englishand get it published! I had visions of approaching the author and publisher with a fully translated copy, hoping they would be open to publishing an English version. As it turned out that plan fizzled, probably because the task was too big too early. For the record I haven't finished reading the book as well!
My second go at translating happened a few days back, when I responded to an ad in the paper, where Hindi translators were required. I met the concerned person and was given about six pages to translate on a trial basis.As of now I've submitted them and am waiting for a reply, as the boss is out of town and she takes the decisions.
What do I enjoy about translating? In my opinion there's nothing comparable to writing an original piece of prose or poetry, if one's lookingat creating something new. The sense of satisfaction one derives out of writing something is probably on a completely different level. Having said that, though, translation has it's own joys. The process of making the first, rough draft, looking up the dictionary for the most apt word is enjoyable in itself. This is followed by a second and in most cases the final draft. Here, it's about giving the finishing touches; most of the hard work is done in the first draft. I quite enjoyed the way a certain passage shapes up, first the rough cut and then the polishing as in the case of a diamond. The challenge lies in conveying as closely as possible the essence of a certain sentence in the original language.This has to be done as lucidly as possible, without the language getting too weighty. In my opinion, a translator can take some liberties with the words she uses as long as the meaning conveyed remains the same and she doesn't deviate too much from the original language.
This brings us to my third go at translating. Fed up with waiting for the lady boss to return, I scouted a bit more on job websites and found another translating job up for grabs. I met the concerned person and guess what...this time I had to translate a Hindi movie into English. Looked exciting to me...I got the DVD home and did the first 15 minutes as a trial. A small aside here; the movie I was given was Tezaab, a movie I'd enjoyed as a child. It brought back fond memories, was fun translating the song Ek, Do, Teen..., something which I'd hummed endlessly. The translation was okayed, and then I was told I'd have to wait a few days for someone from their office to call back with remuneration details. I waited a few days and got back in touch with my contact there. She tells me of all conceivable reasons that her boss is out of town and we'd have to wait till she gets back!! Just look at the heights of coincidence being scaled here:)! As things stand today, I'm still waiting for them to call me.
I have this uneasy feeling that I may have to look for another translating assignment here, and am not up to the task really. Guess I'll persist with these people for the time being. And will keep you updated on developments on the translating front.
That's all about the big 'T', folks. See ya and take care.
You have to realise that this post was not written in one sitting; the first 3 or so paras were written last week, while the rest fell into place tonight, or should I say this morning as it's almost 5am?
I don't really know what got me interested in translations- it just happened that a few years ago while reading a Marathi travel book, I had this urge to translate it into Englishand get it published! I had visions of approaching the author and publisher with a fully translated copy, hoping they would be open to publishing an English version. As it turned out that plan fizzled, probably because the task was too big too early. For the record I haven't finished reading the book as well!
My second go at translating happened a few days back, when I responded to an ad in the paper, where Hindi translators were required. I met the concerned person and was given about six pages to translate on a trial basis.As of now I've submitted them and am waiting for a reply, as the boss is out of town and she takes the decisions.
What do I enjoy about translating? In my opinion there's nothing comparable to writing an original piece of prose or poetry, if one's lookingat creating something new. The sense of satisfaction one derives out of writing something is probably on a completely different level. Having said that, though, translation has it's own joys. The process of making the first, rough draft, looking up the dictionary for the most apt word is enjoyable in itself. This is followed by a second and in most cases the final draft. Here, it's about giving the finishing touches; most of the hard work is done in the first draft. I quite enjoyed the way a certain passage shapes up, first the rough cut and then the polishing as in the case of a diamond. The challenge lies in conveying as closely as possible the essence of a certain sentence in the original language.This has to be done as lucidly as possible, without the language getting too weighty. In my opinion, a translator can take some liberties with the words she uses as long as the meaning conveyed remains the same and she doesn't deviate too much from the original language.
This brings us to my third go at translating. Fed up with waiting for the lady boss to return, I scouted a bit more on job websites and found another translating job up for grabs. I met the concerned person and guess what...this time I had to translate a Hindi movie into English. Looked exciting to me...I got the DVD home and did the first 15 minutes as a trial. A small aside here; the movie I was given was Tezaab, a movie I'd enjoyed as a child. It brought back fond memories, was fun translating the song Ek, Do, Teen..., something which I'd hummed endlessly. The translation was okayed, and then I was told I'd have to wait a few days for someone from their office to call back with remuneration details. I waited a few days and got back in touch with my contact there. She tells me of all conceivable reasons that her boss is out of town and we'd have to wait till she gets back!! Just look at the heights of coincidence being scaled here:)! As things stand today, I'm still waiting for them to call me.
I have this uneasy feeling that I may have to look for another translating assignment here, and am not up to the task really. Guess I'll persist with these people for the time being. And will keep you updated on developments on the translating front.
That's all about the big 'T', folks. See ya and take care.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Update
Been a long time since I posted last, almost 3 weeks...I guess the first rush of posts for my blog ended at just 3 :(! I hope to add a few posts in the next few days, as I've been busy these last few days. There'll be a post on translation as promised earlier, also another one on Hyderabad which I visited last weekend. Also another one on the joys of vicarious pleasures! So do visit in the next couple of days. Till then see ya!
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Some Superlative Music 2!
Here's the final installment of the music review. As mentioned in the previous post it's about Mademoiselle K and her band. You would have noticed that I had just begun raving about them in the previous post and that will continue here :):).
The band consisted of Mademoiselle K on vocals and lead guitar, a drummer and bass and supporting guitarists. They launched straight into their set and unbelievably played without a break in music for almost 45 minutes! The only lull in music was right in the beginning when, mid song, all 4 of them held their poses for nearly 2 minutes, being cheered on by an excited crowd. It was just these kinds of antics which they kept up throughout the show, at times playing lying down on the ground!
Mademoiselle K herself made quite a statement, with her leather outfit and throaty vocals, not to mention her excellent guitaring. For me the other standout performer from among 4 excellent ones was the drummer. Effortless is how one could describe his drumming, arms flailing everywhere, communicating with the audience as well. Reminded me of John Bonham (Led Zeppelin) almost from the start.
They kept up the relentless pace of their music for nearly the whole set, at times winding down a song and then slowly building up into the next high octane one. It's quite likely, many in the audience had multiple musical orgasms that night! Probably that explains the many smiling faces in the audience!
Frankly I don't think anyone in the audience expected a performance of such a high quality. They had everything- a great tight sound, showmanship, energy, it was all there. I feel privileged to have attended their concert; in my opinion among the best if not the best concert I've attended till date. All in all an evening well spent.
That's all for now..I'll catch up with you later. Am considering a post on translations next, so look out for that one. Ciao!
The band consisted of Mademoiselle K on vocals and lead guitar, a drummer and bass and supporting guitarists. They launched straight into their set and unbelievably played without a break in music for almost 45 minutes! The only lull in music was right in the beginning when, mid song, all 4 of them held their poses for nearly 2 minutes, being cheered on by an excited crowd. It was just these kinds of antics which they kept up throughout the show, at times playing lying down on the ground!
Mademoiselle K herself made quite a statement, with her leather outfit and throaty vocals, not to mention her excellent guitaring. For me the other standout performer from among 4 excellent ones was the drummer. Effortless is how one could describe his drumming, arms flailing everywhere, communicating with the audience as well. Reminded me of John Bonham (Led Zeppelin) almost from the start.
They kept up the relentless pace of their music for nearly the whole set, at times winding down a song and then slowly building up into the next high octane one. It's quite likely, many in the audience had multiple musical orgasms that night! Probably that explains the many smiling faces in the audience!
Frankly I don't think anyone in the audience expected a performance of such a high quality. They had everything- a great tight sound, showmanship, energy, it was all there. I feel privileged to have attended their concert; in my opinion among the best if not the best concert I've attended till date. All in all an evening well spent.
That's all for now..I'll catch up with you later. Am considering a post on translations next, so look out for that one. Ciao!
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