Dreams of a Long, Really Long Drive

It may not come as a surprise to most of you that Google Maps is one of favourite sites and has a pinned position in my Top Sites. When I upgraded to iOS 6 a few months ago, my biggest fear (and eventual loss) was having Apple Maps instead of  Google Maps. Of course, Google released their independent app soon after, but it does not help, that the default Maps in iOS is still Apple Maps, which is far from a usable product.

But of course, this post is not about that.

Google Maps is my favourite site (and app). I’ve helped the map become better with many edits after I’ve been misled by it. (I’d be happy to do the same for Apple Maps, but apparently you cannot.)

So, I was a bit surprised to see that the National Highway markers, on Google Maps, usually seen as NH17 or NH3 etc, were now labelled as AH47 or AH-some other number. First, I thought this was new nomenclature for the Golden Quadrilateral. On closer inspection, I noticed, many of the roads labelled AH were not a part of the Golden Quadrilateral.

The cat started dying with curiosity, and searching AH in Google, for some reason kept showing Ahmedabad. As the dying and curious cat was breathing its almost last, the answer revealed itself and the cat was saved!

AH stands for Asian Highway. Surprise, surprise! (Well, at least for me, some of you may know about it). Wikipedia has a full article about the Asian Highway Project, also known as the Great Asian Highway – a cooperative effort between 32 countries, including India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, China, Japan, South Korea and Bangladesh. Reading the article made me feel worse, knowing that this project has been going on (and off) since 1959, though for practical reasons, it really started in 2003. I still feel bad, that I wasn’t aware of this project for almost ten years!

After reading the article, there was newfound excitement. There exists a definite possibility of a “very” long drive.

I’m thinking Mumbai – Tashkent – Istanbul – Ulaanbaatar – Tokyo – Bangkok – Dhaka – Mumbai should be a good drive. Exotic places, all of them, and I haven’t been to any of the places, except Tokyo, (where I’ve seen only the inside of Narita International). So I proceeded to map the itinerary on Google Maps, but it was unable to do that; I guess, some roads are yet to be built (huge JPG; display patience); so that gives me time to prepare.

And no, you do not have to remind me that I still have to complete the Golden Quadrilateral. It’s not that I have not tried; there have been quite a few false starts, but I’ll do it – soon – on my own terms. Folks who can contribute a month or so, are rare.

But a drive is always wonderful whether it is a couple of hundred kms to Alibag or six-thousand-odd kms around the country, or (soon) many more kms around the continent.

Because traveling is like writing; and writing is like traveling – and I love them both. That’s what dreams are made of!

Extreme Equilibrium

A friend of mine took up a social media detox routine. Was away from social media for a month. Another friend shut down his Facebook account altogether. (His new drug is Twitter, though. But the good thing is that he is back to blogging.) My best friend is contemplating deleting her Facebook account. In a completely different conversation, I used the phrase, “social fatigue” (I am sure someone coined it before I did)

Couple of days I ago, I considered a social media detox. I’d stay away from Twitter (not too difficult) and Facebook (a bit difficult) and Foursquare (kind of difficult but not that much).

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know that I’ve not yet figured Twitter as yet. Facebook is something that I think I understand. (This would be a nice time to complain that although I’ve registered, I’ve not received the New Timeline). Linkedin is the new Orkut. (Unless bankers are willing to fund my company, I am not sure why they are connecting with me on Linkedin) Flickr stops being worthwhile just before $24.95 or whatever. Everybody on Goodreads makes me feel like I am in Kindergarten. And Google+, oh, forget it.

As you may have guessed, apart from Facebook, I can pretty much stay away from all social networks. I did want, however, to detox from all social networks, including Facebook. Which presents a significant problem; Facebook, i.e. I run a free MOOC on Facebook where I have sixty-odd ‘students’ attending the online course and It’s not right for me to be away for a month. Then, there is a page of my photographs and another page for my company.

So, I found a way out. I’ll detox myself on Facebook on my profile, and on all other social networks, where it is me. But I’ll continue to tox, so to speak, on professional networks.

Which, somehow brings me to the question of poison, and toxicity.

Like Botox (which is technically poison, if you didn’t know, and as far as I know), can too much of nectar be harmful too? In living at the extreme ends of life as most of us do, we are notions of an oscillating pendulum. All you have to do is watch the pendulum in the equilibrium position, and imagine that, that is you – not moving. Or, of course, see yourself as the weight at the either end of the amplitude.

The extremes.

Funnily enough, Mr. Dube (our Physics teacher in school) did not define the movement of the pendulum on a number line. So left was not necessarily negative and right was not necessarily positive. He never said that equilibrium was a state that we should strive for. But he did explain to us what it meant, being in the middle and at the extremes. “Without external pressure, there will be equilibrium.” Imagine a Physics teacher on the school ground during your practice. Parabola. Force and 45 deg. I owe a part of my silver medal in the Javelin Throw to you, Mr. Dube, nothing more. At that time only that much was obvious.

I am now trying to remember what all you said when we were working the pendulum.

 

Finally, Find Photos on Facebook

 

So, I was asked, how I was doing. Recent radical changes have got people worried about me. And every time I am asked how I am, I feel I should be worried too. I am just taking things a bit easy for a while, but most folks, knowing me the way they know me, are worried. It’s always nice to know that people care. Deep down, you feel very happy about the life within you and around you.

We talked of being confused and that’s when I said – I have no idea what to do with my photographs. I joined Flickr in May 2005 and have uploaded consistently since then. This April, I chose not to renew my Pro account on Flickr. Since then, I have uploaded to about nine different photo sharing sites; tried all of them. One of the advantages of being confused – is that you discover a lot of new things. Not one came close to what I was looking for. The big problem of social sharing is that you are a part of multiple networks, and have made friends and acquaintances in different networks. So, when you choose to upload your photos in one location, there’s a good chance that many, in other networks will not be able to see your work. Yes, most networks will allow you to publish to other networks, but more often than not – it’s quite clumsy. (We’ll just mark WordPress.com as an exception here).

The other thing about Flickr, was that it has not changed much in the last five-odd years since I have been a member. There is also some high-handedness in ‘curating’ photographs, as I have seen happening with a few Flickr members. I’ll admit, my photographs were never ‘force-curated.’ And for various reasons, my photos were getting good exposure. My favourite feature on Flickr, was the stats. It’s always nice to know which of your photographs are popular – and for what reason. But I was bored. Utterly. Five years is a very long time for a network not to do anything interesting.

In the meanwhile, I tried 500px, which has very good presentation. I felt however, it is too early and too basic, but I might reconsider it in a year or so; I don’t mind paying the slightly costly $50, when uploading/sharing becomes easier. There was always Facebook – but the photos were exposed to a limited audience (yes, I know I can make them public and share them outside of Facebook). Then, I looked at Saatchi Online – which is good for selling your work – and has a decent presentation too. Of course, I have been trying Google+, which has a cool presentation, but that’s about it. With very few ‘friends’ wanting to make the switch to G+, it didn’t make sense for me. However, G+ has been able to garner a very vibrant photographer community. That makes you wonder.

Click to visit the Facebook Page

I finally have now decided to move my portfolio to a Facebook Page @ If I Could See Better.

It is nowhere close to what I would look for in a photo-sharing site, for instance, the presentation style is not the best of what is available out there (Facebook is surely capable of much more), geo-tagging is manual and there is no smart way for uploading (have to go through a file uploader – no native app).

Yet, it’s a nice place to have a single location to keep all your photos, build a community around them, share to Facebook and Twitter, and get stats about your work. So, till such time something really smart comes up, a Facebook Page it is.

I’ve just started, so in time, you will see more, soon.