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Image details:
Camera: Canon Powershot S2 IS
Aperture: f/3.2
Shutter Speed: 15 sec
Focal Length: 36 mm
ISO Speed: ISO 100
Exposure : 0 ev
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Manali by night
The hill resort town of Manali glows in the darkness as the Pir Panjals loom large in the background.
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Image details:
Camera: Canon Powershot S2 IS
Aperture: f/3.2
Shutter Speed: 15 sec
Focal Length: 36 mm
ISO Speed: ISO 100
Exposure : 0 ev
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Image details:
Camera: Canon Powershot S2 IS
Aperture: f/3.2
Shutter Speed: 15 sec
Focal Length: 36 mm
ISO Speed: ISO 100
Exposure : 0 ev
Friday, June 26, 2009
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Winds of change
Of late, I was having trouble managing two blogs, especially my photoblog 'Light & Lens'. Hence I thought, its best to merge the two and run the show from one central location.
So ladies and gentlemen, Light & Lens is officially part of this blog :-) All posts and comments have been imported and incorporated at this joint.
So ladies and gentlemen, Light & Lens is officially part of this blog :-) All posts and comments have been imported and incorporated at this joint.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Making music... and how !?!
There are music shows and there are music shows. But every once in a while something comes your way that blows away all known rules, patterns and norms and creates a space, a genre for itself.
One such event is the Coke Studio series. I came across the first season while surfing random videos on youtube, and by the end of the evening - I had the entire series downloaded.
Pakistani music producer Rohail Hayat brought together artists from various genres of the Pakistani music scene and got them to jam and perform live - the result? Sheer magic.
I was eagerly looking forward to season 2 - and minutes into the first video - the bat had been raised beyond the stratosphere. Sain Zahoor & Noori collaborated to come up with this otherworldly rendition of a Bulleh Shah kafi, Aik Alif.
One such event is the Coke Studio series. I came across the first season while surfing random videos on youtube, and by the end of the evening - I had the entire series downloaded.
Pakistani music producer Rohail Hayat brought together artists from various genres of the Pakistani music scene and got them to jam and perform live - the result? Sheer magic.
I was eagerly looking forward to season 2 - and minutes into the first video - the bat had been raised beyond the stratosphere. Sain Zahoor & Noori collaborated to come up with this otherworldly rendition of a Bulleh Shah kafi, Aik Alif.
Now I hope SOMEONE in Bollywood or at Coke comes up with the brilliant idea of copying this format and get some of the Indian artists to perform like this. PLEASE...
Thursday, June 18, 2009
In thin air
Another Mig-21 crashed today, thankfully though its pilot ejected safely. Even the Indian Air Force by now would have lost track of how many Mig-21s it has lost in air crashes in the last decade. As with all crashes, a press release saying "We will investigate" - would be dished out and all will be forgotten till the next crash happens.
One wonders what the government is doing about it? Pat would come the answer - "We're building the LCA 'Tejas' to replace the MiG-21." So what's with the LCA? Well DRDO is working hard to develop it... DRDO?? WTF is DRDO ??
'The Defence Research and Development Organization or the DRDO as it is commonly known touts itself as "... a network of more than 50 laboratories which are deeply engaged in developing defence technologies covering various disciplines, like aeronautics, armaments, electronics, combat vehicles, engineering systems, instrumentation, missiles, advanced computing and simulation, special materials, naval systems, life sciences,training, information systems and agriculture. Presently, the Organisation is backed by over 5000 scientists and about 25,000 other scientific, technical and supporting personnel. Several major projects for the development of missiles, armaments, light combat aircrafts, radars, electronic warfare systems etc are on hand and significant achievements have already been made in several such technologies.'
The above spiel has been taken directly from the DRDO website. So lets see what this amazing organization has done about one of its most high profile projects - the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), now known as the Tejas.
The programme was conceived in 1983 with the aim to have an indigenous aircraft to replace the 'aging' Mig-21 which were the backbone of the Indian Air Force and were nearly 15 years old then.Today, 26 years later - the LCA is yet to be inducted in the IAF and the Mig-21 is still the most numerous aircraft in the IAF's inventory. Out of a total fleet of some 630 combat aircraft, more than 200 are from the Mig-21 family. Even now, it isn't yet clear when then LCA would enter active combat service. 2012 is said to be the earliest when it is likely to happen.
The reasons for the LCA's delay are many - including those related to sanctions imposed by the US following the nuclear tests carried out by the BJP Govt in 1998, which meant that the project could not use the GE404 engine as planned. However, DRDO had also started parallel work on another engine called Kaveri which has practically failed all requisite tests in the last 23 years marking it as another dud that DRDO has produced. The initial versions of the plane, whenever it goes into serial production would be powered by Eurojet or GE engines.
The LCA project has exceeded Rs 10,000 crore in development costs. In 1996, the projected cost per unit was $10-17m which went up to $24m in 2001 and now it has gone up to $35m apiece!
That beggars one simple question? Why spend a gazillion bucks out of the taxpayers pocket to develop the LCA? Wouldn't it have been better to simply buy proper new aircraft and save money and lives from being lost?
I'm sure the Swadeshi party would be at my throats by now - but hey look where we are now...The Indian Air Force today is struggling to maintain its inventory - back in 2007 the Air Chief Marshal had sent out a warning about the dwindling numbers - its 2009 and nothing has been done. Today, we are less than 32 squadrons strong whereas the minimum sanctioned strength of the IAF should be 39.5 squadrons. That's about 100 aircraft less than what we should be and this does not include the number of aircraft grounded for lack of spares.
As far as I can see, the situation will not improve even the next 3-4 years. The Mig-21s won't last beyond 2012. The Tejas would not be ready in significant numbers to fill that gap, nor would there be enough Sukhoi Su-30s. The Mig-29s are ageing and so is the Mig 27 / Jaguar fleet. The MRCA is still a competition and lord knows when the first plane would be bought.
At this rate by 2012 we simply will not have enough aircraft to protect both the Chinese and Pakistani borders. The government needs to realize this soon or we'll flying without wings in thin air.
One wonders what the government is doing about it? Pat would come the answer - "We're building the LCA 'Tejas' to replace the MiG-21." So what's with the LCA? Well DRDO is working hard to develop it... DRDO?? WTF is DRDO ??
'The Defence Research and Development Organization or the DRDO as it is commonly known touts itself as "... a network of more than 50 laboratories which are deeply engaged in developing defence technologies covering various disciplines, like aeronautics, armaments, electronics, combat vehicles, engineering systems, instrumentation, missiles, advanced computing and simulation, special materials, naval systems, life sciences,training, information systems and agriculture. Presently, the Organisation is backed by over 5000 scientists and about 25,000 other scientific, technical and supporting personnel. Several major projects for the development of missiles, armaments, light combat aircrafts, radars, electronic warfare systems etc are on hand and significant achievements have already been made in several such technologies.'
The above spiel has been taken directly from the DRDO website. So lets see what this amazing organization has done about one of its most high profile projects - the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), now known as the Tejas.
The programme was conceived in 1983 with the aim to have an indigenous aircraft to replace the 'aging' Mig-21 which were the backbone of the Indian Air Force and were nearly 15 years old then.Today, 26 years later - the LCA is yet to be inducted in the IAF and the Mig-21 is still the most numerous aircraft in the IAF's inventory. Out of a total fleet of some 630 combat aircraft, more than 200 are from the Mig-21 family. Even now, it isn't yet clear when then LCA would enter active combat service. 2012 is said to be the earliest when it is likely to happen.
The reasons for the LCA's delay are many - including those related to sanctions imposed by the US following the nuclear tests carried out by the BJP Govt in 1998, which meant that the project could not use the GE404 engine as planned. However, DRDO had also started parallel work on another engine called Kaveri which has practically failed all requisite tests in the last 23 years marking it as another dud that DRDO has produced. The initial versions of the plane, whenever it goes into serial production would be powered by Eurojet or GE engines.
The LCA project has exceeded Rs 10,000 crore in development costs. In 1996, the projected cost per unit was $10-17m which went up to $24m in 2001 and now it has gone up to $35m apiece!
That beggars one simple question? Why spend a gazillion bucks out of the taxpayers pocket to develop the LCA? Wouldn't it have been better to simply buy proper new aircraft and save money and lives from being lost?
I'm sure the Swadeshi party would be at my throats by now - but hey look where we are now...The Indian Air Force today is struggling to maintain its inventory - back in 2007 the Air Chief Marshal had sent out a warning about the dwindling numbers - its 2009 and nothing has been done. Today, we are less than 32 squadrons strong whereas the minimum sanctioned strength of the IAF should be 39.5 squadrons. That's about 100 aircraft less than what we should be and this does not include the number of aircraft grounded for lack of spares.
As far as I can see, the situation will not improve even the next 3-4 years. The Mig-21s won't last beyond 2012. The Tejas would not be ready in significant numbers to fill that gap, nor would there be enough Sukhoi Su-30s. The Mig-29s are ageing and so is the Mig 27 / Jaguar fleet. The MRCA is still a competition and lord knows when the first plane would be bought.
At this rate by 2012 we simply will not have enough aircraft to protect both the Chinese and Pakistani borders. The government needs to realize this soon or we'll flying without wings in thin air.
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