Videos From Singapore & Indonesia

Earlier this week I was in Bintan Islands, Indonesia to attend a conference and I also spent a few days before that in Singapore. Will be writing about the trip in a later post, as of now wanted to share some of the video captures from the trip. Hope you enjoy.

The first video is from the Underwater World in Sentosa in Singapore. Given the basic video features of my camera the feel is not completely captured, but it is a very interesting feeling indeed to see all the aquatic creatures swim by you and over you! I thought the best part was when one of the caretakers went inside in a diver's costume to feed the animals (video not available), was quite surreal!



The next one is from the Dolphin Show, again in Sentosa, where the highly trained dolphins performed a variety of tricks, I could capture this belly dance and is quite amusing! Have got the rest of the antics as still shots.



The food in Singapore's food courts is mind boggling to put it mildly! I was so fascinated by the spread and variety that I recorded this video in the middle of a crowded food court called The Asian Food Mall in Orchard Road.



Moving over to the Indonesian part of the trip, the next short video shows the welcome dance we received at the Bintan Lagoon Resort, Indonesia.



We had a packed schedule during the days and amazing entertainment in the evenings. This anchor, Rafique, was a pro at involving the audience (Googlers from Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, China, Singapore, India, Ireland & US) and making the night memorable. This video shows a couple of Googlers, Mike from Ireland (now in China) and Patrice (from Australia) given some Indian dresses and asked to dance (impromptu) to an Indian song. And Varun is asked to be a tree!



Another of Rafique's games was asking 4 people to come up on stage and perform a rock show. They were given props like a broom, mops and dusters and they had to improvise to a song being played in the background! The effect was quite hilarious!



Finally, the last video shows the food from the pirate party themed dinner. The food again was from most of the countries from where the participants of the conference had come from and was delicious!



Presently I am sifting through the 300 odd pictures that I took during the trip, and once the selection is made will upload and share them with you!

Alternate Cover For Chetan Bhagat's 2 States

Recently completed reading Chetan Bhagat's latest novel 2 States. It's a sequel to his previous book, Five Point Someone, about the IITs. This one talks about two IIM-A grads, a Punjabi guy and a Tamil girl falling in love and marrying against all odds and their families' wishes.

A quick, light read and worth it at it's price of 95 INR or 65 INR if you buy it from Flipkart (thanks Manan for the tip).

While having lunch this afternoon I thought of this alternative cover for the book which was waiting for me right on my dining table. Do notice the subtle details like the Punjabi being slightly larger than the Madrasi;)

Diwalinks & Dummies Guide To Twitter - Please RT

I am a trivia scavenger. Any information, remotely newsy, funny, informative or plain absurd fascinates me no end. Like others of my ilk, and there are many in case you didn't know, I not only collect random facts through 'links' but also cherish them and share my joy by spreading them far and wide hoping other trivia freaks will catch hold of them and keep them alive. The internet, through it's 'links' have helped us more than diaries, quiz books, newspaper cuttings etc combined.

This Diwali I wanted to share a bunch of these links that I collected but couldn't share through Twitter/Facebook etc for some reason or the other.

If you are not accustomed to the world of Twitter, then here's a dummies guide:

a) every 140 character message you update if called a tweet.

b) you can 'follow' people you find interesting and similarly those who find your updates interesting will follow you (I am available at @suhel by the way)

c) yes, everyone has an ID and is generally known as @ID

d) refer to point a, whoever you are and however big 'connections' you may have, you have to get every message within 140 characters. Yes, that's 20 shorter than a normal SMS.

e) If you like someone's tweet and want to share that, you usually Retweet (RT) him/her. E.g If I tweet 'India won the world cup' and you heard the news first from me, and want to let everyone know and also acknowledge the fact that you heard it from me you will tweet ' RT @suhel India won the world cup' This is useful information because I have received every link published below from Twitter users I follow, and have duly RT ed them.

f) The rest of the rules are pretty fluid, and unless you are @shashitharoor you can also use phrases like 'holy cow' and 'cattle class' :)

Here are some links I wanted to share.

Happy Diwali!

RT @abhility For all those who call Kolkata home or love it anyway - a good piece in the Business Standard today - http://tinyurl.com/yjr563b

RT GautamGhosh Are You Practicing Proper Social Networking Etiquette? - Forbes.com http://ow.ly/tPQB

RT madmanweb Where would be we without the Internet to show us stuff like this: Oprah pees for 10 min - http://is.gd/4d8ca

RT avinashkaushik Meet the "most persecuted person in the entire history of the world": http://tr.im/BgB3 Good lord!

RT ankurb Can't decide what's the best time to run off to pee when watching a movie? Help is at hand. http://tr.im/AslF (Seriously though, WTF?!)

RT amitvarma I saw the headline on the homepage and thought Brian Lara was a modern-day Cleopatra: http://bit.ly/vJLx6

RT avinashkaushik [I dare you not to enjoy this...] The Marshmallow Test: http://tr.im/z1Qt

RT nixxin RT @priyankarocks Ballmer Confiscates iPhone at Microsoft Annual Meeting http://bit.ly/hVL0j

RT marissamayer RT @TechCrunch - Kanye West Disrespects Our Website http://bit.ly/CPzCT by @parislemon

RT bhatnaturally Tracy Awards - cream of crap advertising http://bit.ly/154sAB

RT madmanweb Viewer Friendly Interface - computers as shown in TV and movies: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/...

RT anirbandas RT: @dushver: Amazing: 23 Breathtaking Moments And Ideas Captured By Photographers : http://digg.com/d3yoKu?t

RT avinashkaushik [Absolutely Brilliant] People, their hang-ups & other ppl. Video, 8 mins (2yrs of work). Red Rabbit: http://tr.im/qwyo

RT cdeepak RT @d33pak: RT @leztah http://bit.ly/CfgyN The MJ pepsi commercial from the 1980's. The ad that started the pepsi young generation thingy.

RT nairr A complete Michael Jackson profile (A quizzer's delight): http://bit.ly/s86Iy

RT avinashkaushik The, boldly named, Complete Google Analytics Power User Guide: http://tr.im/pCXe Download it, finally use GA! :)

RT nikhilnarayanan Airbus & Boeing : a 40 year rivalry http://is.gd/1cesy via Business week #boeing #airbus

RT ankurb Evolution of a photographer. http://digg.com/d1uQ6M Nice illustration of what happens as you get sucked deeper into photography.

RT Asfaq Integrate Google Latitude with Your Google Profile http://ff.im/-429oC

RT rameshsrivats Modi-...heartwarming to see players from different IPL teams ... come together to play for their countries. Check http://is.gd/10PKP

RT greatbong http://bit.ly/lRZc2 The great "bad man" Ranjeet captured in a very candid moment. Not safe for work. Not safe for your health.

RT nikhilnarayanan I still don't believe. RT @Naina Optical Illusion : The best I've ever seen! http://ow.ly/lrFc via @jnack

RT bhatnaturally Handy list of marketing & advertising books http://tr.im/xs3t

RT shashark How to Manage Your Online Life When You're Dead http://bit.ly/4rAEKU

RT avinashkaushik [Priceless!!] Emails From Crazy People http://tr.im/vlW8