Whale Encounter -Fremantle in WA

Watch this video clip. Its awesome. This was taken on November 15, 2009 during our visit to Fremantle coast - 20 minutes drive from Perth in Western Australia. We were lucky to see humpback whales on their migration. It was really fantastic and life time experience.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voU-tcV0vgg



For more information on whales visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humpback_Whale

ciao

Padmakar(Paddy)

I was chatting with one of my friend in USA couple of weeks back and she was wondering as how I get time to write blogs in the busy schedule. I just listened to her and opted not to comment. The reason is quite simple. I am not really that busy unlike others. The term workaholic does not suit me. In fact, I would love to be workaholic. There are several plans in my mind to keep myself busy but very few of them have come on paper and only one or two are executed.

I took a challenge of per suing education. Enrolled myself in distance learning programme EMBA( Executive MBA) in Oil and gas offered by University of Petroleum and Energy Studies - Gurgaon, India. Its testing time!! Exams are scheduled in January 2010 and I am putting my best efforts here. Imagine! I will be entering the exam hall almost after 18 years. My last appearance was during final year of engineering. That was in 1992.

I am not a regular blog writer but whenever I write, it gives me an immense pleasure of expressing myself. Putting my thoughts in words. Oh! what I feeling. Its good to express it rather than hiding it all the way inside your mind.

Indian Oil's depot caught fire. Oil and gas plays a vital role in human being's day to day life. It has brought lots of comforts but at the same time this has to be handled with utmost safety.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/12-dead-in-Jaipur-oil-depot-blaze-Deora-says-fire-to-die-down-on-its-own/articleshow/5178960.cms

Ciao

Padmakar(Paddy)

365th day in Perth and Deepavali season. Double celebration for us. We left KL on 15th Oct 2008 for Perth. Someone has correctly said "Time flies and fly with the time"

Settling down in Perth was quite smooth and silky. We are enjoying our stay in this beautiful city. As correctly said "small is beautiful". Perth is small and beautiful.

We have few friends visiting for Deepavali festival. Gala and Party time , Fun! Fun! Fun!. I have plan on the cards. You know what? "Playing cards"

Vengaboyz Brazil song - simply fantastic and energetic. Here you go mate!! Enjoy song track

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAD9ZIxVi6c

take care

Cheers

Padmakar(Paddy)

दीपावली शुभेच्छा

दीपावलीच्या शुभेच्छा !!

पद्माकर /ज्योती

Giant Wheel -Perth

Perth Underground Railway station

I could manage to trace the weblinks of Dr. Harivansh Rai Bachchan's Poems. These are my favourites and I keep on listening again and again.

A) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FeNLcQhPk0

B) http://www.esnips.com/doc/43ca3fee-ac4b-4586-a4c9-ac82ba283c2d/Jeevan-ki-aapadhapi-mein-kab-waqt-mila

have good fun,

regards

Padmakar(Paddy)

Seasons Greetings !

"आश्विन शुद्ध प्रतिपदा" First day of Navaratri pooja. Celebrating the festival for 9 days and nights all over India and the Tenth day is दशहरा which is a grand celebration.

सभी को दस्सरा की शुभ कामनाएं !!

पद्माकर और ज्योती

Anand Sweets from Bangalore - This is the place we used to buy our sweets for the festival. Taste of the sweet still lingers on my tongue. Simply awesome!. Technology and Internet made it simple. folks! website of Anand sweets from Bangalore. Here you go!!!

http://www.anandsweets.in/index.aspx

At home in Perth we will be celebrating the festival by performing pooja. Jyoti will prepare sweet for the auspicious occasion and will be calling to all near and dear one to exchange greetings.

Spring has already arrived. Days are slowly becoming longer and nights are shorter. There's a change in temperature from last week. Summer is arriving soon and we have to re adjust ourselves to it.

good day

Padmakar(Paddy)

Pooja at Home in Perth dated 22nd August 2009

ciao again

Padmakar(Paddy)

On 22nd August 2009, we performed Satyanarayana Pooja at our home in Perth. Myself and Jyoti were planning for this pooja since long time. and we were happy that finally we could perform the pooja. Some of our friends joined this pooja at our home.

We also planned to have potted garden in our back yard and started working on it. Getting pots, potting mix, shubs and plants of our choice were on the agenda. Bunnings in Cannigton was the the choice to get all this stuff. Visit http://www.bunnings.com.au/ for more details. Plan kicked off and we have , jasmine, royal palm tree planted in medium sized pots, marigold flower, mint , Asian green chilly were planted in standard size pots.

Work on Hamari Library is moving at slower pace. We could manage to raise the Rs 31000/- for Kartavya library funding. Still long way to go. if you are keen on helping for this noble cause please do drop an e-mail on hamari.library@gmail.com

Also visit http://www.kartavya.org/Library.asp and http://www.kartavya.org/index.asp

One can experience a great spirit of Mumbai during the 10 days of festival as everyone in the city worships lord Ganesh with great spirit. Myself and Jyoti always keep remembering as how we use to enjoy during this festival when we were young kids and also even after we moved to Bangalore never missed to visit Mumbai during the festival.

ciao again,

Padmakar(Paddy)

१५ अगस्त २००९

स्वतंत्रता दिन के

अवसर पर सभी को शुभ कामनाएं

पद्माकर और ज्योती

It was raining in Perth for the entire last week. Intermittent heavy showers and cloudy weather brought the overall temperature further down over the entire week.

Neelu Phule - Famous Marathi stage as well as cinema artist passed away. I have seen his Marathi films in the past. He was truly fantastic and talented artist. He had played various characters on stage as well as in films. He was the best in negative character roles.

England won the Lords Cricket Test. Andrew Flintoff was superb however I liked Michael Clarke's batting. It was superb and awesome but could not save the test.

At last! we could transfer funds to Kartavya for their HL(Hamari Library) project. Thanks to Vivek Saxena for providing timely help in transferring money to kartavya. Those who need to know more about kartavya please do visit the following website as well as you tube link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nKAT_WE7dY

http://www.kartavya.org/Library.asp

good day,

Padmakar(Paddy)

Michael Jackson created a history in the world of pop music.I do listen pop music but not to that great extent. Michale Jackson's magic on every single person who keeps interest in music was terrific. I still remember during 90's how young guys and girls in India used to go bonkers on his music and albums. My favourite is "Liberian girl: from his "Bad" Album. He was truly genius and awesome.

That's the youtube link for Liberian girl. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlIWtjjda9g

Work progress on our Hamari Library project is extremely slower than expected. This is really disturbing me. I am trying to keep up the momentum with other team members and hopefully we will pick up the pace on the same soon.

Ashes series in England is a treat for all cricket fans. Aussies are doing well in their first innings. Ricky Ponting's 150 was brilliant and nice to watch on it on high definition channel.

This weekend was once again busy with tons of work at home. My car has gone without cleaning for more than a month now. I need to clean it up on high priority basis. Planned for tomorrow.

ciao

Padmakar(Paddy)

Back to desk again for a new post. Mumbai Sea link bridge was inaugurated last week. Nice to see the picture of this bridge on net. looking forward to drive on this bridge sometime, some day.

Refer YouTube link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVJGxnfrWno which gives a very good information about this bridge.

Its unfortunate and as expected people are fighting over an issue of naming this bridge. I am just wondering, do we really need to name such land marks as it is already tittled as Bandra- Worli sea link. Does it not sound good? or at the most one can call as Mumbai Bridge.

A break of three months and our HD Ready Phillips TV is live again.Busy schedule and other priorities at home delayed installation of antenna on a roof for a quite long. Yes! Now its working. We can see all free to air channels which includes high definition channels too. Watching HD transmission is a great experience.

Myself and Jyoti liked bollywood movie "Jodha Akbar". We saw second time on DVD yesterday. Good to watch Hrithik Roshan's performance in the lead role of king Akbar.

Above picture was taken during our visit to sunshine coast -Queensland Australia

Good day and ciao,

Padmakar(Paddy)

From L TO R : Parvani Pendse,Ajit Deshmukh, Jyoti, Myself, Deepa, Guru Pendse

My last post on the blog was almost two months back. Too many things have happened. Life at work and home was too busy.

We moved into our new house on 3/4/09 -Ram navami and since then myself and Jyoti were busy everyday in settling the things at our new place. Winter is in full swing as temperature is dropping down and cool wave makes me more difficult to stick to my routine schedule. Sun sets at 6.00 pm itself and then city goes to sleep very early.

During my stay in rivervale's rented home, myself and Jyoti decided to support earth hour 60 move by switching off our entire lights. Happy to be a part of it as it gave us a good feeling that we have done something which is very important for our earth.

Curbing recession is on every one's agenda and even I am not spared. Its good that crude oil prices have recently hit a six month high. This probably will carry a positive signal towards beating recession but personally I feel we need to still work hard to come back to the past glory.

Work on Hamari Library was bit slow but now its picking up. a common id on Yahoo groups is now set up for the same. Team members are actively participating to spread the message of education. "Education for all and all for education". If anyone wants to be a part of this noble programme do drop an email on hamari.library@gmail.com or leave your comment on my blog. I will let you know the further details of this project.

Laptop which was bought in Kualalumpur 7 years back was crashed last month. Then new laptop came in immediately. Its true that life without computers is almost zero. The new one is equipped with latest tech tools with whooping hard disk space of 300 GB.

A trip to Dwelling up - 150-200 km away from Perth was fantastic. Driving all the way was a good experience and train journey over there was awesome. A picture attached here.

ciao again,

Padmakar(Paddy)

Perth Home- Few Pictures Vol III

Perth Home- Few Pictures Vol II

Perth Home- Few Pictures

I'M BACK!!!!

Hello Mates!!

I am back!!! after a month, Will catch on regulary from next week

Settling down a bit

Cheers
Paddy(Padmakar

Weather in Perth now showing different signs. Summer is over and we are in autumn now. Daily temperature has dropped at least by 10 degrees. Last week average day temperature was 25-28 Deg C where it was approximately 10-20 degrees in the night. This has brought a change in my daily routine.

It was five months before I and Jyoti played badminton together with our friends in KL. We were happy to play again at social club here in Perth. Awesome! We both love to play this game and used to play regularly when we were in Kuala Lumpur & Jakarta. We have decided to continue this from now onwards. I and Jyoti always try to do whatever we feel like doing as long as it is good and gives great satisfaction.

Gudi padva/Ugadhi - New year celebration per Hindu calender is celebrated in the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka & Andhra Pradesh. For more details on Gudi Padva/Ugadhi celebrations please refer. http://www.festivalsofindia.in/gudipadwa/


Wishing you all a very happy & prosperous Gudi padva festival on 27 th March 2009.

We are still in our rented home and soon will be shifting in our own house. Hopefully in April 09.

Daylight savings in Western Australia will end by 29th March 09. This means our watch will move backwards by one hour. Which is +2.5 hours of India time and +8 hours GMT.

good day

Padmakar(Paddy)

Holi Greetings !

Full moon in Perth

Wishing you all a very colorful HOLI!!!

To know more on HOLI refer link

http://www.holifestival.org/holi-festival.html

Cheers,
Padmakar(Paddy)

Attack on Sri Lankan cricket team was shocking. I never heard such type of incident happened with cricketers in the past. I was bit disturbed after hearing the news as sports personalities are also not spared. Its very difficult to predict as where the things are heading towards.

Buying Gandhiji's personal belongings like watch, spectacles etc. for $ 1.8 million. Its good to have Gandhiji's personal items back in country. As an Indian I am very happy to hear about it but at the same time I was just wondering, If India is having such a huge amount then why we are not spending or diverting this sum on improving health, educational standards. 1.8 million dollar would really brought light and ray of hope in many needy Indian homes. I reckon this would have been a true gift to Gandhiji who always dreamed to uplift the needy and poor people.

Switching back to Hamari Library project. I was very happy to discuss this with one of our friend Raj Jain and good to know that he is keen to help in spreading awareness about this cause. Thanks Raj! You are welcome in Hamari Library Team. Those who are not aware what this Hamari Libray please refer the links below. I remember mentioning about it in one of my blogs.

"Hamari Library" our programme/project for underprivileged children was kicked off in 2008. Thanks to all friends who directly and indirectly helped to make this project successful. Refer links below for more information. Thanks to nanhi kali and naandi organisation for their support to turn this project into reality.
http://www.nanhikali.org/news/archivesdetails.aspx?strid=28
http://www.nanhikali.org/news/archivesdetails.aspx?strid=38

We are planning to take up this further so that maximum number of children will get benefit out of it. To achieve this what we need is help from you all. If you want to be a part of this programme and keen on knowing more details, do drop me a mail or leave your comment on this blog.

Today I and Jyoti met Gurunath Pendse, Parvani Pendse and Abhjit Deshmukh. Happy Sunday evening with new friends. Really meomorable.

good day,

ciao

Padmakar(Paddy)

Normally, I plan to rest every weekend but end up in doing too much work. Saturday and Sunday were hectic as lots of things were fixed. First & foremost moving house items to our own house. Good to have our new house just 3 km away from where we are staying at present. Three Cheers and many thanks to my Basanti! ( Basanti is my lovely Toyota Camry -see picture above) who's making my shifting smooth.

I was looking for Mr.Al Gore's DVD on global warming - Inconvenient Truth and I got it last Thursday in a video library near to my home. A must see DVD which covers most of the information on the topic as well as its effects if measures are not taken right now. How one can contribute to stop C02 emission on individual basis.DVD cover tells all about it.

"My experiments with truth" an autobiography of Mahatma Gandhi. 63(sixty three) pages of this book are already flipped through. I read books or any material in a city bus ( To office and return from office, I travel in a Bus route 37 of transperth http://www.transperth.wa.gov.au/).

Watching Oscar Awards on TV was a real treat. Nice to see Hugh Jackman as a show anchor or host. He was fantastic on stage. Double Treat - Two Oscars for A.R. Rahman. Congratulations!

Recession is showing its effects slowly. Jobs are slowing down and people are concerned about the future.Once again, nothing one can do much. We need to take up as it comes. Life won't stop as it does not depend upon it.

ciao

Padmakar(Paddy)

Expressways/flyovers : This picture was taken from Tower in Auckland -New Zealand.

Effects of Bush fire in Victoria state -Australia are terrible. It is very difficult to pen down or express how people of Victoria state and Australia has suffered during this period. Hundreds of lives lost, Number of trees, homes,green cover turned to ashes. Animals, species have died in this Bush fire. Its a national tragedy for Australia.

If you are keen on knowing what this bush fire is and how this occur, here is a link for you;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushfire

Floods in state of Queensland -Australia also was also in news. Heavy rains, storm literally brought the life to standstill in the state. Though there was no news of any loss of lives ( at least I am not aware) but heavy loss to infrastructure, homes put every one at back foot. This is something very similar to what happened in Mumbai couple of years back. Water! Water! Everywhere. I can understand the feelings, the state through which all these people are going through.

Its tough time for all of us ! Yes, we should be more tougher to handle it and I am sure we together will overcome these hurdles.

Our new house in suburb of Lathlain in the city of Perth -Western Australia is ready. I and Jyoti are very happy to share this news with all of you.We have plan to move in our new own house somewhere by end of this month.

ciao again
Padmakar(Paddy)

Last week was a week of happenings. I was busy in office as well as home. Sunday's Australian open final between Nadal and Federer was truly entertaining. I swear! I have never seen such a great tennis contest in my life. The last two matches which Nadal won were simply awesome. I just can't express the moments I enjoyed. One has to really watch to enjoy.

At WACA ( Western Australia Cricket Association) in Perth everyone witnessed a thrilling one day cricket contest between New Zealand and Australia. At the end New Zealanders were the winners.I was switching the channels between cricket and tennis telecast. Watching cricket live on Australian grounds is a terrific experience. I am quite fortunate enough to watch T20 game at Gabba cricket ground in Brisbane last year. I am sure I will make it to WACA too.


Attached is the picture of my rented home in Perth. I remember Parag Patil - my friend from KL was mentioning about uploading the picture of it and here I am.

its 10.15 pm now. Right time to hit the bed.

good night ciao again

cheers,

Padmakar(Paddy)

26 th day of each January brings lot of meaning and value to me. This day India celebrates Republic day, Australia celebrates National day and most important this day is my younger brother's birthday. Cool ! triple celebrations for me. To know more on Australia day as well as republic day of India refer links below;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_Day

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_Day_(India)

My dear Amit(Appu), Many Many Happy returns of the day!

Wishing all Australians and Indians a very happy National and Republic day

I and Jyoti had a great fun on Coteslow beach yesterday evening. Prakash and his family joined us. Sunset at beach was awesome and here is the picture attached.

ciao again
padmakar(paddy)

"Cheeni Kum" (Literal meaning is less sugar). The storyline, concept, script of this movie was entirely different than usual Bollywood stuff. I and Jyoti did enjoy this movie as watching Amitabh Bachchan is always pleasure. Tabu's performance was fantastic.

Apart from India, I have travelled and/or worked in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar( Burma), Australia and New Zealand. I am very fortunate to visit these places. Its very difficult on my part as how to describe the beauty of these countries which also includes India. I am not a great photographer but few pictures I have taken and one of is attached herewith. This place is in New Zealand and near to Auckland, popularly known as "Hole in the rock". The whole earth is awesome and mother nature is truly fantastic. Whenever I pick my handy cam or Digital camera to picture some great scenic places, I always remember a song from a Bollywood film titled "Boond Jo Ban Gaye Moti" - "Hari Bhari Vasundhara pe Neela Neela Ye Gagan" I managed to trace the link of the song as well as lyrics and here it goes;

http://www.esnips.com/doc/88d2a522-cd3e-4441-8db1-aae16d1bfd87/044-BOOND-JO-BAN-GAYE-MOTI-=-YE-KAUN-CHITRAKAR-HAI

http://www.hindilyrix.com/songs/get_song_Yeh%20Kaun%20Chitrkaar%20Hai.html

good day ciao again,

Padmakar(Paddy)

Last week I was very busy at home front and at office. After a very long Christmas break everyone is back to their office desk and suddenly I have observed a busy atmosphere all around. Though I was at work for few days during Christmas break, It took a day for me to come to normal level of routine.

First week of 2009, IT sector in India was in a bit of shock after Satyam's incident. In my view, 2009 is not going to be easy for all of us. We really and seriously need to work out on our plans. Its good to think twice before you spend. In fact, I believe one should work out on what are the needs and wants. if there's a need then there's no alternative or choice, we have to spend money but expenses can be controlled on "wants" " I want this and I need this" there is a huge difference in both. I am sure if everyone make this happen then there won't be any issues.

Tyre safety is very important when you have your own car or if you are driving a car. My friend Mr. Prakash Eswarappa shared a piece of information which talks all about tyres. Its very important to know about tyres when you buy or drive a car.The file which has all the information about tyre safety is quite big in size (3 MB) and due to limited space available, I am not attaching here. Please send me an email if any one of you is keen and I will send it to you

Visiting temple in Cannigvale suburb is our regular routine now. I will share the pictures of this temple soon.

ciao again

Padmakar(Paddy)

2009 !!

We are already in 2009. Two days of the new year are over. Three hundred and sixty three days are balance and if each of us will start planning on what we must do in this year then I reckon time is short, isn't it? Someone has rightly said, "Time is more precious than GOLD"

Here in Perth its warm summer and temperature is on average 37 deg C. No choice other than sitting at home, very hot weather does not permit to move around. One has to wait until evening. Good thing about summer in Perth is one can find very good sunlight until 8.30 pm in the night. "

Bhootnath" - We watched this movie yesterday night. It was good and as usual Mr. Amitabh Bachchan's performance was flawless. I have taken this picture during the visit to cameron highlands in Malaysia.(http://www.cameronhighlands.com/) .I wish year 2009 should bring freshness and happiness in every one's life just like this colourful flower.

I have also seen that most of you have already viewed my blog at least once. Thanks for investing your time reading my blog. I appreciate if you can leave your comment(s). This will really help in bringing more improvement. I remember one of the reader has mentioned on " How to put a comment on this blog?" You all will receive a separate mail from me on how to post a comment(s). I encourage others who are yet to visit this blog site - Please do it whenever you feel free and provide the feedback.

ciao again,
Padmakar(Paddy)