Beauty of river Narmada, Madhya Pradesh

Hello folks,
Recently I had a chance to explore the banks of river Narmada and I set out with a goal to find places untouched by polluting human activities.
Following are some pictures of the to spots along the banks I explored.

Clean water of river Narmada combined with rocky river beds of Jabalpur region generates unparalleled landscapes whose beauty cannot be captured by just a smartphone camera.

 As water level rises each year in the rainy season, rocks along the banks are eroded and cut in beautiful shapes. Sometimes logged water and algae become an integral part of this panorama.

Please share this blog on photography forums if you enjoyed these pictures.

Bargi Dam, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh

Hello,
Posting after a really long time...
Recently a got a chance to visit Bargi dam reservoir in Jabalpur and document the scenic beauty brought forward by combined forces of man and nature.

Bargi Dam is one of the first completed dams out of the chain of 30 major dams to be constructed on Narmada River in Madhya Pradesh, India. Two major irrigation projects, named Bargi Diversion Project and Rani Avantibai Lodhi Sagar Project, have been developed by Bargi Dam. The Narmada is the largest river in Madhya Pradesh, flowing towards the west and falling in the Arabian Sea. Its total length is 1312 km of which it covers 1072 km in Madhya Pradesh. The Central Water and Power Commission conceptualized the proposal of this dam construction in 1968 envisaging irrigation in 2,980 square kilometres and hydropower generation capacity of 90 MW (2x45 MW). (Source: DPR, Govt of M.P. 1968). Later the Bargi diversion scheme was planned, increasing the total irrigation potential to 4,370 square kilometres. The dam construction work started in 1974 and was completed in 1990 when the dam was filled to its complete capacity. Although the proposed power generation was 105 MW, currently only 90 MW is being generated in this HydroPower Generation Plant. Two independent units of 45 MW each have been set up and they function mainly during the evening peak in demand. A visit to the HydroPower Station, which is located right besides the Dam, is possible with prior written permission from the Dam Authorities.

Hope you enjoyed these pictures!

Kite Flying

Some, maybe most, people just enjoy the relaxing aspects of flying a single-line kite. Just watching it fly, perhaps enjoying the subtle artistry of color and movement. Maybe even enjoying the feel of controlling an almost-living creature on the end of the line. However, if you would like to get a little more out of your kite, why not try the following ideas. No special equipment is needed! OK, maybe a stopwatch if you want to get more serious...

    Launch straight off the ground, on a long line. Pull in line to get the kite in the air, then let it climb up to full height.
    Bring your kite right down into your hand without letting it touch the ground. Pull in quicker from time to time if needed, to keep it airborne.
    Keep records. See how long you can keep it in the air, to the nearest 5 minutes.
    See how fast you can get 150 meters (500 feet) of line out, from a hand launch.
    See how quickly you can get the flying line to a 45 degree angle from your hand at maximum length.
    Once you know how to fly a kite, get serious about photographing it from time to time.

Of course, with money, extra gear and more experience you can eventually try a range of even cooler things! Like...

    Teddy drops or lolly (candy) drops under a simple parachute, using a Kite Messenger to haul the payload up the kite string
    KAP - Kite Aerial Photography
    Flying really large and artistic kites of various kinds, to draw a crowd
    Getting involved in kite fighting competitions with Indian or other fighter designs.
    Getting serious about making and flying really small kites. Requires great craftsmanship and finesse!

That's about it for my somewhat long-winded speil on how to fly a kite.

Talking about being long-winded, here's some more ideas on why you might want to go fly a kite. It's quite a long page!

Tekri, Bhopal (some pictures)

Hey there!
Just uploading some pictures of Tekri, Bhopal

How to start hobby RC plane flying

Flying an RC plane is fun and it is equally difficult. You would not want to buy an RC plane and crash it right after take off. Thus before buying your first plane, you need practice, you need simulation.
For starting hobby flying, first thing you need to do id survey the market and find out cost of different models by different companies. I suggest that your first plane should be a trainer plane.
Once you have checked up the financial aspect, its time to get techinical.

 I suggest you try some free simulation software to check up whether flying RC is your cup of tea or not.
For example, you can try "RC Desk Pilot". Google it and download it, its free and uses a gaming remote control's analog joysticks for simulation.

If you think you can do it, its time to buy your Rc craft and remote. Also buy the simulator dongle with the remote. Now its time for some real simulation. You should now download a licensed version of a real simulation software like "Reflex XTR".

snapshot of simulator

Connect the remote to dongle, and plug it into the USB port and get ready for flight!
select a model of plane similar to what you bought. Calibrate the remote centers and begin.
Technically there are four forces on a plane, namely: Thrust,Drag, Lift and Weight.

Thrust pulls the plane forward and you control thrust by the throttle stick.
For maneuverability of the plane, there three types of motion: Yaw, Pitch and Roll.
They are controlled by the following:

Yaw: Rudder
Pitch: Elevator
Roll: Ailerons
In some models, Drag can be increased by flaps.

 Practice, practice...
Crash and fly again.
Do it until you have confidence that you willl not crash again. Its time to take your real plane for a spin.
The real thing will always be different from the simulation, so be carefull. And yeah it will be a lot more fun too!
Enjoy!
See you soon.

Temples in Bhopal

Manua Bhan Ki Tekri

Situated atop a hill is the beautiful Manua Bhan Ki Tekri, a famous pilgrimage spot for Jain devotees. Also known as Mahaveer Giri, it is known for its exquisite architecture and panoramic views of the city. The tekri houses the footwear of Jain saint Shri Jindutta Sureshwarji, Maharaj Shri Vijay Suriji and Acharya Manutung, along with an idol of Shri Man Bhadarji.


Salkanpur Temple

Devoted to one of the incarnations of goddess Durga, the presiding deity in Salkanpur Temple is of Ma Durga Beejasan. It is also linked to the legend of the Shaktipeeth in Hindu mythology, where temples were created on spots where parts of Goddess Parvati's charred body fell.

Laxminarayan Temple

Situated on the Arera Hills, southeast of the Lower Lake, is the Laxminarayan Temple built by the Birlas. The museum here has a fine collection of ancient sculptures.

Indian street food

Just go for a walk and return stomach full.
Street foods are ready to eat food or drink generally sold in streets, public areas like a market,in fair by a hawker, vendor with a portable stall. Indian streets are well famous for its cheap and tasty food items, Every Indian city has its own specialty of all time favorite snack. The safety of street food has become one of the major concerns of public health, cleanliness and freshness are the concern to discourage people from eating street food.

Poha-Jalebi:
 Poha-Jalebi is the best street food and the specialty of Indore served with sev & nukti and with jalebi. Indore felt proud of the poha and jalebi being the best in the world. 

Litti Choka: The traditional dish of Bihar is made with sattu, grinded gram nut or chana served with chokha made out of potato, brinjal and tomato and a bowl of melted pure desi ghee. Litti Chokha is the best breakfast, lunch and dinner and one of the most important delicacy of Bihar cuisine. Never miss the chance to taste it on streets of Patna. 
Aloo Tikki:
 aloo tikki is one of the most mouth-watering delicacies within the street food of  Uttar Pradesh. The North Indian snack is made of boiled potatoes and various spices served hot along with sauce. The dish vary from city to city with different name and forms like ragda pattice in Mumbai, Aloo chat etc, The royal cuisines of Lucknow, galauti kebab is a kind of road side food which is also one of the most famous food in streets of Lucknow. Other popular street foods in Uttar Pradesh included Bhel, pani puri, sev puri, dahi puri,jhalmuri and Puri-Subzie. 

Vada Pao:
 Vada Pao is the most loved and ultimate staple food item, consists of a fried potato dumplings called vada served in a bun, pav with condiments such as red or green chutneys and fried green chillies. The famous vegetarian fast food dish is native to Maharashtra few other are misal pav,pav bhaji, pav-sample, dabeli, batata wada and kande pohe. 

Kachori:
 The desert state also known for its most popular dal-baati-churma, pakores and mawa, famous desert from alwar. 
Dabeli:
 Dabeli is a very popular and fantastic spicy snacks item made by boiled potatoes with a special dabeli spices and putting the mixture between the pav. 
Egg Rolls:
A  fried egg wrapped inside a paratha served with chutney or sour dipping sauce in many roadside stalls. Another famous street side food item in Kolkatta is phuchka or golgappa. 
Akki rott: 
 A spicy bread made from rice flour and server with coconut chatney. The delicious street food is one of the most popular and common tiffin snack quick to make and tastes so good. The specialty of food street in banglore is dosa, there is a huge variety on dosa served here, other food items are sambar,rasam and curd rise. 
Idli Sambhar:
 Sambhar which tastes so good with idlis and vadas is made with tamarind and pigeon peas. Idlis and vadas sambhar are the best food in the streets of Chennai, Tamil Nadu. 

Mumbai Local Trains

Mumbai locals have been providing fast and smooth transport over the vast city of Mumbai.
First class is good, second class can be too crowded sometimes, though it is very cheap.
The Mumbai Suburban Railway is an offshoot of the first railway to be built by the British in India, and is also the oldest railway system in Asia. The first train ran between Bori Bunder (now Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus) and Thane, a distance of 34 km, on 16 April 1853 at 3:35 pm. The 14-coach train took 1.25 hr to complete the 34 km journey, with a halt at Sion to refill the train's water tanks. Since 1991, it has faced rapid expansion. The Bombay Railway History Group has been striving to document railway heritage along this line.

Kurla junction

The Mumbai Suburban Railway system is operated by Indian Railways' two zonal divisions Western Railways (WR) and Central Railways (CR). The fast commuter rail corridors on Central Railway as well as Western Railway are shared with long distance and freight trains, while inner suburban services operate on exclusive parallel rapid transit tracks. WR operates the Western Line and CR operates the Central Line, Harbour Line, Trans-Harbour Line as well as the Vasai Road-Diva-Panvel line. An integrated map including all the belowmentioned lines with new Monorail and Metrorail can be found here.

Western Line
The Western Line follows the Western Railway northwards from Churchgate parallel to the west coast. Local services by electric multiple units (EMUs) ply between Churchgate and Dahanu Road (120 km) on exclusive parallel tracks up to Virar (60 km) while Mainline Electrical Multiple Units (MEMUs) service the section beyond Virar to Dahanu Road (60 km). On 16 April 2013 EMU has extended up to Dahanu Road. MEMUs also operate between Dahanu Road and Panvel via a branch line from Bhiwandi road-Vasai Road. There are EMU carsheds at Mumbai Central and Kandivali. An EMU car shed is under construction between Nala Sopara and Virar which will be the largest car shed in Asia. A repair shop for EMUs is situated at Mahalaxmi.

Western Railway's EMU fleet consists of EMUs completely powered by alternating current (25 kV) power. EMUs are 12 car or 15 car formations and are differentiated as slow and fast locals. Slow trains halt at all stations, while fast ones halt at important stations only and are preferable over longer distances. The western railway is the best among the three lines i.e.;central and harbour because of more number of trains and also consideringly less crowd in trains.
Central Line
Main article: Central Line (Mumbai Suburban Railway)

The Central Line in Mumbai consists of 3 major corridors, which bifurcate as they run into suburban satellite towns. Two corridors (one local and other through) follow the Central Railway run from Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) to Kalyan (54 km), from where it bifurcates into two lines – one to Kasara (67 km) in the north-east and the other to Khopoli (61 km) in the south-east. These two corridors constitute the 'main' Central Line. There is also an 18-km corridor between Kurla and Thane stations for use of outstation and cargo trains. The corridor is being extended further from Thane to Kalyan now as a part of the main line. The Central Line has two interchange stations with the Western Line at Parel and Dadar. Rolling stock consists of a fleet of DC as well as dual-powered EMUs. The major car sheds on this line are at Kurla and Kalwa. There are fast and slow locals here for suburban service. Slow locals halt at every station, while fast locals halts vary between Byculla, Dadar, Kurla, Ghatkopar, Vikhroli, Bhandup, Mulund, Thane, Dombivali and Kalyan. All services plying beyond Kalyan run as slow service (halting at every station).

The Central Line also includes a line connecting Vasai Road-Bhiwandi Road-Diva and Panvel. A line from Nerul/CBD Belapur to Uran is currently under construction and is expected to be operational in 2015.
Harbour Line
Main article: Harbour Line (Mumbai Suburban Railway)

The Harbour Line is part of the Central Railway, and runs from Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) to Andheri and Panvel. All Harbour Line services operate as slow services. The line operates from two separate platforms at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST), and the tracks cross over the main line at Sandhurst Road, to head towards stations along Mumbai's eastern dock area. A branch line from Wadala Road joins the Western Line at Mahim and continues towards Andheri. The Harbour Line has an interchange station with the main line at Kurla, where it turns east towards Navi Mumbai. The Harbour Line further bifurcates at Vashi into two lines – one rejoins the main lines at Thane, while the other continues to Panvel. The shed for these trains is in Sanpada. A large section of the Harbour Line is elevated.
Trans-Harbour Line
Main article: Trans-Harbour Line (Mumbai Suburban Railway)

The Trans-Harbour Line connects Navi Mumbai to Thane. It runs from Thane to Vashi, Nerul and Panvel.

Techfest, IIT Powai(Mumbai)

Techfest
This year i got a chance to visit and participate at the annual technical festival of IIT Bombay, better known amongst youngsters as techfest.
Though my competition was accompanied by stress and excitement, yet i enjoyed the vastness and completeness of Techfest and its immense competition.

Techfest is the annual science and technology festival of Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. It also refers to the independent body of students who organize this event along with many other social initiatives and outreach programs round the year. Techfest is known for hosting a variety of events that include competitions, exhibitions, lectures as well as workshops. It is among the very few student organizations to have received patronage from UNESCO for promotion of technical know-how and patronage of UNICEF for the social causes taken up through ideate competitions and other initiatives over the years.

Started in 1998 with the aim of providing a platform for the Indian student community to develop and showcase their technical prowess, it has now grown into Asia's largest college Science and Technology festival. The activities culminate in a grand three day festival event in the month of January on the campus of IIT Bombay which attracts people from all over India and abroad, including students, academia, corporates and the general public.

Techfest is an entirely student organized body. The core committee has 23 members: one Overall Coordinator at the helm and 22 managers who overlook all the aspects and activities of Techfest. A team of over 800 Coordinators and Organisers along with their respective managers work in sync to execute and implement the activities of the festival. Each Manager has a portfolio assigned to him which can be broadly categorized into two sections - administration and events. The administrative portfolios primarily include tasks like accounts, infrastructure, marketing, hospitality, publicity and media along with helping with the events. The events portfolios include responsibility for each of the numerous happenings and initiatives taken by Techfest each year. Each manager then has his own team of coordinators and organizers. The coordinators and organizers help the manager in looking into the finer details of the department and ensuring that ideas of the team are executed smoothly.

Competitions serve the backbone for fulfilling the basic motto of Techfest- spreading science and technology. Over the years, this segment has evolved to become a stage for international exchange. Competitions such as Apexo, Codestruck, Full Throttle, Aviator, AIR-O-MANIA and many more have been instrumental in encouraging students to work in the technical field.

The International Robotics Challenge is an international competition, which was held in 12 countries during Techfest 2014. The elimination rounds are held in the respective countries and the finals held at Techfest. Till date IRC has seen participation from France, Russia, Sweden, South Africa, Egypt, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Techfest International Coding Challenge also saw participation from different countries. Techfest International Model United Nations was launched with the aim of spreading political awareness on International affairs. It saw participation of more than 300 delegates in 2014.

Techfest organizes one of the biggest Robowars in India. With an enclosed arena and precise set of rules, opposing robots battle it out one-on-one in one of the most popular and thrilling events during the festival which witnesses a lot of spectators. Techfest 2014 saw a new competition format, titled the Cassiopeian Wars . It involved 5 zones in India competing in robotics and coding to get the maximum points.

A plane for Aviator Flying Challenge

The exhibitions segment of Techfest started out in 2004 with Indian Navy Exhibitions feeling the need to motivate young Indian minds towards military research and to depict the wide spectrum of technologies used in the Navy. It was re-initiated in 2006 with a plethora of exhibitions. Welcome To Mars was the first International Exhibition from Arizona State University and NASA . While 2007 witnessed a huge increase in the number of International Exhibits of which the most prominent were Mind Reading Machines and the life size exhibits of Pterosaur, in 2008 had the first interactive exhibit in Techfest in Shadow Dexterous Hand. In 2009 the underwater Amphibot capable of moving both on land and water without any limbs or wheels, face detection software on a robot security platform,rudders and flight control mechanics from Airbus, and DRDO ’s mobile autonomous launcher Brahmos and Bridge laying System of Tank Arjuna thrilled all. Alice the first robot smaller than a ping pong ball and eyewriter-writing by eye movement were the focus of Techfest Exhibitions 2010. Da Vinci Robotics Exhibitions-conceptualised by Leonardo da Vinci, Open vibe- the brain-computer interface show how brain activity, PR2 Robot, Eccerobot 2- an anthropomimetic robot acting as a human replica were the cynosure of all eyes in 2011. Techfest 2013 saw the NAO Robot from France, exhibits from the MIT Media Lab like the EyeNetra, HIRO robot were among the highlights of the exhibitions. Exhibitions at Techfest 2014 witnessed the BINA48 (World’s most advanced social robot), Fumanoids (Soccer Humanoids, Germany), Solowheel (Electric Unicycle, USA), Cubli (Vertex balancing cube, EPFL Switzerland) and many other exhibits.

Apart from competitions and exhibitions there is always a lot of place for fun events and art!!

 If you are an engineering student, you must be a part of techfest atleast once...
See you soon.