Picture of the Day

Took some pictures of our cat Snuggles during my visit in Sweden, some of them came out quite good I would say.

Lying on his back in my lap with his paws on the side of the head. So cute!

Going 'Blue Steel' pose as in the movie Zoolander

Updates

Back in Chennai after spending one week in dry and cold Laholm, Sweden. One week isn't really enough time after being away from home more than three months in the sence that it's not really possible to do all these small things you want too do, too be 100% satisfied with the visit.

So, too compensate for not having enough time I went 'SvenneBananBonanza' by visiting both IKEA and GeKas (Ullared) within three days time. That my dear friends is a really big achivement in the life of Jon Stibe. Luckily both places didn't have much visitors due normal working week days. I heard on the local radio that GeKas was expecting three bus loads of danish people the same day as our visit but luckily we finished before their arrival. Just imagine 200 retired danish women infesting the aisles of GeKas fighting over cheap schampo, detergents and over sized underwear manufactured in Bangladesh.

- 'Naaa, halv tres krone fooor en taske, de e dejligt fooor fan man!'

Brrrr, I'm trembling by just thinking of it.

Over and Out!

Picture of the Day

Stone carvings from Mahablipuran, Chennai

I'm alive

I'm alive, just busy with ordinary life in Sweden. Back on track again on Monday when I'm back in Chennai.

Over and Out!

Pictures of the Day

Found some flowers at the factory garden which is surrounding the 2 acre land. Don't know the name of the flowers but they are beautiful anyway. Once again I used the 60 mm macro lens too take these pictures.

By the way; in another 6 hours I'm hopefully boarding LH759 to Frankfurt and then further on to Copenhagen.

See ya in Sweden ladies and gentlemen.

Over and Out!

Pictures from factory inauguration

After four days of cleaning, cleaning and cleaning it was finally time for the factory inauguration. I might even stand up and say that this factory at this moment was one of the cleanest factories in whole Chennai.

Entrance to the factory premises.

Red ribbon wrapped around the factory; looked like a birthday gift.

Drummers played after the inaugural speeches by CEO and VP Asia Operations and too that......

....some traditional Tamil Nadu dance. This is a picture before she got really sweaty, huge 'onion rings' around the armpits.

Managers and Me possing in front of the camera. From the left; Ravi, Sridhar, Me, Andy and Mourali.

Over and Out!

Picture of the Day

Monkey eating a banana!

Hmmm..

One person in this photo doesn't belong there, guess who? Clue; he's got a slightly different skin colour and dresses in a different way........hmmm, who might it be. The first person who emails me the correct answer will win a 'Trisslott'.

BTW; inauguration went really, really good but more about that later this week.

Over and Out!

Inauguration of factory

Tomorrow is not a ordinary day, it's factory inauguration day, something I have struggled to achieve for more than 20 months here in India and tomorrow is the day, fantastic!

What I'm gonna wear for this grand occasion you might think? Naash, just pulled this baby out of the closet; it was just hanging there for no special reason at all. Will it make me look like a BollyWood star? Answer: Yes! Will it make me look hot? Answer: Yes! Will it make me hot? Answer: Yes, it's hotter than hell but; no pain no gain aight?

I showed it for the guy who cooks for me; Manikandran aka Mani:

- Ooohh, John, you looooook very, very handsome, like photo model.
- If you say so.........
- It match your skin tone very, very good also!
- Oh, didn't think of that, thank you very much.
- Acha, acha, I think very, very much expensive, yes maybe 2000 rupees (320 sek). No, I think 5000 rupees (825 sek), too much, you buy cheap at local market.
- No, this is designer wear, it cost a little bit more but I will only do this once in my lifetime I think, so it can cost a little bit more, that's ok.
- Acha, acha...........(shaking his head and returns too the kitchen)

Here you might wonder what kind of skin tone I have right now since Mani mention it matches the colours of the dress. Yes, you're correct, it's light brown; light brown as in 'I have been to the beach every Saturday for the whole month of Jan/Feb/March but people in Sweden hasn't seen the sun for more than six months', I think you understand my point........muuhahahahaha

Over and out!

Feeling home sick

This Friday I'm leaving for Sweden, arriving lunch time at Copenhagen Airport and then another 1.5 hour by car until I reach Home Sweet Home in Lilla Tjarby. It's kind of funny how my mind works when it comes to feeling home sick. Normally I don't think much about Sweden and all the things that happens in Sweden. Of course I miss my girfriend, I'm not a monster, but you can't go around thinking about that all the time; then you go nuts. I talk 'regularly' with Jessica, my parents, my grandfather and friends and that's it; but when I have five or less days until departure I get very nervous and anxious about going home.

My worst fear is to miss the connecting flight in Frankfurt. Just the thought about spending another five hours at one of the most boring airports in the world makes me sick. Standing in the last security check queue at Terminal 1, knowing that the German security personal wants too make your life miserable, makes my even more nervous. If think that everyone single on of those German security officers has a degree in 'How to be unpleasant and rude to foreigners who just want's to catch their connection flight in time'.

Anyway, my new passport has reached Chennai, it took 12 working days from the day I took new photographs at the Swedish Embassy in Dehli until it arrived here in Chennai. IN YOURS FACE INDIAN IMMIGRATION AND PASSPORT OFFICE! Now I only need the 'Return VISA' stamp in the passport; papers filed, approved, getting stamp on Thursday; and then I'm ready for take off.

Introducing Mr. Snuggles, cat and one 'ell of furball.

Over and Out!

Sunday brunch

A welcomed Sunday tradition is of course the brunch. This time the brunch took place at the Taj Mount Road which is a new built hotel in the center of the city.

Wilmer goes preppy nerd, very catchy indeed!

This is Mats, age 38. Mats has just found the kids corner of the buffe and his state of mind in this moment is total happiness! Just look at that face expression, it's like a kid on Christmas eve! Mats plate consists of Mini Pizza, Grilled Sandwich, Chicken Nuggets and of course Popcorn?!

Wilmer got a balloon monkey which originally was attached to a 2 meter high palm tree.

Chicken Sandwich in a Chiabata bread. Finding a Chiabata Sandwich in India is harder than finding water on Mars I've been told by anonymous sources.

Originally I planned to publish some more pictures/movies from the brunch/from Mats/Elin but due to serious death treats from some persons I decided keep them to myself. If anyone is interested in a artistic movie installation of two ladies dancing ballet sitting in office chairs; email me and we can discuss the price. It will not come cheap, that much I can say, it's like Andy Warhol style 2009 in Chennai, India.

Over and out!

Pictures of the Day

Some pictures of what you can find on the Chennai beach. All pictures taken with 60 mm macro lens.

Srinivasan - My Driver

Conversation between me and Srinivasan today at the office. He has just brought the lunch to my cabin and puts the food on the table and looks at me:

- Sir, you like chicken?
- Eeeee......what?
- Yes, accident happen on high way with chickens. Some driver dropped cage of chicken babies on the road. I stopped and help him catch them......
- OK..........eeeee......good.
- .....and driver didn't didn't catch four of them. He's in very much hurry. I took in car and bring to factory in car; no problem for you sir?
- Not really, is the car clean now
- Yes, very clean
- OK, good, now I have to eat lunch. I'm very hungry.
- OK sir, thank you sir.

He's leaving the room with a big smile. 6 PM I'm leaving work and the car heads back to city. After ten minutes in the car I here this chirping sound but I can't really locate were it's coming from; I lower the sound of the radio but the sound is still there.

- Srinivas, what is that sound? Is it your phone?
- It's baby chicken sir, they are in back of car!
- Eeeeeee.........you gonna take the chicken home?
- Yes sir, my wife like babie chicken to much!
- You're gonna eat the chicken or what?
- NO SIR! Pet, at home, very cute!

When we reach the apartement; Srinivasan opens the trunk and in the bottom of a box there's four small brown chickens sleeping just like small chickens can do. Very cute.

Picture of the Day

Got my hands on a 60 mm macro lens and took some photos of Ganesha. The Ganesha statue is in reality 6.5 cm long and situated on top of the radio in my office. A macro lens will definitely be my next investment.

News of the Week

Oh yes, I found another very interesting article in the news paper, this time in the 'Times of India'. Right now one festival is going on called Holi; basically it's about trowing paint at each other and to freak out a little bit from normal behaviour.

There's also some story about Shiva doing something a long time ago which can be related back today's Holi celebration but seriously; I don't care! In the newspaper today they had this one page of Holi related stuff and in the middle of this page I found this recipe of making a special lassi.

Yes, a small amount of marijuana is the ingredient in this Delicious lassi. I could write that I'm surprised but I'm not cause last week I read about that guy who's adding cow pee in his ayurvedic drink. So, hence forward I want Bhang Lassi from Monday to Thursday and on Friday and weekends I will spice up my life with a Hot Buttered Bhang! (Mom and Dad, FYI: I will not drink this)

Pictures of the Day

Election time is coming up in Tamil Nadu and election time means propaganda and propaganda is something Indian political parties are very good at. I mean, they failed with infrastructure, failed with the garbage collection system, failed building storm drains for the monsoun season so something they must be good at. Anyway, the whole city and suburbs are filled with posters, flags, paintings etc, etc and local politicians are suddenly very concerned about the opinion of the poor people.

You can also see politicians giving speeches at rural villages where they never should have put their feet during ruling time. Normally the propaganda material is very tacky and of low quality but I have now found some propaganda that can be very appealing for the eye, wall paintings. All this pictures has been taken on my normal route to work.

Photo Three of a kind - Color contrasts

This week's Photo Three-of-a-kind is about color contrasts. The images should show clear contrasts, and sharp boundaries between two or more colors. This is my contribution to this weeks contest.

Red flower against grey stone.

Sunset against dark tree background.

Temple roof against blue sky.

You can find more information on the following link:

http://fototriss.blogspot.com/2009/03/veckans-fototriss-fargkontraster.html

Picture of the Day

Krishnas butterball at Mahablipuram

Todays activities

Extremely tired after a good bye party for the Toorns which are relocating back to Sweden by the end of this month. Good food and plenty of beverages for everyone; the classic drink GT was heavily consumed by one of the tables (me included). Me and Tom left as the last persons from the party and I came back to the apartment at 03:00 AM.

To reduce the hang over feeling and to restore some energy for coming Monday, we headed for the brunch at The Park; in my opinion the best brunch in Chennai with a lot of meat, chicken, sea food, sushi, Indian food and most important; unlimited sparkling and red/white vine. If I shall be a little negative about The Park it's that they regularly forget food orders. Even though they are 1000 waiters per person they managed to mess up a regular order of pizza, but what the hell; we're in India right!

Chicken and....

Meat!

Crazy Indians Part 1

Just when you thought that you have heard and seen most of the strange shit that can happen in India I stumble across this video clip at Expressen.se.

http://www.expressen.tv/galna%20klipp/1.1488928/han-svalkar-sig-med-ett-glas-kokiss

Yummie...............I'll put an order for 200 bottles right away!

Han teleportera taliban

My favourite Indian song all time with swedish lyrics.

Picture of the Day

Man and his boat

Camera

One of the best 'investments' I've done in my life, Nikon D90. An advanced camera when required but also a very comfortable and easy camera when you don't have the stamina too push and turn buttons too find the correct setting. Approximate cost is 11500 SEK including 18-105 lens, 16GB memory card and camera bag.

Picture of the Day

Out walking

Breakfast

Todays breakfast: One glas of water and one small bag of cashew nuts, the headache is slowly penetrating the front lob and creeping backwards to the talamus. This can be a long day at the office...........

Why didn't I have any breakfast you might think; 'It's the MOST important meal in the whoooole day I've been told'. The truth, the guy who cocks for me, Mani, has gone to his native place for a couple of days. My body is slowly deteriorating into bad habits; 'Come back Mani, I need you now!'

SOS, SOS..............

Over and out!

Picture of the Day

Pillar engraving at Chamundeshwari temple located in Mysore

Attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team

Read more at the following link:

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/03/03/pakistan.srilanka.attack/index.html?iref=nextin

Just last month the Indian cricket team refused to play against Pakistan at their homefield in Lahore. Today this happened, tragedy for the sport and the country of Pakistan.

Agra Fort

You can't visit Agra without visiting the Agra Fort. Agra Fort is the most important fort in the history of India; it has hosted many mighty Emperors during the years of the Mogul Dynasty. It was restored in 8 years by as many as 80,000 workers at the same time by Emperor Akbar the Great. Originally Agra Fort was built in red sandstone but later during the dynasty of Shah Jahan some parts of the fort was rebuilt in white marble.

Jahangiri Mahal which hosted the wifes belonging to the royal househould. Outside is the bath tube of Jahangiri (son of Taj Mahal builder Shah Jahan) which is carved out off one big stone.

Inside of Jahangiri Mahal. Beautiful stone carvings one the pillars, beams and piers. This was the bedroom of one of the hindu wives of Akbar the Great. On the other side there is one more bedroom but that's for the muslim wife(s) of Akbar the Great.

One of the bedrooms with overview of Taj Mahal

Musamman Bur where Shah Jahan spent the last seven years of his life. Shah Jahan was "imprisoned" by his son Aurangzeb to be able to stop his spending madness. After building Taj Mahal in white marble he wanted to build a second Taj Mahal on the other side of the river in black marble and then connecting them with a diamond bridge. To please his imprisoned father he rebuilt some parts of the Agra Fort in white marble.

Carvings made of one piece of marble.