The Bhutan and Timberland Connection

Today I saw a colleague's friend wearing this t-shirt...


????????????

So where is this connection between Timberland and Bhutan??
Or does Timberland randomly look for country's names to display on their clothing?

Actually, BWP 0198 is a vehicle license plate number.
That is how the plates looked in the old days in Bhutan (Nowadays they are BP or BG or BT):

BWP is for a Private vehicle from the Western region...

BWG would be a Government vehicle
BWH would be a Heavy vehicle
and
BWT would be a Transport (or Taxi) vehicle

And the permutations would continue for vehicles from the Eastern regions or the Central regions.

So .....

Who in Bhutan, in 1973, with the vehicle license BWP 0198 went on a Summit Discovery trip... which resulted in a sign.. or poster.. which was then reproduced 35 years later by Timberland on an American t-shirt??

I will pay serious money to the person who can solve this mystery for me!!

Well, at the very least I'll buy you a couple of beers! :P

Brilliant - How Harry Potter Really Ends!!

From Slate:

For that select group who are fans of both "The Sopranos" and Harry Potter...

excerpt...

None of these diners knew yet that Voldemort was dead—not by Harry's hand, but killed instead by Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan, who'd happened upon He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named outside of London. They'd cursed him from behind and watched as the Knight Bus ran over his head with a horrible crunching sound.

Read the whole thing here....

:)

Nepali Troubadour in Kalimpong

Kalimpong - 1st May, 2007

14 year old traveling musician (Gainey)with his Chaar Taarey (four-stringed) Sarangi. He was from Dhankota, Nepal and was traveling around the area door-to-door singing Nepali folk songs.

Enjoy the video.

from www.kalimpong.info!

Call the US from India now.. not the other way around!

It is finally cheaper to call the US from India rather than the other way around...

BSNL slashes ISD rates for US, Canada, Gulf

Monday, June 11, 2007
12:24 IST
New Delhi: Triggering another price war in the international subscriber dialing (ISD) space, state-run telecom major BSNL has reduced calling rates to the US and Canada to Rs 1.75 per minute and Rs 6.75 per minute to the Gulf, slightly lower than the rates offered by private firms.

US, Canada and Gulf are the busiest ISD routes from India, and with the drop in rates, the company hopes to scale up volumes, a senior BSNL official said.

Private players at present offer ISD calls at Rs 1.99 per minute to the US and Rs 6.99 a minute for the Gulf countries.

BSNL will soon introduce Call Now, a new STD/ISD calling card that will enable a user to call in the US at Rs 1.75 per minute using a card worth Rs 2,000, which will have a validity of three months.

Call charges on the same card are Rs 3.25 per minute to France, Russia, the UK and South East Asia, Rs 5.50 per minute to the rest of Europe and Sri Lanka, and Rs 8 per minute to the rest of the world. Local and STD calls will be charged Re 1 per minute under the plan.

In May, Bharti Airtel dropped ISD charges to the US and Canada, where a Airtel mobile user could call at Rs 1.99 per minute with a Airtel STD and ISD Calling Card worth Rs 2,245.

Reliance Communications has also cut its rates to the US and Canada to Rs 1.99 per minute on its 'Reliance Global Call Card' worth Rs 1,900. The company had recently cut calling charges to the Gulf to Rs 6.99 per minute.

From MSN India Business - Link

The Sopranos ain't singin' no more

It's over.

No more.

The Sopranos wooed, conquered and then left...

not with a bang.. nor with a whimper. Just left!! Where's closure when you need it?

And to Mr. David Chase.. hats off... You pulled off the Zidane of television.

Man, the only thing on TV worth watching is over and done with.

Now I can go on with my life!

online photo editor.. Picnik

This is one of the coolest online applications I have seen in quite a while..

http://www.picnik.com

Picnik allows you to edit/manipulate your photographs online.. in your browser!! Exposure, red eye, effects... You don't need any software on your computer if you're looking for lightweight image editing...

This is truly cool!! :D

Movies watched recently

In Nepal -

Life in a Metro - 3.5/5
-would have given more points if not for those singers popping up every few minutes. Once was cool, twice was OK. More that that was just irritating. Don't get me wrong, the music was fantastic. Just that the rock band appearing at different points got old in a hurry. The movie concept was cool though.. and acting was great.. Konkona was awesome.. as was Irfan Khan.


In India -

The Pursuit of Happiness - 3/5
- good acting by W. Smith but hell if he wasn't plagued by misfortune. One of the most depressing movies I've watched this year!

Cheeni Kum - 4/5
- The chemistry between Amitabh and Tabu was awesome. And the Big B has really taken on the old grouch role with his sharp and dry humor and wit.. a la J. Nicholson. And Paresh Rawal was wonderful as ever. The lil' precocious kid deserves an acting award!
Watched it at Red Lounge at Infiniti Mall. Now that's what I call a good movie watching experience. Where are the plush movie halls here in the US? Do they even have any?

Shrek III - 3/5
- I was kinda scared of watching this one.. but it didn;t turn out to be half as bad as I expected. Obviously the CG and the animation rocks as usual.. story was weak, but wit existed and some good moments made it worth your money.


Here -

Pirate Of The Carribean - At World's End - 3.25/5
- This one was a tough one to grade!! I did enjoy the movie.. but if it was about 25 mins shorter it'd have earned another 0.25 points from me. Full marks for the VFX... always makes my mind boggle.. specially after that trip to Prime Focus in Bombay this time where I saw what goes into VFX!! Movie was fun too. Keith Richards, IMO, had too short of an appearance. And I agree with my friend Lava when he said that there wasn't enough extended funnies.. It was much darker than Part 2. But all in all, not a disappointment.

Ocean's 13 - 4/5
- Yeah, am generous here. But what the heck man. You cannot wrong a movie where most of the people end up happy. And however outlandish the plots get, it's still forgivable.. This is one movie which makes you shrug and say.. It's just a movie!! And that's what it is. It doesn't pretend to be some hi falutin' cranial work or some artsy piece or something. It's just fun. So there!

The return

This prodigal blogger has returned...

Stay tuned for content gleaned during my self imposed exile from this area of my life.