When I was a kid, I loved to play a game that came in some comics and magazines: What’s wrong with the picture? You had to spot illogical, unreal, mismatched and other such oddities hidden in small details in the picture. The game encouraged attention to details, keen observation, and application of concepts like harmony, logic, etc.
What I want to do in this post, is start enjoying some of the benefits of moving away from Wordpress.com. Here is a panorama I created of a simple scene in Pune.
- To zoom in, click on the image, or use your mouse wheel, or use the +/- buttons
- To move around in the image, simply drag the picture with your mouse
- Use the Home button to reset the view
- Finally – you must try this out – use the rightmost button to switch between normal and Full Screen view. You can still zoom in and move around in the Full Screen view.
The actual photo file size is 2.56 MB, but you download only the parts where you are scrolling and zooming in, so the experience is smooth. For more on this technology, see here.
Now, what makes this picture interesting, you might say? A typical urban scene in India! Let’s play a grownup version of What’s Wrong With This Picture, shall we? Here are my observations:
- The pedestrian sidewalk (footpath) is wide and you can actually walk on it.
- There are benches on the sidewalk where people really sit.
- Clearly visible pedestrian (zebra) crossings and road markers for drivers.
- A non-overflowing trash can on the sidewalk.
- A place to park two-wheelers without obstructing the traffic on the road.
- New trees planted to increase the greenery of the area.
- The new tree saplings are actually watered.
Surprised? Can you guess why so many things are wrong here?
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Lovely! What part of Pune is this?
Hi Unmana, welcome here!
This is Pashan area, where there is a lake, hills, fresh air, and no traffic jams.
In short, unlike everywhere else in Pune.
man o man, i lived in Swami Samarth aprts for 3 yrs and almost couldn’t recognize the spot. Pashan, Suse road cleans up really well.
thanks for bringing back some nostalgia with the pic.
Smitha,
Wow, small world!
The painted rocks/vegetation on the left is irritating. All else is fine.
I like this application; had read about it [your article of course!].
// Can you guess why so many things are wrong here?
Nope. Tell us!
This road had a makeover for the Commonwealth Youth Games 2008 as it was one of the arterial roads leading to the venue!
But what’s still surprising is that even after one year, things are still looking good.
I saw this area a couple of years ago– certainly looks different now!
Fun post! But you could have said that these things are right with the scene! Well, as you said it’s a makeover road and we use that road everytime we enter pune. Its a great road, wide and clean. Also, there is less traffic so I guess that is why its remained nice looking even now.
Seems like an interesting application, the zoom thing I mean.
Ah! You have given the answer? I would have thought that the sudden narrowing of the road is a very wrong thing — would cause bottle necks. Just after the pole on the right lane (where there seems to be some debris).
Any ways!
Manju, Nita, Atul, thanks.
The narrowing of the road is indeed wrong — it narrows because it leads to a narrow bridge over the highway. They didn’t think of the Commonwealth Games when they built the bridge years ago!
I have never been to Pune but after reading so much about the city I will definitely like to visit the city.
The application is interesting but sometimes I wonder if technology has taken away the charm of good,old, traditional photography.It is difficult to know which picture is real and which one is photoshopped.
Wait! You mean I got the right answer! Yay!
@Prerna: Let me know when you visit Pune!
Technology takes the charm out of many things and bring new charm to other things. You know how much I like old B&W photographs — I’d posted them before on this blog.
@Atul:
The street lights left side near to auto are in opposite direction they have to keep on road side
one electric cable is running over flood light it is not required