Eclectic Rant

End of a chapter. A beginning of what?

2011-11-28T16:37:00.000+05:30

A roller coaster of three weeks ended exactly today for me. It was my father's 60th birthday celebrations on november 16th. And the event was conducted smoothly and successfully. This has been something I have been working up to for the past five years. And now its over. poof. gone.

I have believed in this quote for a long time now, which says - "I cant change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination."

And this important milestone in my father's life, his 60th has been my destination, my goal so far in life. And I have adjusted quite a few sails on my boat to get to this point. But now, as the fatigue of the event wears off and the emotional excitement of the celebration dies down, reality shines its brilliant light on me.. I am no longer that "gung-ho"-happy go lucky-frail and skinny-not knowing the colour of life after the coming weekend-Vatsi, who set herself this target. The skies above my head have changed, the waters under my boat have changed. And guess what, God decided to change the people on my boat as well. Hell, yeah. Can you imagine that? You set sail with one set of people, and at the port of call, you find somebody else sitting on your boat.. Trust me, it can be freakingly scary.

Anyway.. I am happy and very grateful to Almighty for bringing me successfully and safely this far. Wondering where to go next...

Ganapati Utsav

2011-09-17T00:02:00.000+05:30

The festive season started with a bang with Janmashtami this year, and so it has been in my case as well. And the recently concluded Ganesh Festival was well celebrated in my colony here in Pune. In the 10 day festival starting September 1, Lord Ganesha's idol was installed in the society's premises and arti and prasadam were offered on the 10 days. On the 11th day, Ganapati Bappa, as he is known in these parts of the country, was given resounding farewell after praying to him to come back next year to bless his ardent devotees.

The fun part is interacting with the people during the arti, when a lot of people who one cannot meet otherwise turn up and mark their presence. And on the last day of the festival, a bunch of ladies in my society, yours truly included, decided to give the festival a true maharashtrian color by wearing the traditional maharashtrian costume known as the "navvari sadi".

Here are the pictures of the event :)

Ganesh Utsav 2011

And special thanks goes to Vishakha for teaching me how to drape the "Navvari Sadi" :)

The pencil - Do you know how it is made?

2011-06-28T13:41:00.001+05:30

"A fascinating video that shows how Pencils are made...."

from Aarti Krishankumar's blog - http://www.aartikrishnakumar.com/2011/06/pencil.html

Report Card : Two months over

2011-05-20T13:09:00.001+05:30

What started in my life (much to my chagrin initially) for me on December 1 2010, is now officially two months old tomorrow. I am talking about this journey called "marriage".

So thought of quickly preparing a report card for the past two months.

Alert :- Some sections below may contain free advice, that is potentially useful for other people girls who are "in the queue" to be married off by their parents and who are as confused and un-initiated as I was (dont worry, i haven't attained enlightenment yet, I continue to be in a state of confusion about many,or rather most things :D )

Ok, first quick status check -

Am I alive? Yes. *phew*
Am I sane? Sane enough to write this blog post, so you can make out how sane I am :D

Changes -
Now I live alone, i.e. I live in a house where there are no parents (can you imagine that? you have to). Its been a BIG leap to not have someone around always to whom you can put forth all the little and big ideas,questions,triumphs,mistakes,fears and joys.

I cook my own food. Its not the ability to cook that has changed. I have sat on a mental "comfort" pillow, that I have someone who will bring me my food in case I dont take/make it myself. But no longer. That shadow like feeling of "I am there" that a mother gives, is gone. You have to pick up your dinner yourselves. If you dont, two days later, you still have to pick up your dinner yourself. Only you will be that much more hungrier.

I now cater to guests!

These have been the three major changes, minor ones are more of mental realizations like
a) packing your suitcase is no longer a fun group activity with your sister that you do for a vacation;
b) listening to music without headphones is no longer accepted by people around you because you are not among like minded people anymore;
c) you dont wake up to warm smiles and a cup of bournvita, you only wake up to a hungry stomach and a house that needs to be cleaned.

The wall clock in my house has taken the role of my mom, it wakes me up and gently comforts me to sleep. and reminds me from time to time what i need to do. I wish the clock dint have to double up as my mom.

What I do well -
I manage to make food thats quite tasty.
I manage to ensure cleanliness in the house.

What I dont do well -
I struggle hard to manage time between house work and office work. I am eternally like this -"O I need to finish exploring that Java library"*runs to the computer* "O, I need to do the dishes" *runs to the kitchen* "O I need to complete that function I was writing" *runs to the computer again* "O I need to get milk for tomorrow" *runs to the store*.
Solution - strict rules on self not to slip up on timelines. Work while you work, play while you play - strictly tuning my mind to follow this.

I struggle hard to decide what to make for the next meal. and end up spending double the time alloted for cooking that meal.
Solution - Timetable of dishes for each session - breakfast,lunch,dinner. My father used to say - "The only way to avoid communication gap is to elimate communicating at all", meaning your actions should speak so loud that you dont need to speak a word that will get misrepresented. Same rule applies here. I dont have to decide at the kitchen table anymore. Seems to work so far.

What I have learnt -
a) It pays to be sincere
If you want something to happen, and you put your effort in the most sincere manner, the result will SURELY be what you want it to be. Luck and fate will submit in front of you.

b) umm, will update when I remember

Hey by the way its 1 O'Clock, and I am still hungry even after writing this blog post. My momClock is nudging me to go make something.

Bye then.

Receding Clouds of Happiness - ए बिखरते बादल, लौटके ज़रूर आना

2011-05-06T22:58:00.001+05:30

Here is my next poem - or rather my attempt at poetry -
The poem is a sneak peek into a mind that is in love, and how it reacts to the fear of separation of the smallest order.

ए बिखरते बादल, लौटके ज़रूर आना
जब सूख रहा था धूप मे तब जिन्दगी के रंग से था अनजाना
फिर आया एक रुत परवाना कर गया अधूरेपन को बेगाना

डरावने काले घटा छाने लगे,फिर शुरु किया प्यार के बादलों ने रंग बरसानाआंगन मे फूल खिलने लगे, ऐसा सुकून कभी न था जाना

रूखे रूखे उन लम्हों को सिखाया इस सावन ने भुलाना
फिर अचानक आए सूर्य महाराज शुरु कर दिया इन बादलों को भगाना

डरता है मन कहीं ये वापस न आए, इस बदरा के नीचे है इस पन्छी को पंख फैलानाइन्तजार रहेगा इन काले मेघों का ,अगले बार लायें वो इससे भी सुन्दर नज़राना

अम्बर को धरती से जोड दें, ले आके तोहफ़ा ऐसासतरंगी इन्द्रधनुष हो इतना सुहाना, जितनी बार भी देखूँ बन जाऊँ दीवाना

ये सात रंग जुडके कभी न हों सफ़ेद, ऐसा वादा है इनको निभानाइस बगीचे मे अपना रंग ऐसा जमाना, कि चाहकर भी अम्बर और धरती को ना हो बिछडना

अभी जा रहे हो तुम, ए प्यार के बादलों, याद रखना, इस बगीचे से है तुम्हे फिर गुज़रनाअगर भूल गये अपना वादा तो,
अम्बर और धरती के गुस्से मे, तुम्हे ज़रूर है मर मिटना

The line-by-line translation of the poem into English -

ए बिखरते बादल, लौटके ज़रूर आना

O Receding Clouds, Do come back again
जब सूख रहा था धूप मे, तब जिन्दगी के रंग से था अनजानाफिर आया एक रुत परवाना, कर गया अधूरेपन को बेगाना

When I was drying in the scorching sun, I was unaware of the colors of life
Then came a magical breeze, and made my loneliness unknown to me.

डरावने काले घटा छाने लगे,फिर शुरु किया प्यार के बादलों ने रंग बरसानाआंगन मे फूल खिलने लगे, ऐसा सुकून कभी न था जाना

Fearful dark clouds began to cloud the sky, and began to shower the colors of love
Flowers started to blossom in my garden, a sense of calmness began to prevail ( in my listless mind)

रूखे रूखे उन लम्हों को, सिखाया इस सावन ने भुलानाफिर अचानक आए सूर्य महाराज शुरु कर दिया इन बादलों को भगाना

These showers have taught me to forget the drought that existed in my life
But suddenly came out the Sun, and started driving away these clouds

डरता है मन कहीं ये वापस न आए, इस बदरा के नीचे है इस पन्छी को पंख फैलानाइन्तजार रहेगा इन काले मेघों का ,अगले बार लायें वो इससे भी सुन्दर नज़राना

Mind fears that these clouds of happiness may not return,
For it wishes to open out its wings and fly among these clouds
The wait has begun for these clouds to return,
With a gift more beautiful

अम्बर को धरती से जोड दें, ले आके तोहफ़ा ऐसासतरंगी इन्द्रधनुष हो इतना सुहाना, जितनी बार भी देखूँ बन जाऊँ दीवाना

the Heaven and the Earth unite, such a gift it shall be
A rainbow so colorful, the more I see it, the more I lose myself to it.

ये सात रंग जुडके कभी न हों सफ़ेद, ऐसा वादा है इनको निभानाइस बगीचे मे अपना रंग ऐसा जमाना, कि चाहकर भी अम्बर और धरती को ना हो बिछडना

These seven colours shall never fade into white-ness, such a promise they must make
Bind your colors with this garden, that Heaven and Earth should go apart even if they want to

अभी जा रहे हो तुम, ए प्यार के बादलों, याद रखना, इस बगीचे से है तुम्हे फिर गुज़रनाअगर भूल गये अपना वादा तो, अम्बर और धरती के गुस्से मे, तुम्हे ज़रूर है मर मिटना

Now you are passing away, O clouds of Love, Remember, Cross you must this garden one day or the other,
Lest you forget to keep you promise, prepare to get destroyed in the combined wrath of the Heaven and the Earth

And for people who cannot read hindi , transliteration of this poem in English -

Ae bikharthe baadhal, lautke zaroor aanaa
Jab sookh rahaa thaa dhoop me, tab zindagI ke rang se thaa anjaanaa
Fir aayaa ek ruth parvaanaa, kar gayaa adhoorepan ko begaanaa

Daraavane kaale ghataa chaane lage, fir shuru kiyaa pyaar ke baadalon ne rang barsaanaa
Aangan me phool khilne lage, aisaa sukoon kabhI na thaa jaanaa

Rookhe rookhe un lamhon ko, sikhaayaa is saavan ne bhulaanaa
Fir achaanak aaye soorya maharaaj, shuru kar diyaa in baadalon ko bhagaanaa

Darta hai man kahin ye vaapas na aaye, is badraa ke neeche hai is panchi ko pankh failaanaa
Intazaar rahegaa in kaale meghon kaa, agale baar laayen vo isse bhi sundar nazraanaa

Ambar ko dharthi se jod dhen, le aake tohfaa aisaa
Satrangi indradhanush ho itana suhaanaa, jitanii baar bhi dekhoon ban jaaoon deewaanaa

Ye saath rang judke kabhi na ho safed, aisaa vaadaa hai inko nibhaanaa
Is bageeche me apnaa rang aisaa jamaanaa, ki chahkar bhi ambar aur dharthi ko naa ho bicchadnaa

Abhi jaa rahe ho tum, ae pyaa ke baadalon, yaad rakhna, is bageeche se hai tumhe fir guzarnaa
Agar bhool gaye apnaa vaadaa to, ambar aur dharti ke gusse mein tumhe zaroor hai mar mitnaa

Image courtesy - http://www.flickr.com/photos/tuohimaa/48594729/sizes/o/in/photostream/

मेरी प्यारी सी कली - My delicate little one

2011-03-11T19:24:00.002+05:30

Just wrote this poem a few days back - it describes the mind of an elder sister, who just got married, who wants to pacify her younger sibling. The younger sibling is agitated due to the suddenness of the changing relationships in the family.

Here it is -

मेरी छोटी सी नन्ही कली
हमेशा हसती, खेलती मुसकुराती
मुशकिल की घडी मे भी मुझे सम्भालती
आज अचानक एक गैर आया
मेरि प्यारी कली को रुलाया
और मुझे अपने साथ ले गया
इस नन्हे से पौधे को प्यार से सीचंने के लिए
मै वापस आ रही हूँ
एक नया रूप धारण किये
जो आज तक बनी थी बहिन
आज से हो जायेगी माँ तेरी
फिकर न करना मेरी प्यारी जान
ये तेरी माँ कभी न होगी तुझसे अनजान

English Transliteration of the same poem -

merI ChotI sI nanhI kalI
HameshA hastI, kheltI,muskurAtI
Mushkil kI ghadI me bhI mujhe sambhAltI
Aaj achAnak ek gair aayA
merI pyArI kalI ko rulAyA
Aur mujhe apne sAth le gayA
Is nanhe se poudhe ko pyAr se sInchane ke liye
Mai vApas aa rahI hoon
Ek nayA roop dhAraN kiye
Jo aaj tak banI thI bahin
Aaj se ho jAyegI maa terI
Fikar na karnA merI pyArI jaan
Ye terI maa kabhi na hogI tujhse anjAn

English Translation of the above poem is here -

My delicate little one
Always smiles, laughs and plays
In hard times, also shows me direction
Suddenly, a stranger came
And decided to take me away
But to nurture the growth of my little one,
I return
To be with you always, my love,
Who was until now your sister,
Shall now transform into your mother,
Never shed a tear out of despair, O little one,
For your mother shant ever give you up for anyone.

Photo Courtesy - Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/photos/chira/3422718555/sizes/m/in/photostream/

2010 in retrospect

2011-01-02T23:23:00.001+05:30

Its that time of the year again. One year comes to an end and the other begins.
2010 has been a roller coaster of a ride.
Here is a bullet point summary -

Got the chance of a lifetime to get involved in organizing a TED conference - read TEDxChennai
Solved huge loads of technical obstacles and brought my product at Unniyath to a state we can try for funding now.
Got over a lot of inhibitions and mental blocks that I dint know had existed in my mind
Got to contribute to organizing Techmeets, a ChennaiGeeks initiative to bring the fragmented tech communities in Chennai under a common umbrella
Realized that there is no point waiting for a better time to come to do your "favourite things". Its now or never.
Decided to give myself a chance and agreed to get married. Yes. You read that right, stand by for the official announcement :)

So with a renewed perspective to life, I have decided to make every moment of life worth living it, for you never know when tables will turn and you will be at the end of this road called life. At the same time, I have also decided to use the magic lens called focus and go vertically deep into specific areas of exploration. And as Sundar quotes Brian Tracy in this post - “You can only grow if you’re willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable when you try something new..”, its time to push the limits.

Agenda for 2011
So I have identitfied three areas of focus -
1. Work - Take my company Unniyath to higher levels, specifically financially.
2. Music - Contribute to the following upcoming albums of STD Pathasala - a) Thiruvaimozhi Nutrandhadhi b)Upadesha Ratnamaalai c)Thirukkural Keerthanais
3. Others - Learn Calligraphy, Learn to ride a geared motorcycle

Wish you all a happy eventful and purposeful 2011!
Follow your dreams, follow your passions and be awesome in whatever you do!

Watch out world, Here comes Vatsala :)

Khoj - Search

2011-01-02T22:52:00.002+05:30

Khoj - The Unending Search - A small poem like piece in Hindi - My attempt at poetry.

Here the subject speaks about her quest for her "pillar of support", and how the quest leaves her warped in a time frame.

Here it is -

बहुत अरसों से हमने महसूस किया अपने आप को अधूरा
फिर निकल पड़े ढूंढ ने को अपना वो सहारा
एक बार हमारे नज़र में वो आ जाए, तो सोचा दिल संभलजाए
या फिर उसके एक झलक में हम आ जाएँ, मान लो उम्र हमारी ऐसे हि कट जाए
फूली हुई अपनी साँसों में ढूँढा, खोये हुए खयालों में ढूँढा
रात की मजदूरी के लम्हों में ढूँढा, खाली सड़क के सराब में ढूँढा
वो न मिले जब तक, हम उनके लायक हो जाएँ, अपने आप में ऐसी काबिलियत ढूंढी
पर अब हम ये क्या कहें दोस्तों, वक्त हे उसे हमसे नही मिलाया
हम ढूंढते ढूंढते यहाँ रह गए, "उसके" साथ इंतज़ार का वक्त भी हाथ से निकलगया

Here is the English Transcript :-

Bahut arson se hamne mehsoos kiyaa apne aap ko adhooraa
Phir nikal pade dhoondh ne ko apnaa vo sahaaraaEk baar hamaare nazar mein vo aa jaaye, to socha dil sambhaljaaye
Yaa fir uske ek jhalak mein hum aa jaayen, maan lo umr hamari aise hi kat jaaye
Phooli hui apni saanson mein dhoondha, khoye hue khayaalon mein dhoondha
Raat ki Mazdoori ke lamhon mein dhoondha, khaali sadak ke saraab mein dhoondha
Vo na mile jab tak, hum unke laayak ho jaayen, apne aap mein aisi kaabiliyat dhoondhi
Par ab hum yeh kya kahein doston, vakt ne use humse nahi milayaa
Hum dhoondhthe dhoondhthe yahaan reh gaye, uske saath Intezaar ka vakt bhi haath se nikalgayaa

English Translation -

For a long time, I carried with me a sense of incompleteness
Then One day, I decided I will find Him, my pillar of support
If only I could set my eyes on Him once, I thought, my heart would find solace
Or If I could become visible to Him in some way, then I could spend the rest of my life being in His view.
I searched (for Him) in my anxious breath, I searched (for Him) in my lost thoughts
I searched (for Him) in the moments of hardship during late ending work nights, I searched (for Him) in the mirage of the empty road I travelled by daily
Until I find Him, wanting to make myself worthy of Him, I searched for that capability in me.
But what do I say now, Time did not bring us together,
In my quest, I stayed back here; With Him, Time also slipped out of my hands altogether.

--------------
Image source: - http://yogaquest.wordpress.com/

Tech And Startup Events In and Around Chennai

2010-11-08T12:10:00.004+05:30

[Cross-posted on my other blog as well]

Finally here it is - There are a lot of tech events that are shaping up in Chennai - and I found it next to impossible to track any of them beyond a point. So here is a compilation of as many events that I have tried to track in the past few days - I've setup a public Google Calendar for now. Its not very sophisticated, but good enough for now.

You can track/bookmark it from here http://vatsala.co.in/events.html

Alternatively You can catch the RSS feed here http://www.google.com/calendar/feeds/c6kgpqss1v04bd10ct7t9fago8%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic
I'm wondering how to make this publicly editable - but thats for later. Siddharta Govindaraj's idea sounds good - needs to be explored - http://siddhi.blogspot.com/2008/03/tracking-upcoming-community-techstartup.html

TechMeets - First Edition

2010-10-13T18:54:00.001+05:30

[cross - posted on my tech blog as well ]
A TechMeet is going to happen this saturday - The goal of the techmeet is to discuss and learn new trends,technologies,programming languages,new DBs, virtually anything thats new in the software programming world.
Here are the details:

When

Saturday 16th Oct - 10am onwards (2 to 2.5 hours)

Where

At Thoughtworks Chennai Office

RR Tower 5, Level 2, Rishabh Info Park, 33 A Developed Plots, Thiru Vi Ka Industrial Estate, Ekkatuthangal, Guindy
Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600032
044 4395 3500

What are the topics:

Building Applications using Cloud Computing Platforms by OrangeScape Tech Team (http://www.orangescape.com/)

MongoDB - A NoSQL database by Vagmi Mudumbai (http://blog.vagmim.com)

How can you help.

1. Please let us know whether you will be coming

2. Please spread the word (hashtag #techmeets)

3. Please add your questions on either (or both) topics at:

http://bit.ly/tmc-cctalk

http://bit.ly/tmc-nstalk

No registration required. You can just show up. But knowing how many people will be there will help us in terms of logistics. You can write to dorait[at]imorph[dot]com for any other questions that you may have.

Alternatives to windows media player

2010-10-11T11:24:00.000+05:30

This is worth trying out - MoreAmp is a Audio player, transcoder and cd ripper - runs on windows and mac as welll.

SoX is the Swiss Army knife of sound processing programs- but they run only from the command line.

RBI Guidelines for Corrections in Cheques from 1 July 2010

2010-07-16T20:02:00.000+05:30

Hi readers,
I would like to share this important announcement with the august readers [:)] of this blog.

RBI has issued a guideline regarding the handling of cheques which comes into effect from 1 July 2010 - Herafter, i.e. from 1 July 2010, Corrections to the cheque amount in words, cheque amount in numerals, and name of the payee will not be allowed. This means that you cannot strike or rewrite or overwrite the following -
1. The name of the person to whom you are issuing the cheque
2. The amount of the cheque in numerals(numbers)
3.The amount of the cheque written in words.

So, you are allowed to make corrections to only the date, which should have your signature next to it.
Also Banks have been instructed to print/stamp the account number on the cheque as a compulsory measure.

TED Global Conference streaming LIVE in Chennai!

2010-07-12T20:51:00.001+05:30

TED conference brings together some of the visionaries and thinkers from all walks of life. The latest edition of TED Global has started today 12 July at Oxford and is a week long event till the 16th of July.

Sigh, but what can we do here in Chennai sitting so many hundred kilometers away? Guess what, We can get to listen to the TED Global talks at 1/128th of the price, that too sitting right here in our Singara Chennai.

Think thats too good to be true? Well, thank your stars and the TEDxChennai team. They are organizing a live telecast of the TED Global event at ~~IIT Madras Research Park~~ on Wednesday and Thursday from 6 PM to 11 PM daily. Its a little late in the day, but well worth it. Go ahead and register at http://tedxchennailive.doattend.com and make hay while the sun shines!

UPDATE: CHANGE IN VENUE - The address of the Venue is
SAE Institute
6th Floor, Jayalakshmi Estate, 29/8 Haddows Road
Chennai-600006
Phone: +91 (0)44 2820 3942

Podcast Workshop on July 4th 2010

2010-06-21T12:25:00.000+05:30

As computer science engineers, we deal with the 'cast' (pun intended) system a lot. We have unicast,multicast,telecast,broadcast, overcast,typecast.. oops too many casts to deal with isnt it? Now of late, there is a new 'cast' ;) that is catching on. Its called the "Podcast". It is a word you will commonly hear when, as a commoner, you stand between 4 or 5 comp sci grads. But for the benefit of the muggles (non techies, common people) let me introduce you to the latest 'cast' in our society - Podcast.

Podcast is a broadcast. Ah, simple thing. But it is done over the internet. So, in simple terms, its an audio clip containing a discussion about a topic that you can listen directly on/ download from the internet. And the beauty is, whenever a new podcast is published, you will get to know about it immediately through the podcast's RSS feed. Cool isnt it? :) And the good thing about this is that you dont need costly equipment to do your own podcast. All you need is an internet connection, a voice recorder, a computer to upload your recording, and something to talk about.

So now coming to the point, Business Blogging is conducting a workshop on Podcasting - where they give you answer to the question - "How to do Podcasting?"

So go ahead and read about it here - http://businessblogging.org/podcast/the-workshop.html

and register here - http://businessblogging.org/podcast/register.html

Paradox

2010-05-31T08:17:00.000+05:30

dotSUB - your video your language

2010-05-27T19:40:00.000+05:30

dotSUB is a video sharing website. Ah, whats new, you might ask. What if you could view the videos on that site in a language of your choice? Yes, that sets dotSUB apart from the existing video sharing websites.

With dotSUB you can view the videos that are already there - like any other video sharing website - but there is a high probability that you will find a technical how to video translated and running in,say, Telugu.
Or probably some old Bruce Lee movie clip in Tamil.

What you can also do, is if you know another language besides the language in which the video has been made, then you can do the translation for it. Or you could just transcribe it, i.e. write out the text of the video. In a language of your choice. Cool isnt it?

I find it amazing. Only thing, the guys at Vijay TV (a local channel in Chennai) who dub all those odd oriental movies into tamil might face some stiff competition here. :) But anyway, I believe competition can bring out the best of the talent in people.

So check it out - http://dotsub.com

Something

2010-05-25T15:00:00.001+05:30

Latest Endeavours

2010-05-23T15:39:00.001+05:30

My latest attempt at pencil shading. Its been a long time dream for me to be able to do pencil shading. Hope to do better and better every time.

What a day@Barcamp chennai

2010-04-12T00:45:00.000+05:30

Amazing day today. Lots of sharing of ideas and experiences at barcampchennai.org

Right now the whole day is racing over and over again in my mind, but I'd like to quickly recapitulate some of the key discussions that did the rounds -

Kaushik Ram spoke about how Javascript can be used effectively even as a serverside scripting language - I'm unable to get the right project name at this moment, but anyway thats for another post

Arvind Sridharan spoke about RangDe, a non profit organization that makes microcredit accessible to every low income household by lowering loan interest rates through innovative means.

Syed from Proto.in about setting up newer camps like Idea Camp, Rise Camp, Elements 5,etc, which will supplement the proto.in event and will foster an collaborative knowledge sharing environment

Dhruva, a legal expert on IPR busted some myths about How one should be aware of one's copyright over the content that one creates. (Hey that sentence is mine, you better not copy it :P) and about How we must assert our copyrights as soon as we discovered a violation so no one gets to lay false claims on original content.

Senthil Nayagam spoke about his ideas on how the audiences could be involved in making movies, by way of online channels in the form of web applications, internet chat applications etc, so the audience gets to see the kind of movies that they actually like to see.

This was followed by an Android Application Development primer and a quick brief about Internet Society Madras

Himanshu Sheth spoke about "Effective and Efficient Usage of the LinkedIn network".

There are few more things that I want to mention about the barcamp, but thats for another post.

Low Cost Touch Sensitive Whiteboard

2010-03-27T12:07:00.001+05:30

I always believe that technology should be within the reach of the common man...
And here is one awesome video demo of a low cost touch sensitive white board...

A questioning mind or a mindful of questions???

2010-03-05T17:46:00.000+05:30

Its another friday today.. These days I have started hating all days of the week, because they remind me constantly that its already that day of the week. I am exasperated most of the times(like now). There is a constant voice in my head which keeps saying "you ought to be doing much more in the next one minute". And as a consequence, every other minute, I keep thinking "I wish I could do ten times more than what I am doing now", combined with sleeplessness and a mostly a depressed mood, because i havent been able to complete something that I set myself to that day.

18 months ago, June 2008 I was.. well non existent.. in every sense of the word. no plans, no ideas, no opinions, negligible stuff in terms of money making skills, no idea of what do next, no idea about anything whatsoever. and yes no search result on Google.

Today, I have a job, a laptop of my own, a reasonable bank balance, and a strong feeling of wanting educate all those who are looking for an opportunity to know, to learn. And I have managed to save up some money for my father's milestone coming up in the next year. But more important than all this, I have got back my interest in a lot of things which had diminished due to a horrible 2 final years at school and a not so great 4 years at college. I have also gained what most people probably take for granted.. Motivation. Motivation to live the next minute with full energy and to tackle whatever is at hand with double the courage. Not to tremble and back out and run in the opposite direction. But tostare things in their face, and consequently scare them away. And I also have a search result on Google.

But crossing every day has become a big challenge. and I dislike time when it flies, and when it shows 1 pm in the afternoon and then immediately 5 pm in the evening. and then straight 12 pm.

I am yet to conquer my sense of depression. When I realise I dont know something, and that there is no direct way of learning other than going through hours of debugging sessions, depression and a general self dislike prevails. Is it wrong to not know something or is it wrong to expect help in learning it.
I dont know. And I feel terrible. and terrible and terrible.

Phir Kabhi Na Mile Aisa Sur

2010-01-27T23:37:00.000+05:30

Republic Day came and went with its usual "patriotic" fervour of "patriotic" movie telecasts on south indian channels, particularly the ones in Singara Chennai. We could have as well gotten along with a normal holiday, with heavy lunch, a super slumber, and four hours of glued TV watching. But then there had to be a change in the routine. And this was beautifully thrown in by the hype that Phir Mile Sur Mera Thumhara created.

I wanted to know, quite desperately how it was, after seeing some initial reactions on twitter. I go to youtube ( we have "CAS"te system in Chennai even in this millenium), do a quick search and stream Part 1 of this song. And at the end of the 8 minutes, I was left wondering How the heck does Shilpa Shetty feature anywhere in the context of National Integration in any remote context. But turns out I was mistaken. Infact a lot of people are. This new version of the original soulful Mile Sur Mera Thumhara is the integration of all bollywood actors in a single 16 minute video. So what if this supposed to be the sequel of a beautiful song that took the nation by surprise ages ago when technology was totally analog. So what if the theme is national integration. In 5 minutes video time, the original managed to show (then) present day achievers, some common people, some common people's occupations, superstars(then) from bollywood. It also managed to show fleeting scenes from every state in India - TN,AP,K,Ka,Mh,Guj,Raj,P,UP,O,WB,As,Manipur or Nagaland Or Tripura, (not sure about Bihar).

I wish the producers of PMSTM will find better things to do, and do them in better ways atleast in future.

Not intending to watch part2 of PMSTM. Ever.

Winds of Change

2010-01-26T14:40:00.005+05:30

Winds of change blowing strong
I know not how and what will go wrong

Is this a passing phase? my mind asks
Why do you fear? my friend asks

I wish I could hide
Like a snail would in its shell
Until changes the tide
And time gets well

Should I let go?
Should I hold on strong?
Multitude of these questions
Continue to throng

My brain's going wild
My mind's eternally a child
In between these two
Very poor is my plight

Shall I Move away
To places unseen
For only when there is dust
Is a beam of sun light seen.

But Change is Constant
Constant is Change
If this is reality
Why is it so strange?

This is dedicated to Divya aka Kutti Pisasu, who (like me) is feeling topsy turvy about everything around her.

Why Narendra Modi should not become Prime Minister of India

2010-01-11T19:35:00.000+05:30

I have great appreciation for Mr Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of Gujarat, India. The media and hence a lot of people give the colour of religion, autocracy, and too much control. So much that they provide automatic prime time coverage for him, without him moving so much as a finger for it.

So, do you think all that is false, is what you might want to ask me. My answer is simple. What the media reports I have not seen/experienced. Nor has anyone I know closely. And I firmly believe this - as much as it tries to position itself as the torch bearer of truth for the common people, the news media industry in itself is a sort of a racket considering its eternal quest for sensational news. And when I see good work being carried out successfully in whatever little measure, I believe that one should appreciate it, understand how it has succeeded, take cues from it and move on to apply it in one's own life and works.

So when I try to analyse Mr.Narendra Modi's profile as chief minister, as administrator of a state, I give the news media's information a benefit of doubt and take it that this man has failed on certain counts. But after that, he has also succeeded on certain counts. And I want to emulate the right things that he has done. And I believe everyone should do the same. Complain, crib and cry over his mistakes. But after that if you dont learn from his successes, then you have succeeded in one thing - in failing to make a rational observation.

And if we say that Mr.Narendra Modi should become Prime Minister of India next, it means this - We promise to be inefficient cribbing people, who know to complain and blame, but do not comprehend the word "action". Its like promising to yourself that you will certainly look to appoint a person to flush your toilet, rather than just extend your hand and turn the lever.

Come, and be the force that should take India forward.
Think about it.

Accelerometers

2009-11-18T10:05:00.000+05:30

Ever turned an iPhone to the side, only to see the screen adjust from portrait to landscape view? Seen the ad for that smart phone where they shake the handset to roll a pair of virtual dice?
Welcome to the world of motion sensing and accelerometers. These are MicroElectroMechanicalSystems. They have the capability to detect and measure motion. They consist of electronic systems combined with very small sized mechanical systems. Microelectronic integrated circuits can be thought of as the "brains" of a system and the micro mechanical system augments this decision-making capability with "eyes" and "arms", to allow microsystems to sense and control the environment.

Beyond game play and screen orientation, the most popular uses for MEMS accelerometer motion sensors in phones include power management and shake modes for control of tracks in music phones, context awareness and pedometers.

The market for microelectromechanical sensors for mobile phones is estimated to grow more than triple from 2008 to 2013, which means more phones will get these features. Lets be on the look out for them. :)

What I've been doing lately

2009-11-16T16:59:00.000+05:30

I was on a one week trip to Bangkok for a Kaizen Workshop with my father for one of his clients. The one week was period of real rejuvenation, mentally and physically. I am back in action today, arrived home just yesterday.

Here is a slideshow of some pics -

The business of bashing one another

2009-09-16T11:25:00.002+05:30

Bashing one another is a common practice in the political arena. But I am beginning observe more such practices of bashing. In the software world, the windows and Linux bashing is as normal as the sunrise every day. But did you also know that bashing at an intense level goes on in other areas as well. For instance, I see that PHP Vs. Ruby bashing has its own strong support groups. And among the IDEs Eclipse vs. Netbeans debate bashing seems to be very strong. I guess objectivity is long lost, literally. A person who is new and wants to know the basic plus and minus of competing technologies/programming languages/programming tools, would be at a total loss to come to any conclusion.

I am not against the act of expressing one's opinions, in the form of a debate or whatever. But what I am seeing is that people end up expressing more of their emotions and forget what they intended to say in the first place.

Personally, I find all this "my IDE is better than yours" argument totally juvenile.

And I have not tried to head over to look at discussions on other things. I wonder how people fare at that.

You realise

2009-09-12T17:54:00.006+05:30

You realise what life is when you wait for 170 token numbers to pass by, over a span of 2 hrs and more.
You realize just then that you have no one to talk to.
You realize how much even your legs betray you, refusing to let u stand.
You realize some people go over to the counter just to block it for the next 45 minutes submitting a multitude of application form fees to process.
You realize that the stout man at the counter has been relentlessly tapping away at his keyboard for the last hour and half.
You realize that you have the ability to realize so many things.

You realize that the bank has an LCD tv thats meant to be kept turned off and an LED board thats meant to display "home loans" and "personal loans" alternately and meaninglessly.
That some men dont mind wearing bright red chappals for cream colored three-fourths and sky blue t shirts.
That the Voltas Vertis AC is supposed to blow 16 deg. cold air at 29 degrees.
That the bank also has an oil on canvas of a setting sun to remind you of the time you will leave no matter when you come.
That there are still 24 token numbers to go in the queue, before it is your chance with the stout man, and there's no poetry left.

Me.
Ah, what all the mind does in a state of joblessness.

Sound of Music | Central Station Antwerp (Belgium) - Must Watch!

2009-09-09T15:10:00.003+05:30

Gasp! My Blog marked as spam!

2009-08-25T06:29:00.000+05:30

I got a shocker when I checked mail this morning, Blogger had marked my blog as a spam blog and sent me an email with a link to unlock it. I first thought that mail was from a spammer, who was posing as Blogger. After reading the help pages, I realised this was a genuine spam alert email from the Google guys. I've filled out the retrieve blog form. Hope things get ironed out soon. Until then, if you see a sign saying this is a spam blog, pl bear with me.

And this is to Google,
Dear Google, this blog is definitely not a spam blog, this is where a humble soul called Vatsala expresses her thoughts on various things.

Hope Hakuna Matata prevails again soon. So long

Update 26 Aug 09- Thankfully, My blog is back in action again!

Zugara Online Shopping App - A new way of attracting customers to online shopping

2009-08-22T19:57:00.004+05:30

Buying, more specifically Shopping has changed a lot over the years. I have seen that happening particularly in India, (since I live here). Fifteen years ago, Shopping (as in impulsive buying) used to be restricted to the really rich people. The middle class segment used to do more of buying which was primarily driven by needs and not by wants, and definitely not by any impulse. Shops used to focus on stacking more quantity of goods in ever shrinking spaces. Shops would stack up items from floor to roof and ensure that the pavement was also used as a showcase for the goods in the shop.

Then, changes in the Indian economy changed the way businesses worked, and overall increase in the prosperity and bank balance of the middle class transformed the retail space. Local Grocery shops, "nukkad dukans" and "maligai kadais" turned into one off supermarkets, which have now turned into Retail chains of branded Supermarkets and Hypermarkets. And shopping centres have become Malls. Now, Shopping has become an experience, rather than an activity. And businesses are continuously making making efforts to widen their audience by opening new formats of stores and supermarkets, and making it a successful business model. Kishore Biyani's Future Group and the Big Bazaar story is proof of that. Interesting read about Big Bazaar over here.

Online shopping is a new entrant here in India, and is slowly picking up its roots. Are Indian Business listening to this new innovation by Zugara.com??
Here is an interesting new shopping application launched by Zugara.com .

Here is Zugara's blog post on the new online shopping application - I'm Re-Blogging (in short,copy pasting) the entire contents, in true ReTweeting style, because no one can say it better than themselves. The full credit of the following text goes to weareorganizedchaos.com -

Utilizing Augmented Reality And Motion Capture

June 23, 2009, Los Angeles – Here at Zugara, we’re proud to announce the launch of our newest application, The Webcam Social Shopper. Coupling the functionality of both Augmented Reality and Motion Capture, this application will allow anyone with a webcam to shop online right from within their video feed. We like to think of it as “Augmented Reality meets Utility”. This app allows you to seemingly hold articles of clothing up in front of yourself to see “how they look”. And the Motion Capture allows the app to track your movements so you can interact with the site (e.g. cycle through a product’s various colors/styles or take a picture of yourself so you can get immediate feedback from friends on Facebook) while standing several feet away from your computer’s controls. No extra downloads, no new plug-in, no consumer headache.

To see the application in action, check out our video below.

(UPDATE: If you’re having trouble accessing the embedded video - here is the direct YouTube URL)
Original URL - http://weareorganizedchaos.com/index.php/2009/06/23/zugara-launches-online-shopping-app-utilizing-augmented-reality-and-motion-capture/

My latest project

2009-08-15T14:42:00.004+05:30

Hi there,

I always make it a point to work on one hobby project when I am working on some project in the office/college/school. Helps me retain some sanity, when my mind is madly racing at a problem. I finished up an embroidery project this week. Some pics.

This is the side view:-

The center design:-

The border:-

And the full view:-

Today's Insight

2009-08-12T15:01:00.001+05:30

I subscribe to daily emails from asamanthinketh.net and here is today's insight:

The only thing that stands between a man and what he wants from life is often merely the will to try it and the faith to believe that it is possible.

Richard M. DeVos

So true.

Where is the Wonder Wheel?

2009-08-12T12:20:00.002+05:30

I got the time to do some generic browsing today after two months of hectic work, and I discovered that Google had added a number of options to refine the search results. But when I tried it out, I dont seem to get the "Wonder Wheel" in my left column of links.

Me disappointed :(

A Picture is worth a thousand words

2009-08-07T09:49:00.002+05:30

This picture best describes the stock market:

Changing times

2009-08-06T16:16:00.002+05:30

The last one month I have been trying to make some meaning out of the many things flying in my head. And now, a change of job is in the offing. The job market being what it is, I should be lucky to get any job at all, besides, I am clueless as always about what I exactly want to do. So my first job is getting over today. Hoping that my second job will start soon.

In the shade of parental care, the illusion of comfort and convenience seems all pervading.
But then that is not the reality.

In reality there is no clarity of thought. Neither a hand to show direction. Nor money in the pocket. Only a small glimmer of hope, an attitude to experiment and a mind that struggles to figure out the middle portion of two ends of a string remain.

So long.

Tech stuff moving out of here

2009-07-08T10:03:00.002+05:30

I realised that my rant over here has become too garbled for people to read, so I decided to move the garbled stuff out of this blog to a new one http://vatsalad.wordpress.com. So from now on, you can gauge my current level of sanity by reading this blog and my current level of insanity by reading the other blog.

That is that.
I am heading back to today's quota of insanity.

More Later.

Getting CSS to work from your layout files in Cakephp

2009-06-24T14:33:00.001+05:30

If you want your handwritten css files to work in your cakephp application, remember that you have to use the echo statement. Ok, here i go step by step.

Once you finish designing the structure of your application, you go on to bake it (i.e use the bake script to generate basic add/delete/view functionalities).
Having done that, your application performs its basic tasks and then you go on to tweak it.

When you finally head over to doing the front end design, you should create your css files, and your images/icons first. Then head over to the layouts folder and create the layouts you want. Layouts are common templates within which the action specific views will load. When you do this, you would like to insert links to your css files in the head tag of your layout page.For this, use $html->css(' <filename> '); where your css file is filename.css and remember to echo it.
It should finally look like this :-
<head>
<?php echo $html->css('somename'); ?> // where somename.css is my css file

Read this article for explanations on the same topic.

Some useful links for cakephp development

2009-06-23T16:21:00.001+05:30

Simple user registration
Create a mysql database with cakephp
user registration with auth component
tutorial for using auth component
a simple authentication system with cakephp1.2 and auth

this one is for general php learning: http://www.phpfreaks.com/tutorials

TGIF - Thank God Its Friday

2009-06-19T23:57:00.001+05:30

As I had said earlier, today I was to be part of a puppet show. and we did manage to do something out of it. Thankfully my sister consented to provide us with background score with the harmonium. So with the confidence that we could cover up all our goofs in the din of the harmonium, we started our show. After a bumpy start ( I swallowed three words in the invocation song), we started talking, and things flowed the way they should. I goofed up just once in the middle, where i gave an unwarranted long pause - my mind just went blank, i was watching the green buttons flickering in the mic amplifier - things were pretty ok. only thing was we had the script written out on sheets of paper (to prompt ourselves), which flew onto our faces 5 mins into the show. and we were left to our own to take the conversation forward. and we finished it, with very little deviation.
We used stick puppets. I will try to post the pictures somewhere on the internet, all those interested can google for it. :D.

After the show, i was breathless for a while, and my voice went hoarse when i managed to speak.

So D day is over. and the show is over as well. and as i recount the day now, i am glad that the show is over. but my mind is tempted to venture into string puppets/marionets the next time. Ah, such are the fancies of my mind.

View status msg videos in gmail inbox

2009-06-19T23:38:00.003+05:30

I havent noticed this before, but today something was different in my inbox.... Nothing that changed significantly, but just that the reply button looks shinier now, is it because of my theme I wonder... may be it is so for other people as well, you guys have to tell me through your comments...

Ok, wait. I am literally ranting now.

What I wanted to put down in htis post was, Today one status message was getting displayed with a difference. Usually, my routine when i turn on the computer goes this way - I turn on the computer. I click on firefox twice, just to see which of the two instances loads b4 the other. and then I heard straight to mail.google.com. and then i sign in and then i try to read the deluge of emails that have piled up. and then i gape at the various green buttons and red buttons in the chat area. i hover over each and read the status messages (trust me, some of them are absolutely ridiculous) and spend sometime trying to predict which of these will turn orange in the next 30 seconds. and generally wait for some green button to come up with which i can do a conversation less conversation..which ultimately never happens. and i get back to my game of prediction....

today as i was going through this step for the first time, one of my green buttons put up a link to a youtube video. i hovered over it and it said - Play: What is a browser? with a blue html link like color. I click on it for something miraculous to happen, and voila. the video plays in my gmail inbox in a little chat window. I know we can view videos of the links sent as part of chat msgs. But i dint know that this worked for status msgs as well.

Does everyone else know it already??

Btw, here is the video that i was talking about - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4MwTvtyrUQ Nice one I must say.

The mess that was

2009-06-18T14:20:00.001+05:30

In my attempts to try something very adventurous, I messed up my entire cakephp installation yesterday. It would refuse to read from the db, it would display a form, but would refuse to store the data in the DB, it would partially update the DB and such stuff. Cranky kid.

But today i fixed it. How? I reinstalled the whole thing :D Not that i wanted to escape from finding the real cause of the mess I created, its just that I am in a great hurry to finish up this application as soon as possible. But generally mistakes I made are these:- 1) I interconnected controllers and models, where cake likes to keep connected one -to-one
2) I created my own routes by which the application should parse the request url, which confused cake like mad.

So I have managed to add data, read the data from the db. Now I start work on the login and registration part.

So long.

Cakephp tutorials - an aggregation

2009-06-16T10:41:00.002+05:30

Ok, this post is an aggregation for people looking for cakephp related help material -

http://cake-php.blogspot.com/

http://cake-php.blogspot.com/2006/09/21-things-you-must-know-about-cakephp.html

http://www.cake-toppings.com/

http://www.pseudocoder.com/free-cakephp-book/

http://myleskadusale.wordpress.com/2009/06/11/how-to-redirect-to-the-root-of-your-website/

http://riobautista.wordpress.com/2008/01/08/installing-cakephp/

Want to code your own mail client in php?

2009-06-16T10:36:00.000+05:30

Learn how to create your own mail client in PHP using this link: -

http://riobautista.wordpress.com/2008/01/08/accessing-a-pop3-mailbox-using-php/

CakePHP setup

2009-06-16T09:54:00.003+05:30

Ok, before the non-programming junta starts hurling stones at me, Let me clarify. CakePHP has got nothing to do with cakes or for that matter eating itself. It just happens to have the word 'cake' in it.

CakePHP is a framework. frameworks(apparently) make a programmer's life easier by taking care of a lot of routine task. In return,they give you a set of rules that you should follow while you create your application. I have been sweating it out trying to read and understand the framework for the past 1 week and consequently have also been raising my Googling quotient( :D , IQ is obsolete now) to a new high.

1)If every anybody tries cakephp on an xampp install, remember to tweak your apache settings. http://tinyurl.com/6hbt7u

2)To install cakephp, download the folder from its website. Uncompress it and copy the contents of the cake folder into the folder of your public_html OR htdocs and thats it. You're just one step away from salvation.

3)Create a database for your application, fill in the details in database.php - find it here: htdocs/your-folder-name/app/config/ - and.. well thats it.

4) Open your browser,hit http://localhost/your-foldername OR http://your-site-name.com/folder or wherever you installed it, and you should be able to see the default pages running. IF you see a page with only text links and no colors, then your installation isnt successful yet. No, no biscuits for doggie.

If for some reason you dont see the Blue and greeen colors of your life coming alive, then its most likely that either your DB config isnt right, or your apache settings arent fine. The problem most of the times is only at these two points, so dont waste your time meandering through the app folder, or config folder or any other folder for that matter. You wont find your treasure there.

So much for now. More Later.

New ventures

2009-06-15T16:10:00.001+05:30

I have been experimenting with quite a few things lately. And one of the things that I have been working on is a script for a puppet show.

My script writings skills are abysmal, as are my other skills. I have been working hard over the script for the past three days and now it has taken some shape. And the show 's coming up this friday. Lets see what happens.

If this turns out well, then I'm intending to work on few other hitherto unknown stories from the folklore.

Lets see what happens.

Another Salute to people who share tech tips on their websites

2009-06-15T16:05:00.001+05:30

I was saved yet again today, by the small tip given by Brian Fidler here at this page
A deep bow to you.

What am I looking for?

2009-06-07T18:14:00.001+05:30

Its been almost a month and a half since I wrote anything on this blog, mostly because I have been busy with a project at work that has been sucking out alot of my thinking capability.

So today being Sunday, I decided that I will put aside everything else, and just let things be. And when that happened, I realised that my mind was continually searching for something. I tried to do some chores, watched a movie on tv, tried texting some old friends, but no that was not it. I tried doing some google search about topics I had kept aside for reading a looong while ago, but yet, at the end of this exercise, my mind still is looking for something... I dont know what it is.

Something, the mere presence of which will drive it to do all that it has set itself up to. There is a sense of void, or vacuum that keeps gnawing, I have lots of work to do, but my mind is not engaged.

When and where will this search end??

More later.

Google Wave Presentation

2009-06-07T01:36:00.000+05:30

Everyone should see this:

New experience

2009-04-06T23:39:00.006+05:30

Today I got the opportunity to do something very exhilarating. My cousin brother has got a santoor for himself, and he very kindly allowed me to get a feel of it this evening. :)

You can see and hear the result of this on my blog.

Here on your right in the sidebar adjoining this post, you will see a new orange colored caricature sitting with a cello in his hand. This person from esnips will play a recording of my very small experiment with the santoor.

I have never played a musical instrument before, and I must say that it is truly a very exhilarating experience to be able to feel the music in your hands. And the santoor is such a great instrument, it makes my not even amateur notes sound so real and mature. I am filled with modesty at this moment of my writing this post, there is so much to learn, experience and enjoy in this world.

Truly beautiful and elevating. Santoor.

And all the best to my brother. May you experience and enjoy the music and the santoor. :)

MTS is here

2009-03-31T23:25:00.000+05:30

Hear ye Hear ye :D

MTS, a new mobile services company enters the already overcrowded Indian Mobile Telephony market.

Quick tablet facts :

Full Form of MTS
Mobile TeleSystems

Type of service

CDMA

Launch offer for subscribers
One million minutes of free talk time to subscribers

Brand Name of the Service provider
MTS

Name of the parent company
Sistema Shyam Teleservices Limited (SSTL)

Joint Venture between
AFK Sistema and Shyam Telecom

Who is Sistema?
AFK Sistema is a Russian holding company, who owns MTS. MTS provides mobile services in the CIS region. (Commonwealth of Independent States - an alliance made up of states that had been part of the Soviet Union before its dissolution in 1991)

Who is Shyam Telelink?

Shyam Telecom's principal activity is to manufacture telecommunications equipment in India. Shyam Telelink is the mobile service division's brand name. Shyam Telelink has been a service provider in Rajasthan since April 2008, providing CDMA services under the brand name of Rainbow with an approximate subscriber base of 270,000.

SSTL has obtained the licenses for 21 Indian Territories, of which it is launching operations first in Tamil Nadu(yay!) followed by Kerala, West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand. MTS will be replacing Rainbow's operations in Rajasthan.

You can check out the tariff details and other information at the MTS website

Interestingly MTS offers only GSM services world over. Apparently, they applied for GSM licenses in India too, but ended up with CDMA licenses.

MTS has joined the CDMA operator club in the country which already includes Reliance Communications,Tata Teleservices, Virgin Mobile, MTNL(few circles).

Customer charges for use of ATMs

2009-03-31T18:05:00.001+05:30

I came across this item somewhere - It claims that no fee will be charged for the use of other bank ATMs for cash withdrawals in India. Any body knows if this is actually effective now???

Date: Mar 10, 2008

Customer charges for use of ATMs for cash withdrawal and balance enquiry

RBI/2007-2008/ 260
DPSS No.1405 / 02.10.02 / 2007-2008
March 10, 2008
The Chairman / Chief Executive Officer
(All Scheduled commercial banks including RRBs)
Dear Sir
Customer charges for use of ATMs for cash withdrawal and balance enquiry
1. Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) have gained prominence as a delivery channel for banking transactions in India . Banks have been deploying ATMs to increase their reach. While ATMs facilitate a variety of banking transactions for customers, their main utility has been for cash withdrawal and balance enquiry. As at the end of December 2007, the number of ATMs deployed in India was 32,342. Commensurate with the branch network, larger banks have deployed more ATMs. Most banks prefer to deploy ATMs at locations where they have a large customer base or expect considerable use. To increase the usage of ATMs as a delivery channel, banks have also entered into bilateral or multilateral arrangements with other banks to have inter-bank ATM networks.
2. It is evident that the charges levied on the customers vary from bank to bank and also vary according to the ATM network that is used for the transaction. Consequently, a customer is not aware, before hand, of the charges that will be levied for a particular ATM transaction, while using an ATM of another bank. This generally discourages the customer from using the ATMs of other banks. It is, therefore, essential to ensure greater transparency.
3. International experience indicates that in countries such as UK , Germany and France , bank customers have access to all ATMs in the country, free of charge except when cash is withdrawn from white label ATMs or from ATMs managed by non-bank entities. There is also a move, internationally, to regulate the fee structure by the regulator from the public policy angle. The ideal situation is that a customer should be able to access any ATM installed in the country free of charge through an equitable cooperative initiative by banks.
4. In view of this, RBI had placed on its website an Approach paper and sought public comments. The comments received have been analysed. Based on the feed back a framework of service charges would be implemented by all banks as under:

Sr.No.

Service

Charges

(i)

For use of own ATMs for any purpose

Free (with immediate effect)

(2)

For use of other bank ATMs for balance enquiries

Free (with immediate effect)

(3)

For use of other bank ATMs for cash withdrawals

No bank shall increase the charges prevailing as on December 23, 2007 (i.e. the date of release of Approach Paper on RBI website)
Banks which are charging more than Rs.20 per transaction shall reduce the charges to a maximum of Rs.20 per transaction by March 31, 2008
Free - with effect from April 1, 2009.

5. For the services at (1) and (2) above, the customer will not be levied any charge under any other head and the service will be totally free.
6. For the service number (3) the charge of Rs.20/- indicated will be all inclusive and no other charges will be levied to the customers under any other head irrespective of the amount of withdrawal.
7. The service charges for the following types of cash withdrawal transactions may be determined by the banks themselves:
(a) cash withdrawal with the use of credit cards
(b) cash withdrawal in an ATM located abroad.
8. Please acknowledge the receipt of the circular. A copy of the circular issued to your branches on this subject may please be submitted to us in due course.
Yours faithfully
(Arun Pasricha)
General Manager

Gmail in Indian Languages

2009-03-31T13:37:00.003+05:30

This post is for those of you who cant read my previous post.

Gmail now gives the facility to type email messages in five Indian languages, Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu. This can be turned on in the Rich Text formatting toolbar in the Compose/Reply textarea.

This is already there in blogger for quite a while now, so I'm not entirely surprised that its available in Gmail. I would say, it was about time that they brought it in here as well.

So all Indian language fans can rejoice and mail each other in their fav languages.

Five languages are being offered as part of the service now.
Hope the Sena scions dont get offended.

இப்போது ஜீ மெயில் இந்திய மொழிகளில் !

2009-03-31T13:28:00.002+05:30

இப்போது ஜீ மெயில் இந்திய மொழிகளில் !
ஜீ மெயிலில் இப்போது தமிழில் மெசேஜை டைப் செய்யும் வசதி அறிமுகமாகி உள்ளது. தமிழ் மட்டும் அல்லாமல், ஹிந்தி, கன்னடம், தெலுகு மற்றும் மலையாளத்திலும் ஈ மெயில் அனுப்பலாம். இந்த வசதியின் தட்டச்சு "Phonetic" முறையில் செயல்படுகிறது. அதனால் தமிழ் கீ போர்டு அறியாதவர்கள் கூட இதனை சுலபமாக பயன்படுத்தலாம்.

இந்த சேவையை உப்யோகிகப்பது மிக சுலபம்.
புதிய ஈ மெயிலுக்காக "கம்போஸ் மெயில்" கிளிக் செய்த பின் திரையில் மெசேஜை டைப் செய்திட ஒரு பெரிய சதுரமான பாக்ஸ் காட்டப்படும். இதில் Bold, Italic, underline, போன்ற formatting இற்கான toolbar இல் இடது பக்கம் ஓரத்தில் 'அ ' அல்லது 'अ' என்ற எழுத்தைக்கொண்ட ஒரு பட்டனை காண்பீர்கள். அதனை கிளிக் செய்தால் தமிழில் டைப் செய்திடலாம். மொழியை மாற்றுவதற்கு 'அ ' எழுத்தின் அருகில் உள்ள சிறிய முக்கோணத்தை கிளிக் செய்தால் பிடித்தமான மொழியை தேர்ந்தெடுக்கலாம்.

Gmail 'inbox'

2009-03-31T13:08:00.001+05:30

Customer Care in 2050

2009-03-28T19:24:00.006+05:30

Here is an email i got recently, that I would like to share with my blog readers -

Customer care in 2050

Operator : "Thank you for calling Pizza Galaxy Kholi . May I have your..."

Customer: "Hello, can I order.."

Operator : "Can I have your multi purpose card number first, Sir?"

Customer: "It's eh..., hold........ ..on..... .889861356102049 - 998-45-54610"

Operator : "OK... you're... Mr Singh and you're calling from 43rd Floor,Akask View Apt, Cantt Road, ........

Your home number is 4094! 2366, your office 76452302 and your mobile is 0142662566.

Which number are you calling from now Sir?"

Customer: "Home! How did you get all my phone numbers?

Operator : "We are connected to the system Sir"

Customer: "May I order your Seafood Pizza..."

Operator : "That's not a good idea Sir"

Customer: "How come?"

Operator : "According to your medical records, you have high blood pressure and even higher cholesterol level Sir"

Customer: "What?... What do you recommend then?"

Operator : "Try our Low Fat Hokkien Mee Pizza. You'll like it"

Customer: "How do you know for sure?"

Operator : "You borrowed a book entitled "Popular Hokkien Dishes" from the National Library last week Sir"

Customer: "OK I give up.... Give me three family size ones then, how much will that cost?"

Operator : "That should be enough for your family of 10, Sir. The total is Rs 2249.99"

Customer: "Can I pay by! credit card?"

Operator : "I'm afraid you have to pay us cash, Sir. Your credit card is over the limit and you owe your bank Rs10,720.55 since October last year. That's not including the late payment charges on your housing loan, Sir."

Customer: "I guess I have to run to the neighbourhood ATM and withdraw some cash before your guy arrives"

Operator : "You can't Sir. Based on the records, you've reached your daily limit on machine withdrawal today"

Customer: "Never mind just send the pizzas, I'll have the cash ready. How long is it gonna take anyway?"

Operator : "About 45 minutes Sir, but if you can't wait you can always come and collect it on your scooter.. ."

Customer: " What!"

Operator : "According to the details in system, you own a Lambretta 1969 Vintage Scooter,...registra tion number USE 8999..."

Customer: " ????"

Operator : "Is there anything else Sir?"

Customer: "Nothing... by the way... aren't you giving me that 3 free bottles of cola as advertised?"

Operator : "We normally would Sir, but based on your records you're also diabetic.... ... "

Customer: #$$^%&$@$%^...beeep

Operator : "Better watch your language Sir. Remember on 11th Nov 1986 you were convicted for using abusive language on a policeman who stopped you for driving through a one way, in fact you were driving a 1973 Ambassador bearing registeration number UTD 4267....... "

Customer: [Faints]

The business of internet

2009-03-23T18:10:00.002+05:30

Yours truly has been officially tottering around the web for about 7 months now and I have discovered that there are a number of services for your site that you can just pay and use.

These are the services that I have discovered so far on the internet...
There are Pay and use services for
Polls
Site analytics (Anyway who wants to pay for this after Google analytics?)
Toolbars for your website
Feedback forms (this one is good, will update the post as soon as i find others)

Which set me thinking about the business of internet... People/organisations running their businesses on the Internet have triggered so many peripheral or support Internet businesses. Interesting how the world works.

Foldable keyboard

2009-03-17T13:58:00.002+05:30

Khairil Yousuf has written about his foldable keyboard here. Do check it out.

Half a Keyboard??

2009-03-17T13:56:00.003+05:30

There are a lot of companies that sell accessories for the computer/laptop.

iball is one such company that is becoming popular in India. They have some really cool products especially for laptops, like a small light that throws light on the keyboard(powered by the usb port), a laptop holder that will hold a laptop firmly on a person's lap, a mini fan (again powered through the usb port), external keyboards, USB port hubs, et al.

But has anybody seen a working Half a Keyboard??

Well, I was shocked too, at first. But here are some images to prove it:

And here is a link to a demo of how this half keyboard actually works

And here is the link to the keyboard's website

IE troubles

2009-03-17T13:40:00.001+05:30

Amazon Kindle

2009-02-24T15:29:00.005+05:30

This article about the latest version of Kindle set me off on a Googling mission.

For muggles, Kindle is Amazon's e-book reading device. Its actually a device that you can hold in your hand, store books in it and read them.
There are two things that are very cool about this:

Text Display - The display is non-illuminated and uses EInk technology. This requires no power to display the text, it uses up power only to turn the pages and display new text. It also means that you can read from the display in all kinds of light, even under direct sunlight(unlike the color display mobile phones that we get today).
Wireless Internet Connectivity - Amazon has tied up with Sprint Cellular Services for internet connectivity in the Kindle,and you can download ebooks in the Kindle Bookstore. So you dont need a computer to get new books.

Its also pretty slim. Check out these images here.

And there are also talks about a possible iPhone application that will connect to the Kindle store online.

Now coming to the point... When will we get this in India?

Amazon could tie up with one of our network service providers to start their offerings here. Reliance (adag particularly) could be a good prospect, both in terms of openness to new ideas (remember BigFlix) and investment capability.

What do you think?

Memorable Evening

2009-02-22T21:43:00.001+05:30

Got to meet my college friends. And most of us landed up at Tiruvanmiyur beach by coincidence. :) I am elated. More posts shall follow

My blog is going to go on fire

2009-02-22T14:26:00.002+05:30

As someone said, Firefox is the coolest browser. Ever. I whole-heartedly second that. And now I can blog as I browse. Thanks to this cool addon.

Indira Nagar MRTS Station

2009-02-20T20:48:00.002+05:30

This is how MRTS station at Indira Nagar, Adyar,Chennai is supposed to look. When the construction work is complete that is.

Virgin Mobile

2009-01-22T15:14:00.011+05:30

We all know that Virgin Mobile launched their operations in mobile phone connectivity sometime in early 2008(around March, may be). And the brand has been creating a bang in its ad promos ever since. I was quite curious to find out more about Virgin's modus operandi, wooed by the charisma of the parent brand Virgin Mobile.

A few months ago, I discovered, much to my surprise, that Virgin Mobile's Indian JV partner was actually Tata Teleservices. Having discovered this piece of info, I conveniently took it for granted that Virgin was offering GSM services. And I was continuing to be under this impression until yesterday.

Turns out that Virgin Mobile India is actually offering CDMA services here. Then it struck me. Why in the best of their minds would Tatas have a JV with a company that is actually offering the same CDMA services??? and why would Virgin also agree to such a deal? is entering the indian market so lucrative for them that they dont mind partnering with a potential rival company?

Enter MVNO

Apparently it works this way. Virgin Mobile India has registered itself as an MVNO, which stands for Mobile Virtual Network Operator. An MVNO is different from the regular Mobile Operators in the sense that he does not own any physical infrastructure for his network service. He uses the infrastructure of another company, and sells his product. So basically, Virgin takes the Tata's licensed frequency on a lease and uses it to sell its SIM cards. Like people live in rented houses, Virgin pays Tatas for the frequencies and the physical infrastructure, their maintenance et al., and on its own focusses only on marketing its product.

When I read this, my first impulse was to compare Virgin Mobile India to a cuckoo bird, which gets to raise its children and yet doesnt have to be hassled with the actual parenting process. But then on second thoughts, I felt why not? I mean I'm sure Tatas are getting paid well for the services they are offering so why not? This is just another way to keep the cash registers ringing right. And then things fell into place in my head, and I realised how these two potentially rival companies could even think of operating in the same market.

As for the legality of such an agreement, I was able to lay my hands on a PDF of an old version of the license agreement that Cellular operators sign with the Department of Telecommunications. That file claims that a service provider signing up for the license is allowed to share the following :

a) “passive” infrastructure viz., building, tower, dark fiber etc.

b) point to point bandwidth from their own infrastructure within their Service Area to other licensed telecom service providers (no resale though)

Well, one thing is for sure. The rival GSM guys would have surely spent sleepless nights trying to come up with arguements to prove Virgin's cuckoo bird JV deal illegal. But here we are today, seeing Virgin becoming a fairly successful venture with a clever marketing , ad effort.

P.S.: Virgin Mobile is a successful telecom brand in the UK, and they operate as MVNOs there as well.

Vaaranam aayiram and Ghajini

2009-01-20T16:28:00.002+05:30

Two hit movies of Actor Surya. Two totally different characterisations of the lead character. Two different contexts. But I find one thing common in both. Heroine who goes dead in the first half of the movie. And what the protagonist does in response to this death forms the rest of the story.

I hope Surya doesnt get typecast into similar plots.

Templates

2009-01-20T16:27:00.002+05:30

Blogger templates are getting more and more addictive by the day. Going to try out few more very soon. Do check back to enjoy the new look(s).

Favicon! Yippee!!

2008-12-25T22:08:00.003+05:30

Wheeeeee!!!!! I successfully managed to add a favicon to my blog!!! I did it! I did it! I did it! I am very happy and excited too.

So the next time anyone opens my blog in firefox(works in chrome too, i guess), you can see a small green car next to my blog's url in the address bar. Yeah thats my favicon, its green(my fav color) and its a Volkwagon mini (one of my fav cars), and I call it "Herbie"!! :D

And I want to share that excitement with you!!

New Look :)

2008-12-10T12:11:00.001+05:30

I have successfully explored and changed the look of my blog!! Hurrah!

I am impressed with myself.

Professor Lewin

2008-12-08T22:58:00.004+05:30

People who have gone through four wonderful years studying under the Anna University, particularly in the self financing colleges will be familiar with the feeling of latent irritation that one goes through when one attends a class hour.

But all teachers are not as bad or irritating. Professor Walter Lewin used to teach physics at MIT,USA(I'm not 100 percent sure if he does even now). His classes will first seem crazy, but at the end of the session, you can actually walk out of class and say "I did grasp something today".

I have not attended any of these classes in person, but THANKS to MIT's open courseware and youtube, I have been able to view recorded videos of his sessions.

Here is a video you must watch... These girls here are singing a song for their professor(Prof Lewin) pleading him to pass them in a test.

Watch and enjoy....

Keeping tab on too many things!!!

2008-09-24T16:16:00.002+05:30

I have been working on a small project for over a month now and that has led me to browse the internet more than ever. Consequence: Numerous tabs running on a browser window, with all of them seeming to be important...

And today has been the crowning glory!! Right now I have some 29 tabs open over four browser windows!!!

Crazy me!

Virtual Tutors

2008-09-11T17:10:00.002+05:30

I was stuck at one point today in my work, and I had lost all hopes of finishing that part of the code today. And that was when I found this person Mr. Peter Lavin on the internet who had put up this one line in his article

eval('$newarray = ' . var_export($array, true) . ';');

This one line really opened up things for me, and if all goes well I can finish all that I have set myself to do!!! Yippee!!
Here is the link to that page, for those of you looking for help:
http://hades.phparch.com/ceres/public/article/index.php/art::php5::magic_set_state_method

And hats off to all those people who make it a point to share their working knowledge by way of tutorials!!!!

A friend indeed

2008-09-05T23:09:00.003+05:30

Well, a friend of mine is leaving the city for joining his colleagues at his place of work. And I just cannot say farewell.

Still my best wishes are and will always be with him... And I submit very humbly that some friendships make a lot of difference in your life.

CHROME??? not at all its PLATINUM!!!

2008-09-05T22:56:00.002+05:30

Like a lot of other people I was pretty excited about the new browser from Google's stable. And I'm pretty impressed with it too!! They've named it "Chrome" but may be we could call it "Gold" or "Platinum" or may be just "Precious"! I know this is going a little too overboard, but any heavy internet surfer will know the importance of a browser that doesnt crash and that doesnt suffer from memory leaks.

So here I am all excited about this beauty that I affectionately call "Precious" ;)

P.s. I had blogged about Avant being good.... Well it is good even now, but turns out its more a skin over our darling(*sarcastic*) IE. Avant's system requirements is IE6.0!!! now how is that??? ok.. my rankings stand thus: 1. Chrome 2.Avant and everything else is after this.

Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna

2008-08-31T23:47:00.002+05:30

The following text is one version of the poem Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna supposed written by Ram Prasad Bismil

Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna Ab Hamare Dil Mein Hai
Dehkna Hai Zor Kitna Baajuen Qaatil Mein

Dekh Sakta Hai To Bhi Dekh Le Aye Aasmaan
Hausla Yeh Dekh Ke Qaatil Badi Mushkil Mein Hai

Sarfaroshi Sarfaroshi Sarfaroshi
Sarfaroshi Sarfaroshi Sarfaroshi
Sarfaroshi Sarfaroshi Sarfaroshi

Apne Hi Lahoo Se Likhenge Hum Apni Daastaan
Zaalimon Se Cheen Lenge Yeh Zameen Yeh Aasmaan
Sar Fire Jawan Hum To Maut Se Bhi Na Darre
Aansh Aye Desh Pe Yeh Kyon Gawara Hum Kare
Mulk Pe Qurbaan Ho Yeh Aarzoo Dil Dil Mein Hai

SarfaroshiSarfaroshi Ki Tamanna Ab Hamare Dil Mein Hai
Dehkna Hai Zor Kitna Baajuen Qaatil Mein Hai

There is something in this text that moves my heart deeply.

मैं ऐसी क्यों हूँ?

2008-08-25T12:33:00.002+05:30

मैं ऐसी क्यों हूँ?
Some questions can probably never be answered. Like
Why do people feel like not doing work?
Why do people feel like postponing things even though there is every reason to finish it off at that moment?

Why is it that I feel I can't get my mind to attend to "it"?
Why does my mind wander into the gardens of Kimberland everytime I open my desktop to start the day's work?

I wonder.... and in the process set off to Kimberland yet again!

Probably these questions are not to be answered. For otherwise, they would no longer be questions, they would be answers now. Is that right? What do you think?

MRTS the ghost

2008-08-09T22:54:00.000+05:30

Mass Rapid Transport System. MRTS.

Well after years and years of inching forward, something seems to have materialised for the Southern Railways. And yes, they have indeed been able to come up with a SYSTEM. And a TRANSPORT SYSTEM it is. And with effective travel time from Velachery to Mylapore being 18-20 mins, the system seems to be fairly RAPID. But is it really a MASS RTS? No way. Not yet.

And there are a number of reasons for this, ranging from non cooperation between administrative bodies to poor pace of execution of the project and so on. And I'm not going to point fingers at any of the organizations involved in the project. Cos enough has been written and spoken about in that manner.

The idea of developing such kind of an infrastructure has always attracted me, and I will definitely express my appreciation to the Railway authorities for coming up with such an idea of establishing alternative connectivity among the city's important localities in addition to the bus network. So I believe that this is a very good concept. But it is common knowledge that even the best of the product ideas or concepts fail to catch the fancy of the common man due to improper positioning and branding in the market. Same is the case with MRTS. For the system to be able to truly achieve MASS admiration, a little more has to be done for it to sell like hot cakes.

I've been travelling regularly between Velchary and Tirumailai for the past one week, and here are some of my observations:

1. The train services in themselves are good in themselves, with the frequency of services being 10min intervals from 7.30 to 10.00 in the morning and from 5 to 7.45 in the evening between trains, and 15-20 min gap during the other hours of the day.

2. The Railways have installed Automatic Ticket Vending Machines which work with smart cards, a really useful feature for a regular traveller. A lot of people haven't taken to the smart cards though.

3. Three OMR road stations: Thiruvanmiyur, Indra Nagar and Kasturibai Nagar are incomplete to the extent that you have iron girders sticking out and sand piles lying around even on the platform.

4. The three OMR road stations are not actually physically connected to their respective localities at all. Significant among these is the Indira Nagar Station which is separated from Indira Nagar by the canal. People from this area have to reach the station either through thiruvanmiyur/kasturibai nagar or through a small ultra narrow bridge located about half km away.

5. There are two to three Foot over bridges on the OMR, between Madhya Kailash and Tidel Park which are located almost corresponding to each of the three stations. Yet, the F-O-Bs are not connected to the stations. A passenger wanting to go to the other side has to climb down all the way from the station, walk up to the F-O-B and again climb up to go across.

6. The thiruvanmiyur station has (you wont believe it) two mezzanines in the ground floor itself, with not even the railway staff going around there. In the night, the station could as well seem like a 'Bhoot Bungalow'.

As a concept, this has not sold very well with the mass now. The contribution of a concept/product depends more on the packaging and positioning of the product than the product itself. In simple words, Glitter and Gimmicks are the most powerful contributors to the success of a new idea.

For a train service, a few of the "oomph" factors would be the ambience of the train, ambience of the station, proximity to the hub of the locality, connectivity with other forms of mass transport. Mass Public appeal is definitely a factor of these things. The Railways should probably look at it from these points of view. Otherwise, they will be running a near flop show inspite of having such a potentially popular service in hand.

Old story in a new version

2008-07-25T00:07:00.001+05:30

I got this story as a mail recently. Thought of sharing it with all my readers!

Story of an ANT and A GRASSHOPPER

OLD STORY

-----------

The ANT works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The GRASSHOPPER thinks, the ANT is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Comes winter, the ANT is warm and well fed. The GRASSHOPPER has no food or shelter so he dies out in the cold.

NEW STORY, INDIAN VERSION

-----------------------------

The ANT works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The GRASSHOPPER thinks, the ANT is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Comes winter, the shivering GRASSHOPPER calls up a PRESS CONFERENCE and demands to know why the ANT should be allowed to be warm and well fed, while others are cold and starving.

NDTV, BBC, CNN show up to provide pictures of the shivering GRASSHOPPER, next to a video of the ANT in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.

The world is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be that this poor GRASSHOPPER is allowed to suffer so!!

ARUNDHATI ROY, stages a demonstration in front of the ANT's house.

MEDHA PATKAR, goes on a fast along with other GRASSHOPPERS demanding that GRASSHOPPERS be relocated to warmer climates during winter.

MAYAWATI states this as 'injustice' done on MINORITIES.

UN & KOFI ANNAN, criticize the Indian government for not upholding the fundamental rights of the GRASSHOPPER.

The INTERNET is flooded with online petitions seeking support to the GRASSHOPPER(many promising Heaven and Everlasting Peace prompt support as against the wrath of God for non-compliance).

'BENGAL BANDH' in West Bengal and Kerala demanding a JUDICIAL ENQUIRY.

CPM in immediately passes a law preventing ANTS from working hard in the heat so as to bring about equality of poverty among ANTS and GRASSHOPPERS.

LALU PRASAD allocates one free coach to GRASSHOPPERS on all Indian Railway Trains, aptly named as the 'GRASSHOPPER RATH'

Finally, the JUDICIAL COMMITTEE drafts the 'PREVENTION OF TERRORISM AGAINST GRASHOPPERS ACT' [ POTAGA ], with effect from the beginning of the winter.

ARJUN SINGH makes 'SPECIAL RESERVATION' for GRASSHOPPERS in Education Institutions and in Govt. Services.

The ANT is fined for failing to comply with POTAGA and having nothing left to pay his retroactive taes, its home is confiscated by the GOVT. and handed over to the GRASSHOPPER in a cermony covered by NDTV.

ARUNDHATI ROY calls it 'A TRIUMPH OF JUSTICE'

LALU calls it 'SOCIALISTIC JUSTICE'

CPM calls it the 'REVOLUTIONARY RESURGENCE OF THE DOWNTRODDEN'

KOFFI ANNAN invites the GRASSHOPPER to address the UN General assembly.

.

.

.

.

.

.

MANY

.

.

.

YEARS

.

.

.

.

LATER

.

.

.

.

.

The ANT has since migrated to the US and set up a muti-billion dollar company in SILICON VALLEY, 100s of GRASSHOPPERS still die of starvation despite of reservation somewhere in India,

.

.

.

AND

.

.

.

As a result of loosing lot of hard working ANTS and feeding the GRASSHOPPERS,

.

.

.

.

INDIA IS STILL A DEVELOPING NATION.

WIYOATS? (as one of my friend says)

Mice in the league of Dinos? May be

2008-07-24T23:58:00.002+05:30

The computer mouse set to die out in the next five years? Don’t bet on it! by ZDNet's Adrian Kingsley-Hughes -- According to a sensationalist article by the BBC News, that lump of plastic that you have next to your keyboard will, over the next few years, go the way of the dinosaur and be replaced by revolutionary technologies such as touchscreens and facial recognition. I wouldn't bet on it ...

Space Suit this one??

2008-07-24T00:20:00.003+05:30

This post is about a very interesting thing that I came across only today.

Picture this. You are an engineer aboard the International Space Station on an expedition. Suddenly you find that a few things that you were using have become out of order and are of no use to you any more. What would you do?? You got to do something about the trash right, can't keep collecting it.
Normally, people on the ISS would tell you to send the stuff down to the atmosphere so that it will get burnt down. So the next time you see a mound of dust lying over your furniture, it could well be the burnt up version of some old space equipment that some astronaut wasnt able to use anymore.

But, in 2005, a new initiative was taken. International Space Agencies decided to turn unusable space suits into satellites. Accordingly, the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station(ARISS) fabricated, tested and delivered a ham radio system to the ISS team barely three weeks after the Space Agencies agreed on that idea. Then, after a series of tests and confirmation, Expedition 12 commander Bill McArthur and flight engineer Valery Tokarev stuffed the specially designed hardware into an unusable Russian Orlan suit and hurled the suit out of the IS station in February 2006. Just like a lot of people throw the bhel puri plate out of their car window!!

The specialities of the SuitSat is that it contains what is fundamentally a transmitter and a reciever which work at FM frequencies(yes!!) of 145 MHz. Additionally, it contained a interface box for the crew aboard ISS to operate. It also contained a CD containing the voices of a number of students across the globe, to be broadcasted by SuitSat. Since this project was developed with the help of a huge number of students, a lot of students, children and common public were encouraged to tune into the frequency to listen to SuitSat. The initiative was a pretty good success with an overwhelming response from the public for the SuitSat.

The SuitSat has no fuel supply per se. It just floats around until it comes into the realm of our atmosphere when it gets burnt up.

The first version SuitSat, SuitSat1 was finally lauched in Feb 2006 and it has re entered the earth also. Efforts are on to develop hardware for SuitSat2, so that these automatons are made use of to the fullest extent possible.

Check this out: http://www.spacetoday.org/Satellites/Hamsats/Suitsat.html

Planning to leave

2008-07-20T17:29:00.000+05:30

Times have changed.

Indeed.

These days, most people I live with are absolutely busy planning to "leave" from here. And I'm supposed to sit through all of it.

Or may be I should turn into a piece of wood.

No Fire in the Firefox!!!

2008-07-16T18:39:00.000+05:30

When I first started using firefox browser last year, I was all excited about it. It satisfied two of my fundamental needs: 1. To be able to load pages quickly and 2. To be able to browse 6 to 7 websites at one time and having only one window open.

Then firefox3.0 happened. But the latest version has not been so good. All that Mr.browser has to say is error in loading page, try again. Mr.Browser cant even load Google!!!!!

So when I went back to browser hunting, I stumbled on one called Avant. I must tell you this browser is beautiful!!! I discovered that this browser has a whole lot of things that would make any heavy internet user go 'gaga' over it. The striking thing about this is that it is able to block the unwanted Flash Animations, Pictures, Sounds, and Videos which can save you up to 95% of your bandwidth. And its got a good collection of skins for those who love playing with colour. And it has the tabbed browsing too in addition to a set of mouse gestures!!!

A perfect Firefox alternative is finally here, I guess.

Lost my post :(

2008-07-16T18:37:00.000+05:30

One of the posts got published with a back date, and when I tried to change its date, I lost it!!!! It got deleted.

Haunt

2008-07-10T14:11:00.001+05:30

May your image always stay before my eyes
Oh! the husband of Rakhumani
Sweet is thy face,
Sweet is thy name
Fills me with love at all times
My Panduranga grant me this boon.....That you'll remain in my heart
Says Tuka, I ask for nothing else

All joy lies at your feet

Says Vatsala, this abhang of Tukaram haunts this self
May the haunt continue forever

3G

2008-07-06T01:08:00.001+05:30

I'm an avid tech enthusiast, and I try to keep a track of the arrival of a number of technology solutions in India. In that respect, I have been eagerly awaiting the launch of the 3G services of the mobile telephony in India for a long time now. But with current political and economic tensions, and the absence of Dayanidhi Maran in the Ministry, I have little hopes that 3G will materialise anytime soon.

The attraction to 3G is because of these:
1. 3G is bigger, better and faster than 2G

2. 3G operates in a wider range of frequency spectrum.
So it will help ease the spectrum crunch faced by operators particularly in the metros. This way they will be able to sustain the aggressive growth that has taken place.

3. 3G has four to five times higher voice capacity, which means we can get far more cost effective voice services.
That could translate to cheaper call rates!! yippee!!

4. 3G will open up a whole new range of services and applications that can be handled through the mobile device. This in
turn will increase the span of the telecom industry, with new businesses that will feed these services.

The Indian mobile telephone industry is fast maturing, and will evolve into a lucrative 3G market. We need to get our act together and quickly usher in the new technology, before another new technology renders this one obsolete.

The important reason behind the 3G launch reaching a stalemate is the spectrum crunch in the domestic segment. So the government is trying to increase this range by turning to other users of the frequency spectrum: the defence forces and space research. The thrust is on the defence forces to vacate a part of their spectrum.

For 3G to become a success and to achieve extremely high rates of penetration, it will require the government to prioritise technological infrastructure development. And licensing fees will have to be reduced. Secondly, the allotment of the frequencies to the service providers will have to be handled properly, so that they pass on the benefit to the end customer. 3G services must be positioned, priced and marketed in such a way that they cater to the needs of the so called tier 2 cities and lower down. People from these areas are going to propel the country's growth in the days to come.

What do you think?

Inflation

2008-07-05T00:19:00.001+05:30

There is so much humdrum going on about the price rise lately, I thought I would try and understand wht it is all actually about.

So here are my findings:

1. The latest inflation rate has been calculated to be 11.63% , up by a whopping 3% in the past three to four months from 8%.
2. The inflation rate is always calculated in hindsight, that is for the trading and businesses that have taken place a few weeks ago. So this latest figure is for the week beginning June 21
3. The inflation rate is the percentage change in the prices of goods and services. Basically i think it kinda indicates how much more money we pay for goods/services than their actual cost.

Then, what is it that drives this increase in the cost??

Well, The cost goes up because the cost of the input raw material goes up, which in turn goes up because a lot of the raw materials for a wide range of industries are imported. The fuel cost and the strength of the foreign currency involved drives the price of the raw material.

So it all boils down to the cost of the fuel which drives the price rise.

As we all know, the price of crude oil in the markets have risen to $144 a barrel, whereas it was not so bad just a few weeks ago. The sharp rise in the oil prices has been not so much because of corresponding increase in demand

Nor is it because the oil producing nations are asking for more money for the oil

It is primarily due to something called futures trading taking place in an unregualted manner. Futures trading is done by special traders called speculators. Speculators only speculate, that is they dont actually buy anything.

Futures trading is about betting your money on a particular good and fixing its price in advance. If the actual price at the later date reduces, then the producer of the commodity is insulated from it, and he gets the price agreed upon earlier. And the vice versa.

Speculation over specualtion has resulted in the current state of the oil prices. I wonder when this will "deflate". Because as long as it doesnt, my dreams of buying a Honda city shall be put on hold.

So long.

P.s. this post may not really enlighten you about the trading market, still it will give you a "clear" picture of the great confusion the market actually is :D

Isnt it a little late?

2008-06-27T23:23:00.000+05:30

I have a small programme to present tomorrow, its 11.24 pm now. I haven't put more than a three lines onto paper.

The "hot" question

2008-06-27T23:07:00.001+05:30

The company that I've been recruited into tentatively expects me to join them early next year in 2009. And as the word spreads around, there is the one HOT question thats started doing the rounds as well, "What will you do in the next six months?"

I really do appreciate the concern that people around have for me, but the range of their reactions is quite interesting. So much so, quite a few of my relatives jumped to decisions.."..... Learn to manage the house..."; ".... you're too relaxed about life...."; ".... what will you do here, come with me to xyz country..."

Acquaintances from college were like "... oh havent you joined a course yet?";"...... OMIGOSH!! look for some other job right away.....";

These are some reactions....
I just smiled at all of them. Strange are the ways in which people react to the same thing. And it does take so many people to make up the whole world, isnt it?

Silly power cuts and whimsical internet connections

2008-06-27T22:32:00.001+05:30

The power supply in the city, particularly in and around velachery, medavakkam and tambaram has been worse than even the moodiest girlfriends(no offence to non singles!!) ever. And with the internet connection adding the icing to the cake, it has made it virtually impossible for me to post anything on my blog.

today, almost miraculously, i have been able to login into Blogger, so i thought it best to type something to make up for all the lost days.

anyway, past is past, So here I am. Back on my saddle.

Can you believe it?

2008-05-07T01:22:00.000+05:30

Charles Babbage. It is common knowledge that this man came up with an idea of a machine, the design of which is supposedly the basis for all the computers that we see around us. But it was thought that Babbage could only come up with an idea, not something that could translate to a real life entity.

But not any more. This video is the proof.

If the video doesn't load, you can check out the video here: http://news.zdnet.com/2422-13568_22-199996.html
Way to go Mr. Doron Swade!!!!!

Finally!

2008-05-06T22:42:00.000+05:30

After much hesitation and procrastination, I have finally setup my blog, a space for me in this wide web of information. A visit to my blog should probably save you the trouble of asking me the inevitable 'whats up?' question. Besides that, its going to be the place where I shall empty my mind. So dont be taken aback if you find dirty stuff here. I believe thats part of everyone's life.

So, here I am in all my glory.....
Vatsala