cRaaGz bLawGz

The first phone

2012-01-06T15:38:00.001+05:30

People now a days take for granted the mobile telephony services. It was not like this always. I was born in to a home without a telephone. It was not until I was 8 years old that we got connected. And it was a major event in the household.

The process was long and cumbersome. Apply for a connection. Line man comes home to check feasibility. Comes back another day with adequate tools and material to provide the house with a telephone line. No internal wiring in those days, the line man actually attached wood strips and laid the line on them till the table.

The family discussion was another entertaining activity. Where to place the phone because, once placed it would be difficult to move it around (no cordless phones then). The line man completed his job of laying the line. He then asked the question to my father, “What type of phone would you like?”

“What options do we have?” asked dad

“You can either have the older phone with a rotary dialer or the newer model with push button dial pad”

With this, my father asked the children of the house, including me, “Which one shall we pick?” We were astonished, after some mumble jumble, we knew it was the newer model that we would love to have.

Note: I thought I had lost my first edit of this blog, and wrote up a completely new one. Refer the next post for the conclusion of this post.

The First Telephone

2012-01-06T15:36:00.001+05:30

I starkly remember the day our house got connected with a telephone. My father came home and announced that our application for a telephone connection has been approved and we will be getting a telephone shortly.

Our wait started. Within a week the telephone company lineman visited our house. He asked us where we wanted the phone in the room. When we pointed out place he did some inspection and said that he will connect it there. Soon, he got out some wooden planks and went hammering away to lay the line. These wooden planks had metal ties to hold the telephone wire reaching our house.

After he finished the installation he asked us a question.

Will you be wanting a normal telephone or a push button telephone!!

My father looked at us and asked our opinion. WOOO!! Of course, we want a PUSH BUTTON TELEPHONE!! YAYY.. it was such a futuristic concept back then when the connected homes had only the circular dialer phone.

And again the wait started for the arrival of our telephone piece. Once it arrived (in all its maroon and black glory) and got connected, we called whosoever’s number we had and informed them of our new number. The whole of my class also got to know that I now had a telephone.

Now when I look back at those times, they are still fresh in my mind. The time we used to dial 161 to make the telephone ring to adjust the ‘ringtone’ volume or the tone itself. Also used sometimes to wake people up saying they got a phone call. Sometimes used to play the April Fool prank. Don’t think anybody uses a normal landline phone to do such things anymore.

Aldiko eReader

2011-09-18T20:00:00.001+05:30

As I had earlier mentioned that I am now in possession of the beautiful Nexus One (Have been for a while), I’ve wanted to share my opinions about the applications (apps) available on Android. No better app to start off with Aldiko.

This brilliant app is an e-book reader. Very good interface. Supports multiple formats, especially the current e-book standard format of .epub.

While you are reading the book you can change a number of settings, a few of which I love:

Fonts – Some inbuilt fonts come with the app, but they are not the best, you can get a few more as a separate download and there are some beautiful/ pleasing fonts in here.
Brightness – you can change the brightness by simply swiping down on the left edge of screen. Amazing shortcut and this feature has crept in to few other apps as well
Go to page and Bookmarks – awesome features, must have for e-book reading!

So, Aldiko comes with a couple of books in the open domain, one of which is White Fang by Jack London. I simply loved this book. They way the author makes you the center of the novel by being the protagonist, the Wolf called White Fang. You can download this app just for this one book.

Hopefully, I will write about more apps in the future.

Speed thrills, but kills

2011-09-17T21:53:00.000+05:30

No better example than what happened to Azharuddin's Son, Ayazuddin. My heartfelt condolences to a budding young cricketer's death. He looked so much like Azhar too. Inna Lillahi wa inna ilaihi rajioon.

Bikes are meant to be raced. Getting one as a gift, a youngster is bound to try to find a place where you can rip the beast. Everybody knows as much. Then what could be the solution. Where will a youngster go?

A race track, of course! If only there were enough race tracks in Hyderabad, Ayaz would have had a place to race his bike without inhibitions. He wouldn't have needed to break the law and enter upon ORR which turned out to be his and his cousin's death trap.

A controlled environment for racing with all the safety precautions taken care of is a healthy need for this generation where bikes and cars are easily accessible and are faster than ever. Eventually, India will be richer with racers like Narain Karthikeyan, Karun Chandok and the likes. That's all I have to say about this. Peace!

An accident on road

2011-09-07T21:45:00.000+05:30

We were traveling to my office today and the traffic was quite a lot for that time of the day. After I dropped off my car pool mate off at her office, I was heading towards my office when I saw this on the road.

Amazing!! Everybody was passing by this and rubber-necking.. just like me. :)

Hope the guy got out unharmed. A day before this, in the same region, one lorry failed to make a turn and another made too big a turn and ended up in a ditch on the road side.

I think truck drivers are being over worked. :(

The Indian Cricket Team

2011-09-02T09:47:00.001+05:30

What has happened to the Indian Cricket Team? After being the top team in Tests and ODIs, it is taking lessons in base jumping and trying to reach the bottom of the heap.

After the World Cup win (how sweet was that??!!) I wanted to write something about it, maybe after enjoying the sweet taste of victory, but the immediate onset of IPL turned me off.

But the 4-0 drubbing that we received against England, really turned the screws for me. So here is my take at what went wrong with the Indian cricket team.

In one sentence, “The Indian Cricket team is a victim of black magic”

Have you noticed how all the players were getting injured? I can clearly envision small little GI Joe style action figures of the Indian Cricket team on a wooden table in a darkly lit room with layers of dense smoke.

A scrawny hand picking up Zaheer Khan’s figure first on the first day of the first test match and piercing his leg near wherever the hamstring is.

Off goes Zaheer Khan

Snapping Gambhir’s hand which made the ball hit him on the elbow in the silly mid-wicket position.

That did put him down for one test, but he came back. So he got more, this time on his head to put him out of contention for the entire series including the T20 and the ODIs.

Yuvraj and Harbhajan also got some sting from the man cloaked in the black.

Sachin fell sick at Lord’s. Couldn’t have been any other reason apart from the magician poking his stomach.

They also had some black magic on the Captain MS Dhoni, did you notice how he was dropping all those balls behind the stumps. The most obvious indication of the Black Magic on Dhoni was his insistence to get in R P Singh (Fatso) for the last test. Geoff Boycott’s mum could have picked a better team than that!!!

There were also some other action figures on that table, those were that of the Indian Cricket team management. They let Sehwag play with a partially healed shoulder and off goes Sehwag.

This has become a serious problem for the Indian team. The only person not affected by the black magic was Rahul Dravid. Can you take a guess why he was not affected?? Obviously, because he is THE WALL!!! And inanimate objects seldom fall for black magic… at least from what I know.

Please do lookout for these signs of black magic in the ODI series. I do not know who is responsible for the black magic but I will conduct my investigations during the ODI series and come back to report on it.

I might have missed a few more players here, do point out who all were affected by the magic.

Disclaimer: This article is of course part of the non-sense motto of my blog. England was the better team and Indians were stuck in practice mode in all the four matches.

Cricket World Cup 2011

2011-03-10T13:04:00.001+05:30

A few questions that are always on a cricket fan’s mind during world cups:
Will India win the World Cup?
Guess what!!?? INDIA WON the World Cup!!
If India doesn’t win the World Cup, will Sachin play the next World Cup?
Seems like Sachin is ready for another World Cup!
Will South Africa choke in a major encounter?
Looks like it did
Will Australia take the World Cup AGAIN!!!??
No, not this time.
What kind of a blog should I write during World Cup?
Did not write a blog.
Will a major team get busted before the quarterfinals?
Don't remember, but all major teams were there.
Will a minnow enter the knockout stage?
Nope, did not happen this time.
What will be my standing in the fantasy league?
I scored pretty well.
Will we Indians be spared of a re-re-re-re-run of the 1983 WC win / Kapil’s Devils videos before the next World Cup?
Hopefully, this next time, we will see the great WC 2011 WIN!!
Will the live streaming be fast enough from the office?
Office had a TV set up on each floor, no worries there.
Will my cable operator telecast all matches?
Yes, all matches.
Will my friends appreciate my HDTV / HD Telecast?
They did, but India lost one match I hosted, thanks to Ashish Nehra vs. South Africa
Will some team’s coach die mysteriously?!
Nopes!
Will Sreesanth make it big on international stage (crying on international TV)
Well, he was there in two matches including the Final!!
Will India vs. Pakistan happen this World Cup?
Yes it did and in the SEMI FINAL!! INDIAN WON!! Yayy
and so on…
What questions does your cricketing heart float during the World Cup?

Why you should get on Facebook and Twitter right now!!

2011-01-28T18:31:00.001+05:30

You know how there is always a big debate around whether something is good for society or bad for society? Generally, the topic ends with a wise proclamation of “This thing is beneficial if used properly, but can be a great danger otherwise.”

It is the same for any number of technological advances. Televisions, Mobile Phones, Social Networks. I personally have been against social networks. I have been, what you can call, a dormant user of Facebook, Twitter and to some extent LinkedIn. I’ve never got around to indulging myself in the activities related to them, which are very time consuming.

I used to hate getting messages about friends of friends of a friend who liked something on their friend’s friend’s wall about a stupid video made by an unknown person. In the end, it was very frustrating for me and made me recheck my friend settings and change them to suit my appetite for such useless content.

But today, everything changed. I’ve realized how Facebook and Twitter can bring down governments. How YouTube can become your news channel. How governments that shutdown internet can get shutdown themselves. (@jerusalemfilms)

It is happening in Egypt right now, and it happened in Tunisia a few weeks ago. It can happen in your own country next. There is no guarantee. And when it happens you better be there, updated with what is going to happen next, or be left behind.

It has become an essential requirement for revolutions. Who could have thought that companies made in car garages can wield the power to topple 30 year old governments. Yes, in the end it boils down to the people who run these companies and people who actually provide the content from the ground.

So I believe, if you can take a little irritation on the side, joining Facebook or twitter is a good thing now. So what are you waiting for? Go ahead, be part of the global revolution!!!

The Reality of Driving

2011-01-27T13:37:00.001+05:30

In the movie Inception (2010), Mr. Cobb is taken by Yusuf to his “Dream Clinic” where people go to dream. What happens is, they are so addicted to artificial inducement of sleep and the dream within this artificial sleep that they have forgotten how to dream within natural sleep. It is quite an unnerving thought.

Driving is also another sort of artificial reality. When you are in the driver’s seat a few of the following things happen.

You become the machine – this is the best possible state of driving. You take feedback from the machine and make the appropriate moves to keep the machine in the best state of running. This is a very delicate process that requires tons and tons of concentration. A boon that is a given for most Formula 1 and Rally drivers. Not all ordinary humans possess this, and thus they attain the following state.

You want to be the machine, but get tired – this is the state many driving enthusiasts find themselves in, they love their vehicle but through the lack of driving skill and required concentration and sometimes ignorance, they are unable to maintain the consistent connection with their machine. So they tend to switch off from time to time. (Even Formula 1 drivers switch off during the race, but that is a totally different level of ‘switch-off.’) And when the ordinary person gets out of the car there is a certain fatigue that has to be shaken off before he can progress to do other things in life like work, play, sleep, etc..

You don’t bother – this type of drivers are steadily on the rise, they are driving not because they want to drive, but they drive to go from Place A to Place B. These people are most likely to cause interruptions in traffic. Ever saw a guy talking on his mobile while driving? Well, he belongs to this category. They create a lot of frustration to others who are there to drive.

So, I consider myself to belong to the second state when driving. It becomes the reality for the duration you are driving. And it takes time to switch realities once you are finished driving. It especially becomes difficult to switch into another reality in places like Hyderabad, where the traffic and potholes and other unforeseen circumstances keep you on the edge all the time.

And driving is the reality I escape to everyday. There is definitely a lot of thrill in it. A powerful engine at your command. Sometimes, it can become your only reality, but for the other drivers who will break your reverie at the drop of a hat.

My Tryst with the Google Nexus One

2011-01-25T14:57:00.001+05:30

It was a chilly winter day, I was rocking my Sony Ericsson K660i phone. It was an awesome phone. It had Google maps!! (..in 2009, well that was a great feature.) I had done loads of research on what I wanted and it had it ALL and was OUT of production!! So I shopped around and found only one piece in my search. I bought it without hesitation. And then this chilly winter day, the phone died, it did not respond to anything I did. I was heart broken, I felt betrayed. How can this sweet phone do this to me??!! Then I decided that I needed a new phone.

And lo and behold, this happened just the day Google announced the Nexus One. The first phone Google was going to sell, all by itself (turned out to be a crappy decision that) at www.google.com/phone. How awesome is that!!!

It could not be bought from anywhere in the world except US, UK, Hong Kong and Singapore. I have lots of relatives in US so I called my brother-in-law and made him buy the phone for me. Date of Purchase: Jan 7, 2010. And then the wait started, not many people my BiL knew, were coming to India. I waited so much!!

Thankfully I got it pretty early, maybe a week or two later. And thus started my tryst with the Google Nexus One. And through the N1, my love for all things Android started.

The Sony Ericsson K660i is still functional, my wife uses it daily. She was praising it just today of how awesome a purchase it was by me. Actually that chilly winter day, the phone had run out of battery because I forgot to charge it. Well, that was one mistake I am not going to regret.

I am back.. or am I?

2011-01-21T14:50:00.002+05:30

The irony!!

Apparently my wife started blogging after she saw me blog.

Then I went off the radar for a long long time. Then I saw my wife blog, using new tools that made blogging easier and efficient.

Now I am using the same tools (Windows Live Writer to be precise). I find quite the Irony in it.

Major events have passed since I’ve last seriously blogged. I really was and continue to be fascinated by Wikileaks and its founder Mr. Julian Assange. Doing some ground breaking work in the field of journalism. I am sure he has breathed fire into a rather misguided media of the day.

I’ve not mentioned in my previous posts, but I had bought the Google Nexus One phone on 7th July, 2 days after it was available for purchase. This added another fascinating member to my family. Android as an operating system is growing leaps and bounds, and so is the modding arena for Android. I have made the switch to Custom ROMs and the journey has been ever uplifting.

Work has been very decent and the traveling and other activities keep me occupied.

I have also found a renewed enthusiasm in PC gaming, with my cousins finding time from their busy schedule to come and play with me online. Red Alert 2, without doubt, has been the only RTS game that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed. Console gaming has become a possible event for me with the launch of Gran Turismo 5. I’d really love to play this game on my own PS3 console. So that is set for the future, Inshallah.

Also, I’ve become a die hard evangelist for the following:

Android
Logitech Products and
My Wife’s blog

So, yes, I think I am back to blogging now. Will make every effort to keep a steady flow of them.

Waiting for Motivation

2010-07-30T14:44:00.000+05:30

My blog has stood still since the day I wrote that three part story.

Been travelling a lot leading to this delay in posting.

Couple of ideas in my mind so taking their own time.

So please hang on tight. J

Three Stories (Compiled version)

2010-04-20T23:24:00.003+05:30

Part I - Sid.

Sid woke up with a sudden jolt as the slap rang hard in his dream. Getting locked out of his hostel for coming late was, in his view, the stupidest rules he had encountered. The fact that he was also drunk did not seem to matter to him. The night was chilly and the sleep restless. His sleep shattering dream was a direct result of his actions yesterday. Sid knew he should not have done what he did. This would be his worst Sunday ever. Priya, his new girl friend was really pissed of at him. All his tireless calling in the night after the event bore the exact same result. "The customer you are trying to reach is currently unavailable, please try again, later." He wanted to apologize and make her understand that whatever happened was a mistake. He did not want to lose her. He felt like he had found true love at last.

With a heavy head, throbbing from his hangover, Sid decided to go to Priya's house. She will surely forgive him provided her memories of last night had dulled from her sleep. Only one flower shop would be open at this time of the day. He would pick some flowers from the florist outside the temple close to her house. He kicked his bike into life and zoomed away. The florist had just arrived and was setting up shop. Sid paid an extra twenty bucks for fast tracking his request for a dozen white lilies (signifying peace). He shoved them into his jacket and was nearing the turn into Priya's lane. He decided to try her mobile once again to try to avoid surprising her so early in the morning. The call went through, meaning her phone was switched on! Priya was awake!

"Hello?" Priya said groggily.

"Hello Priya, don't cut the call. I am sorry for last night. I really am! I want to make it up to you. Can I meet you right now? I will be at your house in some time. I want to talk with you."

"I am not interested in what you have to say, Please don't come."

"Priya, I love you and I am so sorry about yesterday. Please listen to me. I know I...."

CRASH!!!

Part II - Kumar.
Kumar snuck out slowly through the gate, pushing his bike away from the house. After reaching a far enough distance, he started his bike and rode away. Twenty minutes ago, he had gotten a call from his boss.

"Oh no!" Kumar thought, "This is going to be my worst Sunday!"

With the yearly job appraisal drawing close, he did not dare to turn down his boss' request (order) to meet at the office. The Boss was flying out to the States to meet a key client and wanted Kumar to urgently complete a crucial deck of presentation. New financial data had come in late yesterday, Kumar now had to redo all the numbers.

Kumar took pride in the fact that he was the only guy at the company who could crunch those numbers, the way the boss wanted, not today.

He was sacrificing a rare Sunday outing with Sumitha and Sunny. He had it all planned a week in advance. Sunny was so excited when he went to bed yesterday. The Circus was in town and all of Sunny's friends had been to the Circus. Kumar did not want to lose this chance of bonding with Sunny.

Kumar did not want to waste time. If he could make good time to his office, finish the job and start back as quickly as he can, he could still make it home in time before Sunny woke up. He turned into a one-way lane which cut his journey by 10 minutes. There wouldn't be much oncoming traffic at this hour of the morning. His phone rang and the auto-answer kicked in after two rings.

"Hello?" Kumar spoke into his Bluetooth headset.

"Kumar? Where are you?!!" It was his wife!

"Sumi, I got a call from office. Some urgent work came up. I will come back soon." said Kumar

"You promised Sunny that you would take him to the Circus and now you are going to office??" asked Sumitha, shocked.

"I promise I will be back before Sunny wakes up, he won't know I went to work today." said Kumar, trying to satisfy her.

"You'd better be back in time."

The call ended as a turn came up.

SCREEECHHH!! BANG!!!

Part III - Rt. Colonel Ranbir Singh.

Rt. Colonel Ranbir Singh was on a high. Happy, proud and excited as Sukbir was passing out of the National Defense Academy today. Ranbir had woken early for a quick jog before getting ready and setting out for the graduation ceremony. On his way back from his jog, Ranbir had on his mind the double egg omelet, toast and orange juice breakfast waiting for him at his house. The thought, sharpened his hunger pangs, invigorating his appetite. He smacked his lips and hurried towards his house with more vigor in his step.

"This will be my best Sunday ever" thought Ranbir, putting a smile on his face.

Crossing the road and into his lane, Ranbir saw a young kid, with a crooked neck on a bike. Ranbir realized the kid was talking on his phone. He seemed to be on a very important call. So important that the chap did not even bother to stop driving and take it. "Kids these days!! No sense of manners or common sense." thought Ranbir. Just as Ranbir shook his head disapprovingly at the kid, he saw another guy, coming the wrong direction, ram into the young kid's bike.

It was a forceful collision and made a loud BANG followed by several metal clanking and screeching noises. Ranbir could not take his eyes off from the incident. The guy who rammed into the kid flew 10 feet high and hit the road on his head. He wasn't wearing a helmet.

The young kid was crushed by the oncoming bike and his phone flew from his neck, hitting the footpath and scattering into pieces. Everything happened so fast. Both the guys lay slumped on the road. Blood slowly trickling out from under them, forming large pools.

Ranbir took out his mobile and dialed the 108 emergency number. Reporting the accident and location. There was hardly anything he could do to help them. Both seemed to be dead. Ranbir just lost his appetite.

Mobile phones are a good thing when used responsibly. Drive Safe, Drive Responsibly. Do not use mobile phones while driving.

Three Stories - Part II - Kumar.

2010-04-19T23:08:00.001+05:30

Kumar snuck out slowly through the gate, pushing his bike away from the house. After reaching a far enough distance, he started his bike and rode away. Twenty minutes ago, he had gotten a call from his boss.

"Oh no!" Kumar thought, "This is going to be my worst Sunday!"

With the yearly job appraisal drawing close, he did not dare to turn down his boss' request (order) to meet at the office. The Boss was flying out to the States to meet a key client and wanted Kumar to urgently complete a crucial deck of presentation. New financial data had come in late yesterday, Kumar now had to redo all the numbers.

Kumar took pride in the fact that he was the only guy at the company who could crunch those numbers, the way the boss wanted, not today.

He was sacrificing a rare Sunday outing with Sumitha and Sunny. He had it all planned a week in advance. Sunny was so excited when he went to bed yesterday. The Circus was in town and all of Sunny's friends had been to the Circus. Kumar did not want to lose this chance of bonding with Sunny.

Kumar did not want to waste time. If he could make good time to his office, finish the job and start back as quickly as he can, he could still make it home in time before Sunny woke up. He turned into a one-way lane which cut his journey by 10 minutes. There wouldn't be much oncoming traffic at this hour of the morning. His phone rang and the auto-answer kicked in after two rings.

"Hello?" Kumar spoke into his Bluetooth headset.

"Kumar? Where are you?!!" It was his wife!

"Sumi, I got a call from office. Some urgent work came up. I will come back soon." said Kumar

"You promised Sunny that you would take him to the Circus and now you are going to office??" asked Sumitha, shocked.

"I promise I will be back before Sunny wakes up, he won't know I went to work today." said Kumar, trying to satisfy her.

"You'd better be back in time."

The call ended as a turn came up.

SCREEECHHH!! BANG!!!

Three Stories - Part I - Sid.

2010-04-19T00:03:00.002+05:30

Sid woke up with a sudden jolt as the slap rang hard in his dream. Getting locked out of his hostel for coming late was, in his view, the stupidest rules he had encountered. The fact that he was also drunk did not seem to matter to him. The night was chilly and the sleep restless. His sleep shattering dream was a direct result of his actions yesterday. Sid knew he should not have done what he did. This would be his worst Sunday ever. Priya, his new girl friend was really pissed of at him. All his tireless calling in the night after the event bore the exact same result. "The customer you are trying to reach is currently unavailable, please try again, later." He wanted to apologize and make her understand that whatever happened was a mistake. He did not want to lose her. He felt like he had found true love at last.

With a heavy head, throbbing from his hangover, Sid decided to go to Priya's house. She will surely forgive him provided her memories of last night had dulled from her sleep. Only one flower shop would be open at this time of the day. He would pick some flowers from the florist outside the temple close to her house. He kicked his bike into life and zoomed away. The florist had just arrived and was setting up shop. Sid paid an extra twenty bucks for fast tracking his request for a dozen white lilies (signifying peace). He shoved them into his jacket and was nearing the turn into Priya's lane. He decided to try her mobile once again to try to avoid surprising her so early in the morning. The call went through, meaning her phone was switched on! Priya was awake!

"Hello?" Priya said groggily.

"Hello Priya, don't cut the call. I am sorry for last night. I really am! I want to make it up to you. Can I meet you right now? I will be at your house in some time. I want to talk with you."

"I am not interested in what you have to say, Please don't come."

"Priya, I love you and I am so sorry about yesterday. Please listen to me. I know I...."

CRASH!!!

Cricket Bats (Bites)

2010-03-21T18:24:00.002+05:30

Historical Fact:

Abhi (name changed to prevent embarrassment) was a 10 year old with keen interest in cricket. Come summer, he would get together with his friends from the colony and play cricket in the local ground. He owned a bat and he was a superstar. He loved his bat. He took good care of it and tweaked it from time to time.

Sporting Myth:

Oiling a cricket bat brings good stroke. After hearing this, Abhi broke out the oil bottle, put some pin holes on the bat (to soak the oil), and applied it on the bat. He put the bat away for the night to let the bat become a ‘super’ bat.

Biological Fact:

Ants, in the month of summer, collect lots of food for the coming seasons. They try to grab anything and everything and store it away for the coming months that might bring hardship in collecting food.

Fictional Trivia:

Prince Adam would draw his sword from his sheath on his back and become He-Man. He-Man was Abhi’s favorite comic character and he liked imitating him from time to time.

Opportunity of the day:

One day, Abhi started for his daily cricket game after a cup of tea and some biscuits. He was eager to show off his new well-oiled bat and ready to go. His friends would look up on him with a lot a admiration and he would bask in the glory. Against the run of play, Abhi did not reach the play ground that day.

What really happened:

The bat was dripping oil. A wonderful opportunity for the ants. Abhi stick his bat in his t-shirt, just like He-Man would. Halfway to the playground, the ants went into action. Abhi felt his back burning. He rushed back home, removed his t-shirt and made a hullabaloo in his house. The t-shirt flew off; his mom went to work at dusting off the remaining ants. Abhi started crying. His mom started cursing. His sisters started laughing.

How many calendars I have!!

2010-03-15T16:16:00.002+05:30

As a global citizen living in a diverse nation, following a unique religion, I am required to deal with many different types of calendars. This has lead to me having at least three New Years.

As a Muslim, I follow the Hijri Calendar. It is a lunar calendar and it has the first month of Muharram. All events and festivals of Islam are tied to this calendar. Like Eid-ul-Fitr, which is the first day of the month Shawwal, is celebrated after completing the whole month of fasting, that is compulsory for every physically and mentally fit Muslim, in the month of Ramadhan. Another Eid is the Eid-ul-Adha, the festival of sacrifice celebrated during the month of Dhul-Hijjah.

As a global citizen and a professional, I follow the Gregorian Calendar, about which I don't have to talk. It is the standard January to December calendar.

As a Telugu Bidda (child), I have a Telugu calendar which is also a Lunar Calendar and has its own months. Ugadi (ఉగాది) is the New Year for this Calendar. The calendar is called a Panchangam (పంచాంగం).

I wonder if I need all these calendars sometimes. But each and every community has its reasons to retain its calendars, it becomes the responsibility of an individual to determine what he wants to follow and what he can skip.

Nail art gets a talon show at the Tokyo Nail Expo | Metro.co.uk

2009-12-01T15:51:00.000+05:30

Some real weird, creative stuff that I came across.

Nail art gets a talon show at the Tokyo Nail Expo | Metro.co.uk

Add-ons in my Firefox

2009-10-30T17:16:00.002+05:30

Firefox, the open source browser, really broke new ground with its add-on feature that let people bring new functionality to a browser. I use Firefox 3.5.4 and cannot do without a few add-ons. Here are a list of really useful add-ons, maybe you can take them up.

DownThemAll! – Awesome download add-on that can easily replace your own download manager. What I like most about this add-on is the sweet sound it makes when a download finishes.

IE Tab – Some sites really break in Firefox coz they are exclusively built for Internet Explorer. This add-on load the IE browser within the Firefox window and mimics IE and voila! The website is working.

Firegestures – I have realized that this is a highly addictive add-on. It implements mouse gestures. You hold the right click on the mouse and make a gestures (Right to left for back) and that action is carried out in the browser. If you are far away from the back button or the keyboard this really save time. Downside of this add-on is that sometimes I find myself trying mouse gestures on someone else’s computer. :(

Echofon – Earlier it was called TwitterFox. This should give you an idea what it does. Yes it is a Twitter Client and a very good one at that. It lets me read and reply to friend tweets, all the basic functions that I do with my Twitter.

Prayer Times – Lets me know the time to the next prayer. Excellent utility for Muslims at work.

FoxClocks – Configure multiple clocks in your browser. I have friends all over the world so this is mighty useful.

InFormEnter – In my work, I keep filling forms. These are those repetitive kind of forms where you keep entering the company name, address, telephone, blah blah. Informenter provides an easy way to setup this database and fill each form field through a couple of clicks only. Another timesaver.

PDF Download – You must have come across the pains that you feel when you click a PDF link in a browser. It jams up your computer trying to load the PDF reader. This add-on gives a pop-up when you click a pdf link asking if you want to download it or open it and other options. (see screenshot)

Weave - Last but not the least, this add-on is simply amazing. It is developed by Mozilla, it synchronizes all your bookmarks, stored passwords, history, tabs, preferences, add-ons, personas. This is only for the initial version. More features in future versions. Requires sign up and a passphrase to double protect your data.

If you have a favourite add-on, please let me know. If you don’t I suggest you get your latest copy of Firefox and try these add-ons out. Next blog about the software I use in my windows box.

Collabovel - Google Docs

2009-10-22T17:23:00.000+05:30

In this age of things happening in the cloud, I wanted to start an experiment (2 years ago). I wanted to write a novel through collaboration. So I went ahead and opened up a new document on Google Docs. Wrote up a few lines and shared it with a few friends.

Either my friends were not much into the idea or they were plain lazy or thought I was a retard for starting such an experiment. Nothing came of the "novel" except a few lines. The following are the lines from the "Collabovel". All that it now brings to me are certain bowel movements.

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

The lazy drops of water seemed to fall in slow motion from the face of the bright green leaf into the oval pond under the shade of the tree. The latest drop disturbs the water even further, lifting clouds of mud inside the pond.

The clouds of mud start to settle after every drop and reveal what lies beneath. The clear skies allow sufficient sunlight to show the pale face of a woman. Her eyes open and staring up into a distant unknown.

She says 'Shut up!'.

So would the gay protagonist think, but he does not realize that she is dead in her arse.

She suddenly becomes aware that she is in a story. She's not real. She is being written. She looks up to the heavens, with sad eyes, and shouts to the author: 'Shut up!'.

There is no reply back from the author. She remains sad. She realizes the obvious thing. The author is dumb. He cannot speak. He is already 'Shut up!'"

Jaane bhi do yaaron

2009-10-18T20:00:00.001+05:30

If you are a movie buff, you definitely know www.imdb.com, yes?

One goes there for movie reviews, dvd release dates, to read up a few tidbits about his favorite star, find movies that he likes and various other things.

There is this guy Nathaniel Johnston, who chose to conduct a research on imdb films, their ranking and stuff. I came across this blog of his, when I was searching for movies having ratings higher than 9.0.

His research and formulas not withstanding, he provided a list of movies from 1950 till date that has the highest ranking given that they had 1000+ votes. In the 59 years of the available data, there was one movie that stood out for me.

Jaane bhi do Yaaron. I've not seen the movie in its entirety, but do know it was a superb movie. Now, I have to go and watch it completely. Quite an achievement for a Hindi Movie. One can also check out the other movies. Seem very good as well.

Best Couple

2009-10-16T15:41:00.000+05:30

"A good marriage would be between a blind wife and deaf husband. -- Michel de Montaigne"

One of the quotes of the day. Something to ponder about. I don't agree, but still something to ponder about.

The next generation of touch

2009-10-14T11:02:00.000+05:30

How many of you think that the human/computer interface of keyboard and mouse is getting old?

The new touch screen interfaces brought forth by your favurite phone (iPhone, Nokia 5800 etc) would give one an idea of how things will pan out in the future.

I have thought of such technologies, but not as much as a certain R. Clayton Miller. (We'll get to that later)

My idea was to place a thin screen over the monitor (much like the yester year anti glare screens). This screen will interface with the computer through a USB port into a software program that will map the touches to the onscreen interface. This was my idea of simplifying things without the need for an expensive touch enabled monitor.

I thought this idea was great, until my friend Badar sent me a link that shattered all my dreams of having a patented solution in my pocket.

This here is the link to Mr. R. Clayton Miller's work. It is so good, one would surely say "be-awesome" ("Rhino is awesome! He's so awesome! He's... He's beyond awesome! He's... be-awesome!" Rhino - Bolt - 2008).

Share any brilliant ideas that you might have had on this topic!

Political humor: The kind I like.

2009-10-13T19:02:00.000+05:30

From time to time, I do enjoy some political humor. Here is a sample.

"In the book Gulag Archipelago, author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn recounted how a fellow prisoner in the USSR labour camps told how he came to be arrested. At a local party conference, someone toasted Stalin and 'stormy applause, rising to an ovation', broke out. Even though the great leader was absent, it continued. 'But palms were getting sore and raised arms were already aching... However, who would dare be the first to stop?

'Then, after eleven minutes, the director of the paper factory assumed a business-like expression and sat down in his seat.' That same night, he was arrested."

BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | A short history of long speeches:

Intense Emotions

2009-10-13T16:06:00.003+05:30

When one sees a stunning visual, it can evoke poetry, can make him dance with happiness, jump with joy or write an epic. These things might be anything from a small drop of water falling in a bowl or the huge thunderclouds bringing a torrent into your city.

I experienced something today that made me write a blog. Hah.

Snow Patrol - You could be happy. That's the song I heard. After a considerable time.

Made me ponder how a few simple words can be woven into such a sweet song. Man, the wonders it does, how it conveys the message in a special way.

This feeling of wonder can be extended to a lot of other songs and their delivery. One special song that reminds me of this feeling is "Tujhse Naraaz Nahin" from the movie Masoom, that was sung my Amanat Ali (a contestant on a music show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa). It was heart wrenching. It made me vote on a reality show for the first time.

It was so good that he was asked to sing the song three times!! Amazing. How often does that happen??

What is the latest thing that made you do something??