simply nagesh

Micromax Ignite LPQ61408W - First hand review of slim and light laptop

2016-08-31T17:53:00.000+05:30

I have been an ardent 'collector' of laptops. If you dont know what i mean, my friends and kin will tell you more about it.

I was looking for a light and slim laptop, since the older ones were taking toll on my back while travelling. While i was waiting for a good second hand deal on Macbook Air, or perhaps the much touted Xiaomi laptop, i found another great alternative at much lesser price too.

I found a very interesting model by Micromax (not the first name you would think for laptops). Have been very happy with their Television for about 2 years, thought it was worth taking a risk with a good configuration and inexpensive laptop. My decision was further reinforced by my Gadget expert students on facebook where i posted my query.

The basic configuration of Intel Quad core processor (N3700), 4GB RAM and a whopping 1TB hard disk was a great bundle. Add to it a HD screen of 14 inches, makes it adequate for my main purpose of a bit of coding, browsing and Office Suite applications.

Strange that the weight and dimensions of the laptop are not mentioned on flipkart as well as the company website. However a tweet to the company revealed that the weight is 1.4kg (half of my earlier laptop) and thickness at its widest is about 2.1 cms.

For a budget price of RS. 18990, the laptop includes pre-installed Windows 10 Home edition. Makes for a great bargain

Initial Performance
The Micromax Ignite gave impressive performance with its quick boot-up and setup. The fully charged battery indeed worked for about 6 hours on about 30% screen brightness which is visibly bright enough.

The reviews mention about heating issues. Though i encountered the device heating up particularly on the left side, it was within expected limits of any laptop. Another negative point was slow charging, with the laptop taking upto 2 hours for a full charge. In my opinion, slow charging is not all that bad since that would help prolong battery life.

On its day 1, where i showed it to my colleagues at a College where i teach, i have had many of them wowed and wanting to purchase.

At Rs. 18990, its quite a deal and steal.

If you would like to buy it here's the link"
Micromax Ignite Pentium Quad Core - (4 GB/1 TB HDD/Windows 10) LPQ61408W LPQ61 Notebook

Aaj Jaane Ki Zid na Karo

2016-07-03T22:51:00.001+05:30

I fell in love with this song when i first heard it via Shankar Tucker's arrangement. His coveted Shruti Box album has many more great curated gems..

Lyrics of the song can be found Here - Lyrics of Aaj jane ki zid na karo (thank you Manjusha)

Here's Aaj Jane ki zid na karo from his album

--------- The song drove me to look for other versions Here are some:

Habib Wali Muhammad (1974)

By Farida Khannum (Old recording)

Farida Khannum on Coke Studio (Epic)

And the Awesome A R Rahman unplugged.. adding his signature.

The same song, not very different tune passing through different artists bringing out a new flavour and ultimately keeping its music and lyric timeless!!

Happy listening!

Wordpress CMS and Website Building

2016-04-17T12:40:00.002+05:30

It's my fourth year as a self-employed consultant in the digital marketing, enjoying my passion towards serving SME and Non profit segment with solutions to get them online and set up their own medium.

Undeniably, my journey wouldn't have been successful but for the love and support of the open Source Wordpress content management system and its vast community.

Most of my skills in the digital marketing space is completely self taught, and experiment thanks to my pet project - Radio Idli . The site began first on blogger, and then it was moved to a self-hosted Wordpress based platform thanks to push and initiative of my friend Krishnanand "Sankalp" Nayak.

During the transition, i got acquainted with the bare basics of managing domains, shared hosting, cpanel and eventually installing and building a complete Wordpress CMS based website. While still at my day-job, Sankalp and i got an opportunity to voluntarily revamp the website of Vishwa Konkani Kendra. Its been revamped again by my consultancy - CoreGray with lots of support from the Vishwa Konkani Team headed by Gurudutt Baliga !

Over a period of time, we jointly did few websites for community run non-profits. All these projects gave me hands-on and on-the-job training of Wordpress. The Wordpress Documentation and Support forums were my meccas of learning, they continue to remain!

Today its great to see that i am a part of a community of professionals thriving on Wordpress as a trusted platform. Together we are seeing a day here where 1 out of every 4 websites on the Net is made using Wordpress CMS!

Exit 14 - Enter 15 - Eventful New Year

2015-01-01T12:20:00.001+05:30

Reading "eventful" in the title did you guess that i was out there enjoying a Sunburn DJ, or doing Thumbs-up with the head of Country Club watching Katrina and likes gyrate at many RPMs?? ..Bad guess.

I was wanting to be badly out of the Mumbai, (a feeling not limited just to new year's day) though the celebrations at home were equally buzzing. I am a believer of Hakuna Matata - enjoy the day, hence i will not be able to wrench my frail memory to recall what happened in all of 2014. But here are some fun things that happened on New Year's turn over the last 24 hours that i thought i should note.

1. Navya turns one and so do Varsha n i.

Navya, princess of the Pai household, er. Royalty, turned one! and so did Varsha the Mother, (Wilma, Marge, Varsha gets to take her pick) and Nagesh the Papa (Fred, Homer, the latter my all-time favourite). Her B'day as per Hindu Calendar was celebrated few days ago in a traditional way with lighting of lamps :). Few family members, no loud music, good food. Amidst the fireworks din at midnight my princess slept through calmly. Was tempted to wake her up to celebrate, and was promptly warned against by the one year old Maa.... baap re!

Varsha and I continue to wonder at the cuteness that came from us, and whether we find her so just because she is our baby.

2. Yummy Flash Evening Biryani

Just when the evening chill began to catch-up. Spices took over me and Varsha agreed to make her first Egg biriyani with my assistance. The quest began with purchasing eggs undercover from a secret source (a paanwallah), since non veg (incl eggs) can get as contraband as meth in the part of the city i live in.

We reviewed about three-four different recipes online and then settled for the Quick Weekday Egg Biriyani by MyJhola, which won over Sanjeev Kapoor and NDTV for its speed, which could catch up with the mice running in our tummy.

3. Rat-a-tat start to 2015

Speaking of mice.. well the New year at the household rang hard for the Rodent.. literally. at 4.30AM, with percussion of few utensil clangs and broomy thuds, i heard my mom knock and whisper... "He's here.. in the kitchen".. With the Exterminator Extreme.. my father in the kitchen, i was as scared to get a broom blow or two as much as the rodent. Through a doorcrack i got briefed on the coordinates of the intruder, in the far corner. After emptying the space item by item, we found that Mr. Squeak did a Houdini, .. poof.. only to be rediscovered on the shelf above. i stepped outside, only to re-enter and see the intruder take different positions.. top of the tubelight, on the gas pipe, etc.

Finally Thud! came the deathblow, which came after open window amnesty granted to the rodent failed. The first new year resolution is to keep adequate Rat biscuit cakes in the balcony and all trails.

As you can see above, like an interesting movie, my new year had family drama, food and celebration, Action and gore, and nice memories!

Happy 2015!.

Mumbai Metro and Future of Entrepreneural Infrastructure efforts

2014-06-08T15:05:00.001+05:30


image source: Live Mint

The much awaited Mumbai Metro was finally flagged off today to the respite of humungous crowds that travel from east to west side of the city (few after an ordeal from far off places like Kalyan and Dombivali).. The endless queues on Bus No. 340. of which i was a part once, should hopefully now find a better and mass transit alternative.

The project has been obviously delayed leaps and bounds with one deadline pointing to another until the eventful today, when there is a war on what should be the ticket price. The joyous celebration has been maligned by leaders making unfound populistic drama, pretending to be crusaders of people's cause by limiting ticket fares... And then there is this tribe of the new crusaders of 'Truth" blaming the operating company Reliance and the newly formed Central govt. of crony capitalism.

As a rather fresh entrepreneur, specially the last part is a matter of concern where there is an orchestrated attempt to label successful entrepreneurs as "Chor" or hand in glove greasing the government for myopic sensationalism and political gains. This points to a typical crony-unionistic way of thinking, where an entrepreneur is denied the fruits of the risk he takes. People may argue that a large business house like Reliance may wield strong lobbying powers, unlike a smaller entrepreneur deserving mercy. I find no reasons why the opportunity of building such an empire isn't open to any others who take armchair pride in pointing fingers at a large and successful entrepreneur (and his company).

Delay - The Culprit

Today, if MMOPL is demanding a rise in fare its because of the costs escalated by delays. If we refer to the specific reasons of delay it has been because of unmapped utilities, delay in land procurement and handover, and perhaps even delay in funding (knowing how the Maharashtra state government kept MMRDA high and dry, because it was the opponent party's brainchild).

All the reasons for delay, if you may observe, are beyond the scope of the private party, and totally under the obligations of the State Government and the BMC. It would be funny to expect a private entity to bear the burden of these losses. Imagine if you were a share holder in that company, what would be your point of view?

Having said this, will future entrepreneurs have any reasons to get into an ambitious private public partnership with such orchestrated fabrications opposing their efforts?

Fares of the Metro - The debate

There is a big fight between the incumbent state government at the brink of elections, and the Reliance Metro company that runs Mumbai Metro on the issue of fares. While the government, wanting to be seen as people's crusaders, are wanting the fares to remain at Rs. 9 - Rs. 13. (decided years ago).. Whereas Today the minimum Auto fare is Rs. 15, and the bus fare (non AC) for the same distance is about Rs. 20. MMOPL has demanded the fares to be in the range of Rs. 10 - Rs. 33 (few reports say Rs. 40)

With the overall inflation and escalation of costs, and considering the comparable costs of alternative transport, there is no reason or grounds to deem MMOPL's demand as unreasonable. (try comparing the State owned AC bus rates with the metro).

Considering the issues above there is a strong case to hear out the woes of the private player rather than make them a scapegoat of electoral politics. Else we will have to imagine a scenario of 10 KM projects that take two generations of mobocracy to build.

Time for me to step out and take my first ride .. Those who disagree may perhaps make the most of the promotional ticket cost :)..

Camcorder to high res webcam in simple steps - using TV Tuner

2013-08-29T13:45:00.003+05:30

A couple of years back i bought a Sony HandyCam and was hoping to use it as a webcam for an annual webcast of Ganesh festival celebrated at my home. The usual webcams designed for desktop use, are sloppy when it comes to webcasting a larger space. The handycam as a webcam, not only gives us sharper images, but also facility to zoom in and out much better.

Sony had a feature called USB Streaming in its older camcorders (Tape based) that turned it into a high quality webcam in a matter of minutes. Strangely though, Sony has discontinued in all its later releases of Handycams. Much to my disgust, the one i bought fell in that category as well. Even after rigorous search on google there seemed to be no solution.

However the solution came to me in a rather add on feature of a uncommon product. - USB TV Tuner. Most of us would think that TV Tuner is just for watching TV broadcast on your computer. However, these devices, most of them using the same Connexant driver, also accept composite inputs from DVD players, and hey... Handycams too which give similar output!! Further, the device also shows up as a "webcam" in any of your favorite chat software - Skype, Google Hangout... you name it.

The steps are really very simple:

1. Buy a good USB TV Tuner. I got a Iball ClaroTV from a friend who has some good connections in iBall. Flipkart offers a good price on it.. Here is a link for the same:

Also available on Amazon: http://bit.ly/1dSg4ec

2. Install the drivers as per the manual and the CD provided.
3. Plug in your camcorder (works with any handycam that has an AV output) and connect its AV cable. (the one with red, white and yellow connector)
4. Open your favorite chat program
5. Switch on the camera and put it in recording mode - standby
6. Using the bundled software with the TV Tuner, set the source to "Composite" to ensure that the camcorder input, and not the Antenna is chosen to beam.
6. In the chat program (skype / Google hangout) you will see the default laptop webcam on, if you have it in your machine.
7. Look witihin the programme settings for a dropdown that allows you to change the webcam settings.. you will find a "Connexant " option or something similar to that indicating your TV tuner card... Select it.
8. You should now be able to see yourself.

The handycam as a webcam will certainly help you with your own Broadcast channel :)

Bharat Bandh.. Minds closed and Faith Lost - An Open letter to BJP and Shiv Seva

2012-05-31T20:11:00.001+05:30

Dear BhagwaBandhus ( read BJP Shivsena - the ground staff, its high bastions and maybe the ivory tower if my voice reaches there due to some miracle)

As an average Mumbaikar, belonging to the increasingly minority category of citizens called open category (medium creamy layer hindu brahmin), i must confess my inclination towards the saffron combine.

However, the political bandh called today and the media chest-thumping of its "nationwide success" is an act worth condemning as the terror attacks. While the statement may sound strong, abrupt and irresponsible, just think... was the final motive of both dastardly acts not the same - to stop life as usual?

I must congratulate you all for the "bloodless" ways though, which makes you ineligible for the privilege of Kasabniwas (A more Indian subcontinentized name for Arthur road jail)

For the common man -- really?
Back to the bandh that happened today, a forced political act disguised as protest on behalf of the common man, Can at least one of the BJP Karyakartas or Shiv Sainik, worth his salt explain, How has it helped make life easier?

Going by pure economics, haven't the mounting losses due to shut business and of course the acts of non-violence (non conventional violence that is) by your workers, contributed to the rising costs... and multiply that... to the rising prices? After all this acts of yours will it be fair to ask for a miracle from the magic sadhus, trishuls and the other saffron delights that we have? Will you be answerable to them and to their Gods, and yes the People?

A dog trying to bite its own tail?
To all of you, from BJP Shiv Sena, specially whom we voted to the Mumbai Municipality, to save ourselves from the Naturally Corrupt Party - Here is a question:

The Mehengai that you are all protesting against, aren't you a major contributor to it in the following ways in Mumbai (your majority municipality enacted these immediately upon getting elected) :

1. Increased BEST Bus fare citing Electricity losses - by as high as 70 - 80% . A ticket from colaba to churchgate, barely 7 kms costs Rs.12!! the ticket cost used to be Rs. 6 not even a year ago... through two hikes the cost has been doubled citing losses in the Electricity business. You have fooled the BEST commuter by making him pay for the Electricity losses . The cost does compensate your unions conducting strikes, and yes the buses you damage during the bandhs.. But hey ... who is creating this mehengai?

2. Increase in Electricity Tariff citing Transport losses - This time the tail wags the dog... Your elected municipality fools the Bus commuters, and then the Electricity users, make money from both and jack up prices...

Besides this the latest Tax policies enacted by the Municipal corporation led by you, my dear Bhagwabandhus, is an institutionalized way to extort the already squeezed Mumbaikar.

After all of this do you have any answers? Or is it just yet another Bandh?

The country is shifting its gaze towards alternatives for the next government.. and you are only warning them against voting for you through your actions.

Yours Truly,
A Saffron Loyalist... and changing..

Freedom is like Cadbury's Bournville - You need to Earn it

2011-07-17T22:21:00.001+05:30

Warning - Random Rambles of a Caged Mind - let loose for few minutes

The ad of Cadbury's Bournville says...

You don't just buy a Bournville.. you earn it!

Dark exotic chocolate aside, The tagline easily fits the description for something that we seek dearly, and forget usually as we part with our "pound of flesh" to the mean marketplace - The rare flavoured Bournville I am hinting at is what we know as our Freedom.

Yes I wanna break free.. I am sure most of us would immediately go karaoke alongside the memoirs of Freddie Mercury and resonate with the urge to break free.. from what? A world of our own inhibitions? towards what? A world of our own fantasies? As a concept, Freedom gets mysterious upon scratching below the crust of usual perception.

The Harsh Reality - There are two aspects to this - One, we are all born free.. Two, it takes an effort to remain free. It's the effort to keep reminding ourselves that nothing binds our imagination and freedom to use it, other than our own inhibitions and fears. Nature has indeed given us fear as a guarding emotion, to ensure that we sustain through her forces of creation and regeneration. However, but for a conscious effort to balance our imagination with this fear, we will never be free! And thats the effort that earns us the Bournville - The exotic flavour of our freedom.

We are and we have always been free... but to enable us to be immersed in that freedom, we need to put an effort of courage in being a black sheep, of taking the unbeaten path. And over and above, keeping our minds homed in on what we seek from life herself!

Google's bite of an Apple - Is Eden getting closer?

2011-07-14T22:29:00.005+05:30

I am a voracious user of Google services and a big fan of most of them. One of my early online hobby used to be discover all that's listed under the "more" option of the Google header, one service at a time.

In the recent span of time, Google+ has been creating waves (sorry not google wave :-P) after two unsucessful attempts at getting a grip on the online social media sphere. A lot has been written, and many are still writing their early reviews of the service and what would be its potential course and its effect over the other social media hotspots.

To be honest, i logged in to blogger today to write about my first hand experience with Google plus. But what met my eye post login changed the course of my topic towards a change happening across Google. --- The new look of Blogger after ages of seeing the same boring dashboard was here staring at my eyes wide open.

Winds of change

Google Adsense was among the first service to undergo a change in look. But apart from aesthetics there were some added features too such as better reporting. Most of the changes then were Googlish - read, mostly white and thin arial fonts all over the place.

Adsense - Old Look

Adsense - New Look

Google is known for doing rigorous multivariate testing before even moving a pixel, and thats where certain sea-changes made me wonder!

Among the first revolutionary design to hit me was... naah not G+, it was the new look of Google Analytics. The fonts got a tad larger with the screen stretching out and demanding more scroll than the older site. The scroll is a compromise for a cleaner look with elements being spread out a bit. The new design though would perform very well with better screen resolutions.


Google Analytics - Old Interface

Google Analytics - New Interface

Just when i was grappling and toying with the sneak peak of Google analytics, the top bar of google turned Black all of a sudden when i was logged in to GDocs. I first thought it was an graphic error due to low memory. Just when i saw BBC news release about the new arrival - G+

More press releases and blogs revealed that Google had bitten an Apple (hopefully not the one left behind by lady Eve!)... The fundamental changes in G+ and the cleaner look was courtesy an ex-Apple employee who brought in the new design elements.

And .. the changes rolled on

Two days since i started using G+ there was a link atop my Gmail prompting me to try the new Gmail look through the theme settings. I could now see an overall pattern which Google as a whole was moving towards. Slim gray bordered buttons and boundaries, Generous usage of white space, fading of the characteristic blue and inclusion of a palette of Grey and an unusual reddish brown were some of the obvious changes.

Blogger Today!

The latest Google baby to crawl out of the changing room is blogger. The new and improved post editor resembling a Wysiwig Gdocs editor is a welcome change. The new lean mean look is refreshing and as you can already see, has spruced up my blogging appetite.

Eagerly awaiting to see the effect of these changes on usage of G-services. Unlike Lady Eve, i hope, Google will open up the garden of Eden for online users, rather than the other way around!

UIDo or UIDont - Concerns on Aadhar

2011-05-21T20:45:00.004+05:30

Yet another Card - a wildcard or a joker?

Government after government, citizens have been bombarded with a new series of cards. All these cards in the past had a similar proposition - being able to serve as a one point identity. We had ration cards, voters cards (where we looked like goons, to match the faces of the people we elect, beyond our own recognition), PAN card (a single identity for financial transactions).

And now a new baby - UID. What's different though is that this time around the government has a celebrity endorsement for it.. Mr. Nilekani.

Benefit state - whats the benefit for the working middle class?
The UID promises jobs, health insurance and freebies for the poorest of the poor.. nice.. perhaps it would help the government implement archaic steps like caste based resevations too!

But what's in it for the people who pay for all these free candies through their nose? And with most of the time benefits flowing out like a fish served daily, rather than teaching the person to fish.

If you were to closely analyze, there is hardly anything for those of us who form the "source of income" for the government. It may infact help the govt to exploit us further by levying as many types of taxes as possible and targeting it to the exact demographic.

A govt. that has a reputation of so many scams can not be trusted to be noble enough to handle our data quite well, even with a pin-up poster-boy Nilekani.

How serious is the government on this project?

Article link: UID project faces big cut this budget - The Times of India - Feb 2011

The article explains it all that the UPA has done a budget cut of over 50% to fund ministries held by its coalition partners... Ahemm.

A do-it-yourself reality check.. Visit the UID website - www.uidai.gov.in

With the project gone live, any citizen being able to find his nearest registration centre deserves a government reward. To cut the riddle short, you will find an ambitious link out there saying "How to get an Aadhar?" and here is what it reads as on 21 May 2011

How to get an Aadhaar?
The process to get an Aadhaar will be circulated by the local media upon which residents need to go to the nearest Enrolment Camp to register for an Aadhaar. The resident primarily needs to carry certain documents which will be specified in the media advertisement.
Upon registering for Aadhaar, residents will go through a biometric scanning of ten fingerprints and iris. They will then be photographed and given an enrolment number upon completion. Depending on the enrolment agency, residents will be issued an Aadhaar number within 20 to 30 days.

Can you really trust a department that cannot manage a database of its registration centers on their own website to really manage a mammoth database of its citizens?

That brings us to the main concern----

How safe is my identity with the Bharat Sarkar?

Nandan Nilekani may have been handpicked to form the face of the project, bypassing the usual IAS babudom factory. However vendors and partners are still chosen by the tendering process, where vendors that find favors in the government stand a good chance to grab the project rather than a competent company. Even with stretched pricing, which is a prerequisite of the tendering process (add to that the goodies that need to go back in cash) - the best of the companies would be forced to cut corners.

There have been headlines earlier of certain government websites, where registered user details including user names and passwords were available through a public URL.. (sigh! even hackers would feel frustrated since they need not hack)

With our friendly neighborhood countries wanting to use Cyber attacks (read China's new art of war) to destabilize the country, there is a lot at stake. It would take just one unscrupulous govt employee to even sell the data to telemarketers and spamsters.

There is hope still .. since thankfully the government has kept registration as a purely voluntary process... UIDo or UIDont is purely your choice. :-)

Wait! Before you damn the Social Network

2011-03-19T20:44:00.000+05:30

It is the heart throbbing buzzword of the day.

Its way beyond the dreams and imagination of those who started electronic communication, even those closer in history who started the world wide web

It is certainly an enigma that has kept many behavioral experts baffled

Marketing researchers and media experts too are left in bewilderment, trying to gauge its impact and future course.

Unlike the rocket science advancements of yore, "The Social Network" is an up-close-personal reality of our over-communicated and over-connected lives. Its proliferation has gone beyond the realms of the modest desktop or laptop computing devices, to the omnipresence of mobile devices. However, with the growth of its usage, and more importantly the way it has become a close part of our lives, we do find amongst us certain negative trails. Trails from the lagging edge of the double edged sword of technology.. as always..

The dark streets of social networking

It is not uncommon to find amongst us a feeling of paranoia about what we should and shouldn't be doing on our social media presence. In few unfortunate cases, there have been unpleasant experiences leading from embarrassment to even suicides, as an aftermath of something uncalled.

I have had friends seeking counselling from me, narrating how their addiction or affairs on facebook messed up their life. Some of them who were new to the online connected world were confused and scared by daisy-chaining applications asking them to be a "mafia lord" or getting friend requests from total strangers.

Way out of the dark streets

In wild woods it is prudent to stick to the beaten path, unless you are game for an adventure at your own risk.

So is killing your presence on facebook or twitter an answer to end your paranoia? Maybe a temporary answer.. but thats not a solution. So what could be a way out.

The answer begins by understanding what the social network is in the first place.

Social.. and Network

These two words have been in existence for a very long time.. much before they have been used together in a strong context to name the big wave sweeping us.

Social Networks have been in existence much before our devices got wired and wireless connected. We have been calling it different names... clubs, Society, Social Circle, alumni groups, interest groups.. and different ways through which we bonded.

So what makes this new Social Network driven by technology so scary?.. If we analyze deeply..

The problem lies in our own tendency to let our own hair free and loosen our clothes, and go blabbery blab till we realize the weight of the first word out of the two... Social.. and that the new and improved ... Network.. makes things spread as wildfire.

The Social in social networking is there for real.. Being tempted by the "non-physical" nature of the medium can lure you into enjoying a self-proclaimed freedom.. But yes, the rules of a SOCIETY.. apply here too.. There are certain norms each society has... You are free to rebel, you may be applauded.. but be prepared to be backbitten with twice the speed as the real world.. thanks to the faster NETWORK.

The next time you feel you are being trapped by the Social Network.. ask yourself these questions .. and you will find your solution..

1. What does being Social mean to me? Does it mean a right blend of being cordial informal, and at the same time knowing the distance to maintain?

2. Am i applying my knowledge of being social... on my social network?

That means certain terms like.. Not accepting friend's request from strangers without knowing the risk associated with it. Using privacy features of each social networking platform whether it is twitter, facebook or youtube.. to help maintain the demarkation between your private and public life.. even online.

3. Just like in a real society locking oneself up in a dark room is not a solution, can staying away from the social network keep me away from its benefits derived from prudent use? - Same old Dad's principle.. Running away from a problem doesn't solve it.

The answers to surviving in the inevitable onslaught of social media and modern day networking lies in being prudent and self-disciplined individuals of the online society. Any deviation from this has its own risks.. and possible pitfalls. However, that doesn't negate or superceed the potential of the medium to do immense good to our lives when used with diligent moderation.

From Amazon:
The Social Network (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)
Get Connected: The Social Networking Toolkit for Business
The Lawyer's Guide to Social Networking: Understanding Social Media's Impact on the Law

Graduating as a Prof

2010-11-14T19:08:00.004+05:30

The weekend thats about to end in few hours, marked two very memorable events. Apart from the launch of Balaji Seva Samiti website, there was one more event which was very special and unique in its occurence - the convocation ceremony at NMIMS University, where my first batch of students passed out. Around 140 in all across three classes - all decked up in their convocation gowns.

Its been three years since i got the wonderful opportunity as a visiting faculty at the prestigious institution, adding a new facet to my life (read weekend life) at large. The greater privilege was being given a chance to address students who were no less than a panel of experienced professionals from various reputed organizations, who sweated out their evenings and weekends to get their masters degree. Being a part-time MBA myself, makes me totally empathize with the amount of sacrifice and tight-rope balancing needed during the course through a bermuda triangle of - Family, Profession, and Studies.

The Reminder

I was at work when i got a call from Mr. Dharmendra Kumar, my student and a seasoned professional from the Pharma industry. He informed me about the convocation ceremony and asked me if i could be a part of the event by invoking Saraswati Vandana - a Prayer to the Goddess of learning. He was entrusted the task of getting someone with a classical music background, and it was kind of him to remember me. I pounced at the offer and readily agreed for the event that was scheduled in two days time.

At The Venue

Bhaidas Hall was abuzz with activity of the post graduates passing out, but what surprised me further was familiar faces at the entrance.. These were students of my first batch! "Its been 3 years already!" I thought with glee to myself. My students and i had pleasant exchanges. Was totally humbled when some of them introduced me as their prof to their family members. One of the elders even blessed me with a caring hand over my head.

I told them that i was giving them a surprise .. as i left for the backstage :)

Backstage -- Frontstage

I was introduced to the compere of the evening who briefed me about the flow of the event and my entry and exit. The curtains opened and the crowds cheered to the young and beautiful compere, in many more decibels than the applause to any other guest for the evening.. ahemm!

The convocation parade comprising of senior faculty and distinguished guests marched to a ceremonial tune of bagpipes and lit the ceremonial lamp. I was called upon the stage where i sang the Saraswati Vandana i had learnt in my college. I was humbled when my name was mentioned in the vote of thanks for the tiny participation in the prestigious event marked by its achievers.

My students got their degrees and felicitations... and i Got mine when they reciprocated my surprise stage appearance for them .. and Goddess Saraswati :)

Felt like i was convocated 140 times for each of my students passing out... ..A feeling that had never hit me before. My students got their degrees and i got mine in my joy filled heart.

Icing on the cake

When i was having my dinner (actually high tea) with my students, a senior visiting faculty walked up to us, congratulated me for the 'degree' and wished me all the best for the future.... He thought i was a student :-D. I was reminded:

" Life is a university that admits you in the Womb, and graduates you in the Tomb"

Many Smiles ... scaling... Many Miles

Google Chrome Full page ad - Browser Wars - Now at a desktop near you

2010-09-29T18:35:00.001+05:30

Everybody loves watching Google and her moves, with the curiosity of watching Magician Pasha with his hand in the top hat. Presto! and we have here today -- Google Chrome Full Page color ads in leading Indian Dailies...

Blogs, Tweet-o-sphere, and all modes of communication is abuzz with the question... What made Google, the largest medium by itself on the planet, resort to newspapers in India? and that to for promoting not its cash register - Adwords, not its milking cow - The Google search engine... But... its browser Google Chrome..

As the rhetoric exclamation of these questions spread like wildfire i am sure ol shrewd pals - Larry and Sergei are laughing all the way to the bank, since one half of the objective for the campaign was done successfully... Which was... the huge buzz factor.. News of the day across multiple media by just few ad inserts in a daily.

Now what could be the other half of the objective? Let me add my two cents to the buzz, and to the grins of Larry and Sergei.

1.First thing in the morning :
Why did Google choose English newspapers as a medium, that has almost the same reach as its search engine? The size of the ad, of course was for the reasons of getting impact and showing dominance. Dominance in the wake of newer versions of Internet Explorer, and rising popularity of Firefox and other browsers.

Size aside, the ad was not seen on television or on hoarding (may follow later). Newspaper was the unsuspecting first choice..

Pondering over the reason for this choice took me to a conversation i had with a former senior colleague of mine.. who told me about a pitch he did to a prestigious client for organizing a large corporate event. His competitor was the number one business TV channel known for doing custom events.

When his turn came, which was after the TV channel's, he was asked- " My dear Sir, you just now saw the largest business channel walk out of the room. What is it that you can give us that they can't?"

To which my friend replied -" We reach your audience, much before any other medium does in the morning..... Not everyone has a television in the Washroom.. and busy people usually read a newspaper in their most intimate morning moments :-)". ..... The pitch was won..

Bottom-line... Newspaper gets there First thing in the Morning.. however this may change for different audience.

2. Why Google Chrome? Why not other products?

Before Google, it was Yahoo and Rediff that did a multi-crore blitzkrieg to promote relaunch of the complete portal.. However, Google here chose to do it only for its browser, not for any of their other cash cow products.

There could be two reasons for this.

a. The browser, which began long back as a modest, good-to-have, add on tool to browse the Internet, is poised to become the most important and core application on your machine.

Cloud computing and Software as a Service, are becoming jargons of the day, which primarily use the browser at its core. Very soon, all the applications that you would ever need would run from a remote server, which can be accessed through..... the good old browser.

Hence to gain a good share of the browser user base is very important for any online brand, to gain a ready platform to offer overall computing service in the future. It is not a matter of surprise, that the Google Chrome Desktop operating system is touted to run on online application.

Having said this, for India, we are still away from the day when we can have reliable connectivity. However, the day is getting closer.

3. Dominance during a competition launch - "Who is the boss?":

With over 2 million downloads reported for Microsoft's Internet Explorer ver.9, six days ago, the battle lines had to be drawn between the Redmond Giant and Mountain View Monarch.

The stakes are too high for this one, and hence Google Chrome perhaps wanted to show its dominance - First Thing in the Morning.

Newspaper was its best bet..

PS: Imagine the sight of Google Chrome and MS IE bidding on each others keyword on Adwords as well as bing!! Keep watching!

Live Webcast of Ganesh Chaturthi at my home

2010-09-10T13:12:00.001+05:30

An Ode to Childhood - बचपन मेरा बना रहे

2010-07-25T23:00:00.001+05:30

पैरों मैं पंख लिए जब, दौड़े चले वह नन्हे पग
नैना देख पुलकित होए, सुन्दर बने उनसे यह जग

ज़मीं पर टिके न टिकाये, वह नन्हे पैरों के दौड़ते निशाँ
चंचल पग को चूमना चाहें, इस व्याकुल धरती की प्यासी जाँ

बचपन के यादों से लदे, तह दिल से दुआ करता हूँ
बचपन मेरा बना रहे, दुआ रब से यही चाहता हूँ

US open, French Open.... Bharat Bandh

2010-07-04T15:24:00.000+05:30

जो काम बरसात का जोर न कर पाया, जो काम देश विदेश के आतंकवादी न कर पाए. वह काम हमारे राजनैतिक नेता कल आजमाएंगे .... मुंबई.. और भारत बंद

(what couldn't be achieved by torrents of rain, and the blows of terrorists from within and outside the country, the political leaders are attempting to do.... Mumbai and India Shut Down in protest)
The opposition parties of our great country have called for a ritual that is celebrated "peacefully" in this world's largest democracy of ours.The ritual is called a Bandh... Which literally means .. Shut Down..

For residents of financial capital of India, it is business as usual. First it was the Motormen of the city's life line - Local Trains, that went on strike for the "larger benefit of commuters".. Then, it was the turn of the Taximen and Auto rickshaws to go on strike. The weather god's tried their bit with not much effect though with the usual flooding of the city, at a trickle as much as a dog's piddle.... And now..
Its the turn of the lawmakers (should i say lawbreakers) themselves.

Elected representatives of the opposition parties of our democracy have invoked the great constitutional right... freedom of peaceful protest.. that would hold a city or even the whole country to ransom, with hungry daily wagers and sporadic violence, to name a few, as a price to pay for this peaceful protest.

The protest is in response to the rising prices of commodities and the recent unpopular decision of the govt. to deregulate the price of fuel. Whether the protest will help the countrymen or is it just yet another ritual (read political stunt) is any common man's guess.

1. Does a strike really help?:
When you keep the nation shut for even minutes, forget an entire day, she has to foot losses - monetary and psychological.. for the moment let us consider the monetary part.. People earning on a daily basis can even go hungry.. And at the end there are no free lunches.. The loss incurred has to be paid for, ultimately gets paid through the tax payer's pocket. The party funds of the protesting political groups are not gonna fund even a dime.

2. Would prices fall really, if the fuel prices were rolled back?
The answer is a small yes and a big No... The small yes is the short term effect you will see on the price tag.. Now for a big NO.. Before the fuel prices were deregulated. Every liter of fuel sold was subsidized to as high as 25%. This cost was paid by Tax Payers as subsidee.. most of whom do not own a vehicle! The mounting losses because of the subsidee would once again mean rising prices.

It is a shame that hardworking citizens of the country have yet another obstacle for them to and from their workplaces, tomorrow.. Monday.. Just as this "peaceful protest" unfolds.

A weekend diary note

2010-06-26T00:54:00.000+05:30

Here i am, at the brink of terminal midnight...
where one week end's and shows me the next flight..

The week that went by had many pleasant and jovial moments.. Few random citations served right here:

1. Finally got a call from NMIMS university for an assignment as a visiting faculty for one of my favorite subject - "Brand Building for NGOs and social enterprises".... So next ten sundays are booked. This is the third year i would be facilitating the course.

2. Had my third marriage anniversary.. which i spent with a rare occassion of overnight work assignment at my creative agency's premises. Worked till early morning 430AM, to be greeted by passionate rain with lights and sounds... On a road that was empty with cabs and autos on strike. Was lucky to be dropped by a friend from the agency.

The final outcome was good and appreciated indirectly... I think the compliments, few of them make it direct to you specially during appraisal :-D.

Luckily had the privilege of taking the next day as a compensatory off from work.

3. The rains are here.. It was raining moderately yesterday... i embarked on a two mile walk after a days work, as i left for my sister's home.. It was an experience enjoyable as ever sipping raindrops.. The next morning, was walking again towards office, just when a bus driver, from my usual morning bus honked at me and dropped me to the bus stop en route his return journey.

...

Little moments... few disappointments... glitters of joy.... deep rough sea... and then Land Ahoy!

A sleepless night - random rambles

2010-05-20T03:27:00.001+05:30

The first notions that come to your mind when someone says - "Sleepless night" is hard work, constant worry, upset health, insomnia... and so on. Thankfully, this moment of my sleeplessness relates to none. Strangely, i slept off at 8 PM the moment i reached home, and after 6 hours of dreamy sleep, i woke up at 2 AM with nothing much to do except for toying with a new netbook that i got for my cousin sister.

I just recall that i reclined on my bed at 8 pm, and immediately fell asleep as though i was tranquilized with a strong dose of anaesthetic drug. Though my personal anaesthetist - my wife Varsha, is away from home preparing for her final exams on the same subject. I could have very well been a subject of her study today for two reasons -

1. What made me go into hibernation at 8 pm?
2. What keeps me totally awake at 2 am?

As i fell asleep, i recall entering an imaginary world in my dreams, which had some imaginary friends of mine partying with me. In the dream, I recall standing outside the five star venue, in the lawn of the entrance driveway, with a couple of my friends asking if i was fine... And all of a sudden, the earth shakes violently - right to left... "God, its an earthquake!" everyone around exclaims.. Within moments, there is a second tremor, this time exactly in 90 degrees direction to the earlier one.. Went into deeper slumber after that... and then stood awake at 2 AM.

Have had strange dreams, usually during summer nights. Have dreamt of dark skies, storms and tornadoes (once distinctly at Dadar beach) during this rude season.

Maybe i should just shift to the Air Conditioned bed room :-)..... *yawn* ... feeling a bit sleepy now.. and there is about an hour of sleep-able early morning :).. Sweet dreams.

Of Mosquitoes, Bed-bugs, Leeches and Insurance in India

2010-03-02T20:57:00.005+05:30

"Duniya main do tarah ka macchar hota hai.. ek khoon peene wala..... aur ek insurance bechne wala"

(details of controling the macchar of unsolicited calls is given at the end of this post)

Here is a story of two brands... one that behaved like a pest... and another that proved to be a repellant.

All of us, tormented captives of our mobile phones have learnt it through the nagging calls of various insurance companies and DSAs. Today was my turn courtesy ICICI Prudential life insurance.

Time: 9.59AM as per the reliance phone
Date: March 1, 2010
Phone number of the caller: +91 022 42560500

The lady on the other side said that she is calling from ICICI Prudential Life Insurance. I asked her where she got my phone number from, to which was an auto-response - "Sir we get it from our online system". I politely remarked - "madam my phone is registered on NDNC, you can be penalized upto Rs. 200 per minute for placing this call. And i can complaint about you if you repeatedly call me". I was travelling by bus then, and my daily morning friends applauded me for shudh hindi and a line that sounded like a govt. approved family planning ad copy... that usually ends with "nazdeeki swasthyakendra main muft payeeye". It was that polite and straight faced.

Her response was a sure winner for Ekktaa Kkapurr (hope i got her nummerrologie right, since i love this lady from the right auricle of my heart).. She responded with emotion " Sir please go ahead and complaint... we get the number from an online system.. you complaint.. but still you will continue to get our call".

I wanted to give her 9.9 marks, but did not have a score card, the types of which our virtual reality show hosts display on TV with their polymerized smiles, thrills and chills.. and hey she couldn't have seen it, since it wasn't a video call.

Back to the lady.. her words hit me like the relentless bites of mosquitoes, which refuse to cease inspite of my attacks with my favorite electric chinese racquet... "You will continue to get calls" sounded like "We will continue to bite and suck blood, kindly bear or bare with us".

I held back my emotions and smiled, because i was pretty sure that a company like ICICI Prudential Life Insurance may perhaps not cover its own telecallers, or that of their DSAs, for verbal assault and emotional outbreaks.

I did something better... and so can you..

As per TRAI guidelines, i called up my telco for raising a complaint - Reliance customer care. Thanks to their new dedicated customer care for post-paid customers, my complaint got registered in 5 minutes flat. I even got an SMS with the name of the person who attended my call, with another SMS requesting a tollfree feedback about the service.. It was a perfect ten here.

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance proved itself to be a brand with which i cannot trust my money, since it depends on stolen data to make unsolicited calls (their so called online system). Further they are a party to offending the law of the land.. the NDNC Rule.. I can imagine what they will do with my money.

Reliance, inspite of its negative perception among many, gave exceptional service.. I remember the name of the Customer rep-Atul ( i dunno why i called him Abdul till i got the SMS from Reliance)..Atul even had records of the exact date when my phone was registered for NDNC on the TRAI list. Though they have yet to prove their worth by finally sending my complaint to TRAI. But i know Papa (of papa ka sapna fame) wont let me down.

In any which way, i am happy that i did my bit by reporting an offence.

More details on NDNC registry and ways to stop nagging calls are available on the NDNC website: http://ndncregistry.gov.in/

Registering for NDNC is simple... send an sms with text START DND to 1909 ..toll free.. Yah seva bilkul muft hai (there i go on a govt ad tone!)

Open letter to Vir Sanghvi

2010-02-28T08:39:00.007+05:30

This is in response to Portraits of the artist as a Qatari citizen, an editorial lamenting the exit of M F Hussain's from Indian Citizenship.

Dear Vir,

Your editorial throws an interesting insight into the malformed definition of freedom of expression; that rests today in minds of Pseudo-secular-liberal journalists and so called key-keepers of the fourth estate.

I begin my response with a guiding quote by Swami Chinmayananda - " To do whatever you FEEL like doing, is not freedom" .. its called licentiousness. Here a licentious individual keeps to himself, a licence to impinge on any other faith, just because he FEELS like, without being sensitive to the feelings of a community at large. The word FEELs is highlighted because his actions of what he thinks is freedom, is out of pure Feeling without any Intelligent inquiry of its outcome.

Coming straight to your article, I am not sure what feelings you have towards your own mother, but we Hindus (even those outside the "Hindu Taliban" breed as per your definition) revere Mata Saraswati, Sita and Durga nothing less than our biological mother.

i would like to quote you:

"If some Hindus are offended by Husain’s nude Saraswatis, then they can simply look away. They have no right to restrict his creativity or to deny the rest of us the opportunity to view Husain’s work."

My question to you is.. would you or any member of your Liberal Journalists' watering-house club, tolerate any liberal artist to paint your own mother nude, with compromising pose with your own gardener? The feeling for a hindu is the same when their mother, Goddess Parvati is shown having sex with Nandi. Nude painting of Saraswati is one of the less severe and "liberal" versions.

Does freedom to you mean, that a non-believing painter is free to make a pornographic movie on my mother and publish it within the confines of my home?

Does freedom to you mean, your neighbour, or your "brethern" getting drunk or going overdose on Bhang cupcakes (publicized on second front page of the same newspaper where you showered your grace today. The first front page, like most of our liberal media, is sold out to an advertiser) and doing a strip tease on the street... Even worse... in your living room? Well thats his freedom of expression... but do you allow that?

I am sure, in each of the above cases, you will use your "freedom" and political contacts too if necessary to retaliate.

In that case, why is it that the non-believers, as mentioned in your articles, should continue to have the "freedom" or "License" to poke their dirty nose in the faith of the believers?

Would the non-believers be comfortable if believers kept on making lewd remarks about their lifestyle? No... they wont.. and both of them peacefully coexist with the right distance and etiquettes... Which in totality define our collective freedom to THINK what we should do... and not do whatever we FEEL.

The painter is free to express his views openly, but a free democracy also obligates him to be answerable for his work and bear its responsibility to . In the US and UK there have been instances where editors and journalists have resigned, where people pointed out their irresponsibility.. Here in India, any such attempts have been quelled, with the editors continuing to review free food and booze. I guess that's freedom.

Books like Satanic Verses, Worshipping False Gods and the Danish Cartoons are banned in India, since we believe in a culture of respecting each others faith.... Not maligning it... Atleast as a Hindu, i can vouch for my faith, and that of my close friends of other faiths. These books and MF hussains paintings may mean freedom for the artist, but it also means infuriating a large section of our population. They should be banned.. When the law of the land ignores that, and even worse, when media drunk its own world too doesn't reflect peoples faith... parallel law takes over. Perhaps you find that interesting, since that gives you more sensation and topics to write upon.

i would like to end once again with Swami Chinmayananda's Quote.. and i suggest every journalist, in particular, should read the book - Manual of Self Unfoldment.

"To do whatever you feel like doing is not freedom"

Freedom is being allowed to THINK what is appropriate and do that... and not do whatever you FEEL.

With deep belief in my faith,
and regards to non-belief of others,

Nagesh Pai
Saraswat and a Hindu

References:
Hindustan Times - Mumbai Edition dated February 28, 2010

Paintings by MF Hussain viewable HERE

Words for a busy friend

2010-02-06T10:51:00.000+05:30

It was on a winter few years back when i broke into sudden poetry out of nowhere, the last thing i thought i would do in life. I wrote few verses to my friends during that season.. here's one of them to a friend who was hassled with lots of work and was gasping for time for herself:(click on the slideshow controls "<< >>" to watch all the four slides")

I hope the poet that possessed me returns someday!

Mulki Chariot Festival - (Prathishta Punnav) -

2009-09-14T23:03:00.000+05:30

Click here to view these pictures larger

Beware of VisaBillPay.in

2009-08-29T16:39:00.000+05:30

At the first sight of it VisaBillPay.in looks like a service offered by a reputed payment solutions company in league with Visa, that promises to may bill payments a breeze.

I am sorry to say that i got conned by the image and the promise offered by the brand. My bills of Reliance Mobile (my wife's and mine) were presented on the site, and i decided to try its service. I made a payment through my Visa credit card on VisaBillPay.in, and the same was acknowledged through respective transaction IDs, with a status of Paid.

However, even after 3 working days, i keep getting calls from reliance mobile's aggressive recovery center for the amount. 3 days and more for electronic payment, through an approved credit card, is ridiculous.

Things are in a mess with one lesson learnt.... Make your bill payments, no matter what, without any intermediaries, no matter how big their names are... In this case the big name is a big Con.

Update - the payment finally went through after three agonizing days and after passing on the payment reference numbers to Reliance.

Turning One over the Hill of 30

2009-08-15T10:26:00.000+05:30

Here is an account the beginning of a not so loud, but well-spent birthday

"Dont think that you are thirty year old. Think that your 18 year old with 12 years experience".. was among the most memorable b'day wishes i received from a dear sister this birthday.

Much to the relief of my imaginative world, the child in me refuses to grow even above 15. And much to the horror of my "real" and "practical" world, I wonder, when will i mature. Net of both, i like to stay in my own imaginative world, many times irked and adjusting to the whims of the real one.

How the day began:
1. It was Gokulashtami, and the frequency of the bus i take to office was halved, in spite of almost all offices working in Mumbai. I was glad to see my violet chinese chariot, read: one of the latest AC buses in BEST fleet, come towards me..I waved at it, requesting it to stop..... It gave me a royal guard-of-honor salute, and whizzed past me.

"There was ample space within, why did the B****d not stop!".. The parade of mental abuses began. It roped in the BEST corporation, the guys who declared Gokulashtami as a partial holiday, few more individuals and corporations, and finally Lord Krishna himself for being born on a partial government holiday, that too on my birthday!

Luckily the next bus came just around, and did stop for me despite being totally packed. I entered the bus, grumbling at how my birthday began, ignored a couple of calls that meant to wish me. Squeezed my way into the bus, through a group of grumbling Page3 dressed thane women, to whom i grumbled back with a stare that could kill. I finally managed to take the call of my Mother-in-law (could i ever miss that one?!!) and my disgust leaked verbally.

After i was done with the phone call, a man in his fifties, seated just beside who had been noticing me closely, offered to hold my bag. In a couple of stops he asked me to sit, saying that he would be getting down in a few stops, which turned out to be quite a distance. This is when i felt, my day was actually getting special.

I apologized to Lord Krishna, and accepted that since he was the creator of the universe, he was free to be born on a semi-bank-holiday. I thanked him for the b-day gift of a comfortable seat, that did arrive after a small squeeze.

And yes! I did feel privileged to share this year's birtday with Him!

I got Mac

2009-06-29T10:26:00.000+05:30

No. I am not talking about McDonald Burger and Fries.
And I ain't talking about a rubber raincoat invented by Charles Mackintosh.

My wildest dream finally came true with the arrival of a MacBook. It was a dream indeed since i couldn't afford the price of it and would simply stare and fantasize at the ads of Apple Macs.

I managed to snatch it out of dreamland, thanks to my brother-in-law. Two years back based on my recommendation he purchased the machine powered with Core2 duo 2+ gigs with 2GB RAM from Russia, where he was posted. A month ago he procured the latest version of the mean machine, cast in a single block of aluminium, and decided to hand the older one to me for a steal.

And here i am now enjoying the best ever experience of human interface in computing. I have now with me 4 operating systems at home - Ubuntu, WinXP, Windows Vista, and the Mac OX leopard.

Let me romance with the new machine and OS, and await my review on the same.