Sony Service center in Noida

N.R.I. Electronics
D.R. White House
Near Vinayak Hospital,
Sec-27,Noida
Time : 10AM to 7PM (Tuesday closed)
phone : (0120)2540122/2540123

Sony Customer Care phone number : (Delhi) 011-66006600

First semi-accident

As you might remember, I had started biking to work almost a week ago,
and today I had my first semi-accident. Just 10 seconds ago, I had negotiated
a very tricky situation at a decent speed, without hitting the brakes. And I
thought I would scrape through this one easily as well, but the brakes
didn't work as expected and in fact I hit them at least a second late.
So, I crashed into a Maruti 800 in front of me, without causing any damage
to either side, thankfully. The driver waited for some time and eventually
decided to come out. It was evident that he was reluctant to engage in
an argument, since he approached me rather slowly. I was ready with
my "sorry boss" and "Main nuksan bhar doonga", but he was "Koi baat
nahin" and that's it.

Even yesterday, I was in a battle of sorts. I refused to yield space to a person
coming from wrong side on his bike. He was a "cool dude" type, with a hunky
frame. Though I didn't give him any space, another "gentleman" did.
And once through,he started yelling, in English, "That's called helping out". I tried to
ignore him, but he was adamant. "Stupid" "Stupid", I guess he said it 4-5 times,
and he actually came pretty close to me in the process, accelerating in my face effectively.
I was trying my best to ignore him(thankfully I didn't have my AK-47 :-)).
Then the signal turned green, and we parted ways. Otherwise, who knows... :-)

It's cool to be fat

if you are Shane Warne, that is.
Not many athletes, let alone the plebeians,
can make it look as cool as Warne.
His leg-spin is legendary, and now captaining
a nondescript Rajasthan team in IPL, he
has put the team at the top of the table,
ahead of much more expensive and star-studded
teams.
The intensity and effort he puts in making
field placements, not only for his own bowling,
but also others', and the constant chit-chat
that goes on between him and his bowlers seem
to have born fruit.

Weather in Noida

has been fantastic for past two days. It has been raining here and there.
Temperatures have lowered and a breeze has been flowing across. All in
all it reminds me of all those years in Bangalore.

Noida Sand storms

For the past few days sandstorms have been a regular
feature of Noida's night life. They are high speed,highly
threatening sandstorms. Seems that the whole building
would be blown away. Yesterday coupled with rain
they played a hand in defeating Delhi's local team in
IPL.

The mythical man month e-book

Torrent here.

Flex 3 Cookbook by Joshua Noble, Todd Anderson

Download it from here.

Apache cook book (e-book) by Rich Bown, Ken Coar

You can download it from here.

Bomb blasts in Jaipur

Before Feb 2006 : Number of bomb blasts in Rajasthan = 0.
Feb 2006 : India Pak reopen railway route connecting Rajasthan to Pakistan.(Thar Express)
Oct 2007 : Bomb blasts in Ajmer(Rajasthan).
May 2008 : Bomb blasts in Jaipur(Rajasthan).

Woman breastfeeds fawn

This picture by Hindustan Times lensman Himanshu Vyas has won the IFRA Gold Award for News Photography. Vyas had heard about an orphan fawn being looked after by a Bishnoi woman near his hometown Jodhpur. At the mud dwelling, he noticed the fawn playing with her children.

'When hungry, the woman breastfed the fawn and her daughter simultaneously. Wildlife activism is publicised around the world. But this connect between man and nature is unparalleled,' he says.


Source : GoFrostFire

Rahman Ray

More than a month ago, I watched this movie : Ray.
It's based on a legendary musician Ray Charles.
One of the unique things about him was that he
sung his own songs, with his own lyrics while
using the tunes from Gospel. Now, Gospel is basically
related to Christian religion and can be thought
of as really sacred part of the religion. It was considered
blasphemous by many. How can someone use
the religious tunes, and play with them, and morph them....

But that's art ! I was just thinking of an example
on the same lines from Indian music fraternity.
And the very first name that came to my mind
was A. R. Rahman. For? For his Vande Mataram song !

I still remember, it created quite a furore in those
days when it first appeared on the music charts.
It was such a wonderful song, but still, it was sort
of sacrilegious. After all, it was like someone manipulating
India's national song ! But if the truth be told, it was
a fantastic awe-inspiring tune !

And that's art !

Biking

For the first time today, I rode to work on Pankaj's bike.
I wasn't sure if would be able to make it without hiccups,
but everything went well. And I guess I have to thank Noida's
traffic for that. People drive and ride rather slowly here, may
be due to the high number of traffic signals and speed-breakers.
Thanks to Pankaj, thanks Noida and thanks Anant for helping
me with starting the bike :-)

Munna Bhai Stock Broker

Munna : Arre Circuit
Circuit : Haan Bhai

Munna : Wo Tehelka mein Punjab ke Kisan log ka story padha kya?
Circuit : Kya hua Bhai, ye Kisan log kya kiye Ab?

Munna : Arre kuchh nahin re, jyada fasal ugane ke vaaste ye log fertilizer vertilizer use karte hain.
Circuit : To karne do na bhai, jyada ugayenge tabhi to jyada log khayenge, waise bhi ye Bush Vush bahut halla kar rele hain ki apun Indian log eez sala jyada kha reh le hain aaj kal.

Munna : Arre Bush ki to maan ki Aankh, ye jo fertilizer se fasal ugate hain ye bahut jahrili
hoti hai re, wo log khud hiz nahin khate.
Circuit : To bhai apun kya karega abhi, apun ko to jo milega apun khayega na bhai, abhi
apun kidher se ye Organic food dhoondhta firega.

Munna : Lekin apun ko kuchh karne ka maangta hai Circuit..
Circuit : kya karega tum bhai

Munna : Ye jo bhi fertilizer stock hai apne paas, sab bech daal, nahin chahiye apun ko haraam ka paisa
Circuit : To phir wo paisa kidhar lagayega bhai?

Munna : Koi Organic farming ki company bata apne ko
Circuit : Haan pata karta hoon na bhai.

Reproduced from : Munna Bhai Stock Broker

Suicides in TamilNadu

Here is a story about Goldsmiths in TamilNadu committing suicides
due to arrival of new technologies which have rendered them jobless
and debt-trapped.

Now, what I wonder about is whether committing suicides is a southern
Indian phenomenon. Farmer suicides in Vidarbha and Andhra are part
of the folklore now. Famines form part and parcel of Rajasthani farmers'
lives but haven't heard of mass suicides there ever.

E-book learning Flash Media Server 3

You can get it from here.
I got it here.

Using jockstrap(supporter) while running

Here is an answer from now dysfunctional Google Answers service.

Question was whether running too much without an athletic
supporter (also known as jockstrap) could cause erectile dysfunction?

"
While there are several accepted causes of erectile dysfunction (ED),
including medical conditions (illness, hormone imbalances, especially
Diabetes), emotional/relationship issues and certain medicines, I
couldn't find any information linking running/jogging without an
athletic supporter with ED.

Running without an athletic supporter may lead to minor injuries
(depending on one's stride and speed and the size of one's
penis/testicles, general fitness, et cetera) that shouldn't have a
lasting effect because when they happen, the person immediately stops
the activity to deal with the discomfort and/or pain involved. If
someone is running 3-5 miles a day for a long period of time without
experiencing any pain, running would not likely be the cause of ED.

Athletic supporters mostly provide safety from contact injuries
(bruising and rupture) when worn with a cup, and discomfort otherwise.
"Some advertisemnents refer to preventing strain on the scrotum and
spermatic cord, but these may be overrated. European soccer players
seem to get along fine without athletic supporters." from:
http://www.infernosoft.com/community/hockey/jock/jockstraps/

It also notes that athletic supporters do not prevent hernias (related
to strain on the scrotum and spermatic cord). Although you didn't ask,
there was no evidence found supporting a connection between a hernia
and erectile dysfunction, though logic would indicate what if there is
an injury, obtaining an erection may be painful or impossible until
the injury has healed.

If this is your situation, you should talk to a urologist or your
family doctor about the situation, as there may be some underlying
cause that can be corrected with treatment or should be under medical
supervision. In these situations, the sooner the better. This answer
does not constitute medical advice, per the Google disclaimer below.
"

An easy way to search movie quotes

Type this in google :
intitle:memorable.quotes site:imdb.com <your keywords here>

This way you are easily tapping into imdb's huge quote collection.

Excerpts from Shoba De's interview to Tehelka

Here is the original.

The rich might want to photoshop India for the world, but does it ever discuss the other India? You celebrate our new cash-rich economy, yet 5 or 6 states have slipped further down the poverty line. Where does nation-building fit into all of this?

But to answer your question, except for politically correct forums, in all these years, I have never heard the uber-rich discuss the have-nots. They are just not interested! They are in denial. It’s not a part of their scripted dream, so why must they have to deal with it? Their conversation is always about making more money and enhancing lifestyle. Clothes, exotic villas, cars, bags, price of diamonds, gizmos. The women’s distress scale is measured by whether they have bought the correct bag or not (the price of just one of these bags could feed ten poor families for a year.) But there is a reason for this. The super-rich in India today are mostly first-generation rich, so their attitude to money is very different. They haven’t quite grown into a full sense of security about it, they are almost overwhelmed by their own capacity to spend. I am fascinated by this new money. There is an attempt to be casual, but they really want to be acknowledged as belonging to the billionaire’s club. They have a kind of schizophrenic reaction to money — maybe it’s a hangover from their parents’ days. So there are multibillionaires who are so wealthy the next five generations could live off them, and their 12-year old sons might ask them to buy them Porsches, yet they will count the sandwiches on their private jets or haul up their staff for changing the flowers before they have drooped.

In this, the idea of corporate governance or social responsibility is a very new thing. But you have to see it in the context of India being a very young nation. The Ambanis, Ruias, Mahindras, Mittals — all first and second generation rich — are only just waking up to the idea that’s there’s something called giving back. It may take a few years more — even another generation — but slowly you will see the beginnings of an endowment mentality. With the new globalisation of thinking, as India’s super-rich travel the globe and meet the world’s biggest philanthropists — Bill Gates or Warren Buffet or even an Anita Roddick who said, let my children make their own wealth, and has willed most of her empire to her favourite charities — it will take time, but slowly I believe a new kind of thinking will set in.

Kufri to Simla - on a bus top - Shot with Nokia E-51

Excerpts from the book : "To Think Of Tea"

page 168, Chapter XII
A discussion in the English parliament over reducing the import
duty on tea :
Sentimental advocates affirmed that tea ' tamed the rude strength
of men, and ennobled the graceful weakness of women'. (This was
before the days of female athleticism.)

page 153, Chapter XI
Compared with alchohol, ' laments Mr. Lucas, 'tea has done nothing
for the humorist.' This is true, but why the challenge? Compared with
alcohol, tea has done nothing for the poet. Compared with alcohol, tea
has done nothing for the dramatist.
....
but if we ask, 'Compared with alcohol, what has tea done for man?'
There is an answer ready.

Kanpur Once Again

IIT Kanpur has topped the student suicide charts among all the IITs
for at least last 5 years, may be more, I don't know about previous
years. And, it is unwilling to let go of this position.

It is high time IIT Kanpur did something to stop producing a depressed
student batch year after year after year.

I wonder if there is a single student batch in IIT Kanpur, which
can claim to have graduated without losing at least one of their
batchmates to suicides.

If they can't do anything to rectify this, it would be best to shut
down this institute in the best interest of thousands of students'
psychological and mental health.

Here are some news stories on the topic.

IIT-Kanpur student commits suicide
NDTV.com - New Delhi,India
Prashant had joined IIT in July last year and was living in the hostel. His family also lives in Kanpur. The police are investigating the reason behind the ...

IIT student suicide

Calcutta Telegraph - Calcutta,India
Prashant Kumar, a city resident who was a electrical engineering student, locked himself in his hostel room in the hall number 2 around 12.30pm, IIT ...
See all stories on this topic

Father alleges caste prejudice behind IIT-K student’s suicide

Lucknow Newsline - Lucknow,India
The authorities of the IIT-K, however, quickly rejected Kureel’s allegations. Rejecting the alleged caste biasness at the institute Deputy Director Kripa ...
See all stories on this topic

Sideways

Now this movie is so similar to Little Miss Sunshine(LMS) in so many ways. First, a lot of it
is shot in in a lot of sunshine, on the road, when two friends take up a car journey for a
week. In LMS it's a family that takes up a road journey.

LMS is full of loser characters, Sideways has only one but enough to drown any number
of souls down.

Another useful Firefox shortcut

CTRL + SHIFT + T

Accidentally closed a tab that you need back? Use this shortcut to load the most recently closed tab. It can help save a lot of time if you navigated deep into a site, closed the tab and then realized that you needed the information again.

Source : Young Entrepreneur Blog

I am Mr. Crude

I am not Mr. Charming,
   I am Mr. crude,
Don't know what you think,
   I ain't a cool dude

hey, cut the sweet talk,
   I would rather shout,
I could break any heart,
   in a raging bout.

- A poem by D Tolz (that's me) (It's original, not the name, the poem)
- Tune : this poem/song can be sung in the same tune as Mr. Tambourine man.

Sams Teach your Visual C# in 24 hours - book download

Part 1.

Part 2.

Term of copyright in India - more specifically to Computer Programmes

Source here.

TERM OF COPYRIGHT

Is copyright protected in perpetuity?

No. It is protected for a limited period of time.

What is the term of protection of copyright?

The general rule is that copyright lasts for 60 years. In the case of original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works the 60-year period is counted from the year following the death of the author. In the case of cinematograph films, sound recordings, photographs, posthumous publications, anonymous and pseudonymous publications, works of government and works of international organisations, the 60-year period is counted from the date of publication.

Are computer programmes protected under Copyright Act?

Yes. Computer programmes are protected under the Copyright Act. They are treated as literary works.

It ain't me

Go 'way from my window,
Leave at your own chosen speed.
I'm not the one you want, babe,
I'm not the one you need.
You say you're lookin' for someone
Never weak but always strong,
To protect you an' defend you
Whether you are right or wrong,
Someone to open each and every door,
But it ain't me, babe,
No, no, no, it ain't me, babe,
It ain't me you're lookin' for, babe.

Go lightly from the ledge, babe,
Go lightly on the ground.
I'm not the one you want, babe,
I will only let you down.
You say you're lookin' for someone
Who will promise never to part,
Someone to close his eyes for you,
Someone to close his heart,
Someone who will die for you an' more,
But it ain't me, babe,
No, no, no, it ain't me, babe,
It ain't me you're lookin' for, babe.

Go melt back into the night, babe,
Everything inside is made of stone.
There's nothing in here moving
An' anyway I'm not alone.
You say you're looking for someone
Who'll pick you up each time you fall,
To gather flowers constantly
An' to come each time you call,
A lover for your life an' nothing more,
But it ain't me, babe,
No, no, no, it ain't me, babe,
It ain't me you're lookin' for, babe.

नॉएडा सब्जी बाजार के भाव (चौडा मौड़ सोम बाज़ार) 7 April 2008

Noida vegetable prices on 7th April, 2008 (Som Baazar, Near Chauda Maud,
Sector-21)

सब्जी	रु. प्रति किलोग्राम
टमाटर	15 से 20
आलू	६.७
प्याज	१०
भिंडी	३०
परमल	२०
लौकी	30
फली	20
धनिया	40
नीम्बू	40
पत्ता गोभी	५
बैंगन	10

True google rank

Reproduced from here.

Download

What it does is this :

Give as inputs a keyword or keywords, and a domain name or a web page
and the range in google results to search for. It will tell you where does your page/domain
appear in the search results in the 100 results starting from that result number. For e.g. if your domain name www.example.com is the
fifth result on 2nd page of google results for keyword=example, and 3rd result
on 4th page, output would be :

Found at these ranks : 15 33

There are two ways to use it :

Browser :
open first.html
for multiple keywords, simply enter them separated by spaces.
no support for phrases yet.
enter a url and result range to search

Command line :
Usage :

php.exe true_google_rank.php <keyword> < url >
< start result num between 0 and 999> 

for e.g.
php.exe true_google_rank.php dogra wikipedia 10


multiple keywords need to be entered inside " and ".
no support for phrases yet.

You will need php.exe and php5ts.dll for that, bundled
with this zip file .(on linux, I haven't tried yet)




Download


Warning : If you use this script too often(may be 5-6 times a minute),
you might get the dreaded sorry.google.com page. Google decides what
is too often.

License : GPL.

If you like this, contribute by clicking on the Donate button below :

October Sky

I haven't seen too many movies when your heart
comes to your mouth so often in a miserly span
of 90 minutes. The fantastic soundtrack has a role
to play in that as well.

Name of this movie is an anagram of Rocket Boys,
name of the novel on which it's based. Also, in a research
done by Universal Pictures, women over 30 would not go
to see a movie titled "Rocket Boys",^[1] so Universal
Pictures changed the title to be more inviting to a
wider audience.

Typing my time away

If we fly from boredom, we fly from ourselves. - Friedrich Nietzsche


What are the things that I do to run away from boredom
and give myself an illusion that something is happening
all the time though I ain't doing it :

1. Keep a watch on the stock market ticker.
2. If there is a cricket match going on, nothing
like it. Keep watching the score.
3. Keep an eye on the torrent stats, up/down speed, download percentage.
4. Google Reader !
5. Gmail !
....

RSS feeds from Noam Chomsky

For those who didn't know this.
Here is the link.

Little Miss Sunshine

Okay. So this movie is all about a family, which right from the first
frame is drowning in a pool of piss(excuse my language please, it's
a good movie), with some really cool background music to back it up.

Few minutes and a failed clutch later the piss kind of gives way to,umm,
some clean water, then mud, then clean again and so on.. It's a real
roller coaster ride.

And the climax, boy, what a climax. It's like all the frustrated souls
in the family come on stage and get dancing and the agent of this
catharsis is their little daughter, the Little Miss Sunshine, she
truly is.

Let me know if you want to watch it ;-).

Be evil and don't be evil

been reading "iCon-An unauthorized and unflinching portrait of Steve Jobs",
for a while. Had read The Google Story a few months ago as well. Whereas the google
story was mostly about how the Google founders kept the devil at bay from taking
over their souls, iCon is mostly about how Steve Jobs has succumbed to the devil
time and again. It doesn't really make for a pleasant read nor an easy read. Though
there are some interesting episodes illustrated in here, they don't really tickle you.
Anyway, will try to finish it in a week or so (it's been a week alreay, I am a slow reader
I know, but here I have been even slower).

Jotting down notes

Ev'rybody's building the big ships and the boats,
Some are building monuments,
Others, jotting down notes,
Ev'rybody's in despair,
Ev'ry girl and boy
But when Quinn the Eskimo gets here,
Ev'rybody's gonna jump for joy.
Come all without, come all within,
You'll not see nothing like the mighty Quinn.

Aamir Khan gets quizzed by B Raman over Tibetan issue

Few hours ago, B Raman's open letter to Aamir Khan appeared on Rediff.
Anyone interested in Aamir Khan's decision to carry Olympic torch
should read this.

Here is a critical point he raises:

"Wherever the Olympic Torch is being taken, the Chinese have been keen that some prominent Muslim and Buddhist personalities also participate in carrying the torch so that they can demonstrate to the protesting Buddhists of Tibet, Sichuan, Gansu and Qinghai and to the protesting Muslims of Xinjiang that prominent Buddhist and Muslim leaders in other countries have endorsed the Games.

The importance of your participation and of the participation of Saif Ali Khan to the Chinese was not only because you are both widely-admired film artists. It was also because both of you are widely-respected Muslim personalities.

The importance of the participation of football hero Baichung Bhutia to the Chinese was not only because he is a football hero, but also because he is a highly-respected Buddhist personality. He saw through their game and declined to let himself be used by the Chinese. It is a pity you have not seen through their game."

Notes on Noida

If you live in Sector-21, you will find it interesting to see how the color
of sky changes from gray to blue once you step into Noida Stadium, which
is just in front of your sector. I find it surprising myself, but it seems
that air inside Noida Stadium is just too clean.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
No matter in which part of Noida you reside, just step
out of your home and you are greeted by an army of cars,
either stationary or moving. The number of cars is huge
in this part of India(NCR) as compared to any other.
You can observe almost every model in almost all of its
available colors. Makes the buying process so much
easier ;-)

Shades of Red behind the Celluloid

I came across two stories in a week highlighting a bizarre pattern : Red + Celluloid.

1. Mani Ratnam's son moves across as 'red volunteer'

2. Not Without My Father

Away from the pseudo-activism of the Bollywood glitterati, a young assistant director of Taare Zameen Par fights for her father, who is under arrest on charges of being a Naxalite commander.

Another Google Prank ?

Post of Google Blog :
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/04/announcing-project-virgle.html

Project Home Page :
http://www.google.com/virgle/index.html

Application form for inhabiting Mars :
http://www.google.com/virgle/application.html

Sehwag

Update : Sehwag has raised the fastest
triple hundred as well. Now 2 out of 3
fastest are his.

Now, out of the 7 fastest double centuries,
3 belong to Sehwag. All 3 have come in
matches where the audience has been
conspicuous from its absence(in Multan
it was stadium crowd, in Chennai it is
television, in Lahore both).

Source : Cricinfo Stats

Two cool launches today on the web

1. Photoshop on the web, with 2GB free storage.

2. Youtube starts providing geographical information about the
audience of your videos, think of it as google-analytics for your
youtube videos.

A list of words I hate

1. Suddenly.

will continue updating this list..

Psychology tidbits

A fantastic movie : Oridnary People.
It talks about Survivor's guilt.
I am sure a lot of people are affected by this(survivor's guilt), and
this movie talks about it in a very effective manner.

Ratan Tata conferred degree by IIT, Kharagpur

"The award was given in recognition of Tata's outstanding leadership in globalising India and transforming the Tata group as a formidable corporate entity, a press release issued here today said."

Source : http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/002200803181721.htm

It could have as well read like :
"The award was given , on the continued insistence of West Bengal Govt , in recognition of Tata's ability(or lack of it) for not backing out of Singur despite continued violent protests."

Cricket is a lonely game, lonelier to be preciese

Just to quote from an article about this book :

By His Own Hand: A Study of Cricket's Suicides
by David Frith


Some excerpts :



"Tension and psychological stress in cricket are greater than in most other sports," it cannot be dismissed out of hand. Especially when he says that findings show the suicide-rate among professional cricketers around the world is higher than in any other sport.

"Only superficially is cricket a team game. It is an individual game, and a lonely one. The player has to work out his own solutions in his playing days, and after retirement train himself not to dwell on the past too much."

David Frith's By His Own Hand is a study of some 80 cricketers who committed suicide, and few write with his breadth of vision and depth of knowledge.

"Cricketers are vulnerable because the game attracts sensitive men of aesthetic temperament, the very men who are, in the end, least well served by it."

Jodhaa Akbar

Forget the historical correctness, no one is sure about it.
Watch it as a work of fiction, and you will love it.

Another quote couplet

Submit and be saved. - Jesus Christ
Defy and be damned. - Karl Marx

From the prologue of "Tibetan Journey", a book by George N. Patterson.

A quote couplet

"Life is unfair, get used to it." - Bill Gates

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. "
- George Bernard Shaw

But Bill Gates has made a lot of progress Mr. Shaw, and not only for himself but many
others as well. Or hasn't he?

P/E ratios

I was just comparing P/E ratios for the same company(ies) in various publications.

	Moneycontrol	Rediff Money	Times-of-India
Bharti Airtel	30.02	42.67	29.7
Reliance Industries	20.49	32.48	19.8

So, there is a clear difference. Moneycontrol and Times calculate PE based on trailing twelve
months whereas Rediff calculates based on exactly an year ago.

For e.g. a company A has following quarterly earnings :
Mar'06 : x
June'06 : y
Sep'06 : z
Dec'06 : w
Mar'07 : p
June'07 : q
Sep'07 : r
Dec'07 : s

So, to calculate P/E today(Feb'2008), Rediff would take E = x+y+z+w but Moneycontrol
would take it as E = p+q+r+s.

pagerank of fundooquotes.com

Google pagerank of fundooquotes is 1/10 now.

Death

There is a quaint similarity in The Namesake and Anuranan. Both are wrapped in Bengali
ethos and have utilized the shock value of death to the maximum. If the sudden death
of Ashoke in The Namesake rocked the viewer to the core, Rahul's cold hand in Anuranan
leaves him numb. Not too many times have I seen this brilliant usage of death in shocking
the audience.

Anuranan

A nice, slow and breezing movie.
Some of the fine moments in it :
1. When a kindergarten student proposes his Miss(Rituparna).
2. (a shuddering moment) When Raima touches Rahul's hand and finds it cold.
3. When Rituparna wakes up from a nightmare and fights with Rahul.
4. When a Tibetan kid holds Rahul's little finger.

The Tipping Point

Some concepts from The Tipping Point :

1. Dunbar's number - limit on the number of people one can be comfortable with.
2. Principle of Broken windows and its application in reducing New York city crime,

will post others as and when I read them.

Tyranny of niceness

Source
Many psychologists will tell you that niceness is bad for you. Some psychologists even talk about the "tyranny of niceness", the urge that prevents you reaching your full potential. No psychologist is yet on record as saying that niceness can cost you Test matches but, if Australia lose in Perth, Ricky Ponting might well receive a cold call from one.

Ponting and Bush

Ricky ponting looks and speaks like George W. Bush.

Side effects of shaving

Shaving can have numerous side effects, including cuts, abrasions, irritation and the feeling that something is missing. Many side effects can be minimized by using a fresh blade, applying plenty of lubrication, and avoiding pressing down with the razor. A shaving brush can also help. There are many products on the market to get rid of them, they commonly dry the affected area and some help to lift out the trapped hair(s). Some people choose to use only single-blade or wire-wrapped blades that shave farther away from the skin. Others cannot use razors at all and use depilatory shaving powders to dissolve hair above the skin's surface.

Many people traditionally believed that shaving would cause the hair shaved to become thicker and darker. However, this bit of conventional wisdom has been disproven. The resulting stubble only makes the hairs seem to be thicker, as a shaved hair has a blunt end as opposed to the tapered end of an unshaven hair, and because hair is often darker in color near the root. Clinical studies have demonstrated that shaving does not have an effect on hair growth rates or density.^[12]

^{Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaving}

Staring at screens is bad for your eyes

c. Staring at screens is bad for your eyes

Looking at a screen from the same distance for long periods leaves our eyes weak, dry and sore.

(To protect your vision, experts recommend taking a short break from the computer every 20 minutes, walk around. Focussing at different distances strengthens the eye muscles.)

Source : http://www.webdesignfromscratch.com/no_one_looks_at_the_screen.cfm

CSS vs Tables

CSS versus tables

For more details on this topic, see Tableless web design.

Back when Netscape Navigator 4 dominated the browser market, the popular solution available for designers to lay out a Web page was by using tables. Often even simple designs for a page would require dozens of tables nested in each other. Many web templates in Dreamweaver and other WYSIWYG editors still use this technique today. Navigator 4 didn't support CSS to a useful degree, so it simply wasn't used.

After the browser wars subsided, and the dominant browsers such as Internet Explorer became more W3C compliant, designers started turning toward CSS as an alternate means of laying out their pages. CSS proponents say that tables should be used only for tabular data, not for layout. Using CSS instead of tables also returns HTML to a semantic markup, which helps bots and search engines understand what's going on in a web page. All modern Web browsers support CSS with different degrees of limitations.

However, one of the main points against CSS is that by relying on it exclusively, control is essentially relinquished as each browser has its own quirks which result in a slightly different page display. This is especially a problem as not every browser supports the same subset of CSS rules. For designers who are used to table-based layouts, developing Web sites in CSS often becomes a matter of trying to replicate what can be done with tables, leading some to find CSS design rather cumbersome due to lack of familiarity. For example, at one time it was rather difficult to produce certain design elements, such as vertical positioning, and full-length footers in a design using absolute positions. With the abundance of CSS resources available online today, though, designing with reasonable adherence to standards involves little more than applying CSS 2.1 or CSS 3 to properly structured markup.

These days most modern browsers have solved most of these quirks in CSS rendering and this has made many different CSS layouts possible. However, some people continue to use old browsers, and designers need to keep this in mind, and allow for graceful degrading of pages in older browsers. Most notable among these old browsers are Internet Explorer 5 and 5.5, which, according to some web designers, are becoming the new Netscape Navigator 4 — a block that holds the World Wide Web back from converting to CSS design. However, the W3 Consortium has made CSS in combination with XHTML the standard for web design.

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_design

Sehwag is back !

One of the most satisfying songs ever ...

Song by ex-students from XLRI, Jamshedpur.
Download and enjoy :
http://www.jammag.com/mp3s/bodhi/bodhitree_gaand_mein_danda.mp3

Lenovo laptops

Avoid buying them.
I had to replace my battery once since it stopped charging altogether
and now just when the warranty period is over it refuses to start up.

My tryst with ergonomy

Problem : lower back ache.
Solution : lumber support(from Ergoworks/Amaron etc., available in pharma shops)
Exercises : for lower back,abdomen(leg raises,stomach crunches)

Problem : wrist pain in right hand
Cause : a combination of excessive usage of keyboard/mouse/playing table tennis :-)
Solution : Shifted mouse to left hand, wrist support by WristEase,
Exercise : wrist/finger/thumb stretching exercises, push ups



Problem : a combination of neck-ache coupled with upper back ache, which led to back spasm.
Solution : exercises prescribed by an Orthopedic surgeon at Appollo clinic, Sector-56,Gurgaon
and general exercises(climbing stairs at high speed etc.) . A video is also available here.
Also, as long as possible don't use laptop on your work-desk. If needed use with a docking-station or a spare monitor attached externally to your laptop.

Gurgaon vs. Noida

Is there any comparison really?
Noida is well connected internally and to Delhi via buses, cycle rickshaws, auto rickshaws etc.
Gurgaon has no auto rickshaws, very few and expensive cycle rickshaws,
Connectivity to Delhi via buses is pathetic.

Electricity situation is much better in Noida. Roads are well planned, make
right angles. Gurgaon lacks there too. Traffic signals are much more than Gurgaon.

But one thing is in favor of Gurgaon, and that is, at a lot of places its air breathes
much easier and better than Noida. May be because of a huge number of industries
are set up here in Noida.

About smoking

Summary of an essay in the book "The Tipping Point",

it's about how to stop teenage smoking which leads to

smoking addiction.

Key conclusions :

1. it's in the genes, the amount of nicotine you can take.

2. the people who affect the teenagers the most are,

not their parents or other adults, it are other teenagers.

solution : addiction requires crossing a certain threshold

of nicotine you take per day. if cigarette companies

put less nicotine in each cigarette, that threshold would

never be crossed and no one would become an addict.

Windows registry cleanup and disabling autorun

***************
Some malicious softwares can use Autorun to infect your Windows PC.
You can disable this feature using TweakUI on WindowsXp.
If you are not using XP, search www.microsoft.com or google to find out
how to disable it.
****************************
Today I uninstalled a lot of programs on my XP machine, since I thought
a large registry may result in slower performance. After that I was about
to run a registry cleanup tool when I read this :

"
There are a number of problems with the concept of a registry cleaner. Most notably, there is no reliable way for a program to know whether any particular key is 'junk' or not. Windows is closed source, so registry cleaner designers can not know for sure whether any particular key is still being used by Windows or what detrimental effects removing it may have; leading to examples of registry cleaners causing loss of functionality and crashes.

With regards to performance, whilst on Windows 9x computers, it is possible that a very large registry could slow down the computer's startup time; the on-disc structure of the registry is entirely different on the NT line of Operating Systems (including Windows XP and Vista). Slowdown due to registry bloat is thus far less of an issue in modern versions of Windows. More importantly, however, the difference in speed due to the use of a registry cleaner is negligible: rarely do they remove more than a few kilobytes from the total size of the registry. In fact, technology journalist Ed Bott has claimed that no-one has ever succesfully managed to measure any significant performance increase from the use of a a registry cleaner. Any potential user of a registry cleaner must thus balance a probably negligible perfomance increase against a non-zero possibility of system instability.
"
Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Registry_cleaner

So, I dropped the idea of using a registry cleaner.

Why open source softwares are good for India?

Because India has a huge services industry and an almost non-existent
product-industry in software. Now, advocates of product based companies
abuse services companies with all the venom they ever possessed.
And sometimes rightly so. But an open source model can go very well
with the current software demographics in India. As Ajay Shah wrote
a decade ago :

, "Open source is a profound idea.... The enduring puzzle of India's software companies is their persistent inability to grow from projects to products. Open source is a powerful answer to this problem. Open source reduces the importance of products and raises the importance of services.

With open source software, Anyone can contribute by improving the code -- adding new features, correcting errors, etc. The open source universe avoids the waste involved in 'reinventing the wheel,' which takes place in all software companies. In the open source world, each programmer builds on the work of others before him. This brings down the cost of development."


Source : http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/india/article.cfm?articleid=4250

'Indians Are Privately Smart and Publicly Dumb'

In his book Games Indians Play: Why We Are the Way We Are, V. Raghunathan writes about a farmer whose corn won top awards year after year. When a reporter asked about the secret of his success, the farmer attributed it to the fact that he shared his corn with his neighbors. Why, the reporter wondered, would the farmer want to share his seed when those neighbors also competed with him for the prize? The farmer's reply was, "The wind picks up pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbors grew inferior corn, cross-pollination would steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors do the same."

That Indians often fail to act like this farmer is the principal theme of Raghunathan's book.

Here is the source.

The fastest man on no legs

For more, read here.

Why we flock to India for a bride(Confessions of an NRI)

Some time ago, I was part of a yahoo group consisting mostly of NRIs.
There once started a discussion on why most Indian men go back to India in search
of a bride. Here is an interesting response from one of those Indian men from USA:

"
You want to really know why? Because here we believe in freedom and all these great values
but when it comes to practice Indo Americans fall short of acting on it or maybe because of
race prevented from becoming these values. As a result, they really just care about the
American dollar. How does this tie in with marriage. Well Indian women see Indian men as
second class citizens here in the states. This country the minute you set forth makes you
very aware that you are not important culturally. The white man here especially dates all
our beautiful Indian women yet the Indian men who want to date anyone have problems because
they have been given an inferiority complex and also often are told that they have never
been seen in good light. Ever seen a white man come up to you when you are with their own
kind quite frequently. Do you see an Indian man approaching an Indian girl who is dating a
white guy. Never they have no balls (well most of them). So the truth of the matter is that
the Indian man is forced to go back to India and marry a woman because his status becomes
so high because he has American dollars now. That is probably the only reason it is so easy
to flock back to India and pickup a wife. Of course any parent from India is going to see
that the guy is a dollar sign. Of course luckily we are so traditional as a culture that
even money doesn’t necessarily become the only glue for the relationship well at least
I want to think so.
"

Hard work never killed...

"Hard work never killed anybody, but why take a chance?"
- A quote attributed to various people.

This quote always comes across as a joke on the lazy type.
Whoever dared to think there was something wrong
with working hard, was instantly forced to think of himself
as someone making up excuses.

But the fact is, that hard work actually kills people.
And not only the blue collar people(working hard
physically), but also the white collar ones.

Have a look at this about what has happened/is happening in Japan :

Source : Karoshi
"...during the Bubble Economy, however, when several high-ranking business executives who were still in their prime years suddenly died without any previous sign of illness, that the media began picking up on what appeared to be a new phenomenon."

So next time you want to work hard, think hard :-)
--------------------------------------------------------
Original post on 01-01-2008
Work-related stress can kill, study finds(Added on 23-01-2008)

Transforming India - A country of moviegoers

What is the best way to transform India and get rid of its ills?
Make movies about the things you truly believe in and if possible
rope in a popular actor. Sounds easy, hmm? So, when Priety Zinta
wears seat belt in her car, it's more effective than a campaign
run by traffic police in Dehli.

IIT – Bombay to Launch its Indigenous Satellite

Source
AN ASSEMBLY of 30-40 students from the leader Indian Institute of Technology - Bombay (IIT-B) has designed a satellite that could be the first of its kind in the country to be launched into orbit.

11 "Don't-Tell-the-Wife" Secrets All Men Keep

11 "Don't-Tell-the-Wife" Secrets All Men Keep

Slacker

The day before I watched a movie called Slacker,by Richard Linklater(who has also made movies
like Before Sunrise, Before Sunset and Dazed and Confused). A different concept altogether.
Watch it to find out more. Then I also looked up Wikipedia for the term Slacker, and here
is an excerpt :

"
Hard work for its own sake is a fairly modern phenomenon, becoming culturally acceptable during the Protestant Reformation. A positive view of work was not a cultural norm for Hebrew, Classical antiquity, or medieval cultures. Greek society recognized that work was necessary for the satisfaction of material needs, but philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle made it clear that the purpose for which the majority of men labored was "in order that the minority, the élite, might engage in pure exercises of the mind — art, philosophy, and politics". The Greeks believed that a person's prudence, morality, and wisdom was directly proportional to the amount of leisure time that person had.
"
Now, my two cents.
How does Gita explain hard work for its own sake? Karm Yoga? There are 3 ways mentioned
in Gita which get one closer to God : Karm Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and Gyan Yoga. So unless a
Slacker is a believer(Bhakt, Bhakti Yoga) or has a sharp intellect devoted in search of God
(Gyan Yog), he/she is not as spiritual as a non-Slacker.

The Nice Kandyman - Tehelka article on Murali

Excerpt:
Even today, despite being a veteran of 116 Tests, Murali is a nervous wreck before a game. From the afternoon before, he is restless and nervy, sometimes short-tempered and curt, and tries to sleep as much as he can to avoid that feeling of nervousness. On the morning of a game he can’t even eat, and when he’s waiting for play to start spends most of his time locked up in the toilets or the changerooms. And till he bowls his first ball, Murali is worried. When he sends out
that first fizzing offbreak, though, a switch is thrown somewhere in the back of his mind. The nervous energy that comes from being expected to deliver in virtually every innings he bowls, is converted into a drive to perform.
Source

Try the mobile phone before you buy it - in Noida

Dubai-based Jumbo Group has opened its store in The Great India Place, Noida.
Here one can try out mobile phones before buying them. I.e. live demo as opposed
to the dummies placed in other retail chains(Subhiksha etc.). But the prices
are slightly higher here. (See source)
So a good strategy would be to try out and zoom in at your phone at Jumbo, at
the Great India Place and then go to the basement of CenterStage Mall and buy
from Subhiksha or The Mobile Store(located side by side).

What did Tehelka's business editor do when his mother was diagnosed with cancer

Here is a personal account of how did a person in Delhi cope when his
mother was diagnosed with Cancer?

Excerpts : 8 things no one tells you about marriage

If these pictures tell
the story of your marriage/relationship,
may be you need something to read,
;-). Here is something for you to read,
excerpts from 8 things no one tells
you about marriage.



1. Early on, when people say, "Marriage takes work," you assume "work" means being patient when he forgets to put down the toilet seat. In your naiveté, you think that you will struggle to accommodate some annoying habit, like persistent knuckle cracking or flatulence.

If only it were that easy. Human beings, you may have noticed, are not simple creatures. Your man has mysterious, unplumbed depths — and from where he sits, you're pretty complicated, too. You have to learn each other the same way that you once learned earth science or world geography.

"It's like losing weight," says Andrea Harden, 45, of Buffalo, NY. "You want it to be a one-time deal. You lost it, now just live. But then you learn it's a lifestyle. That's marriage. The effort is a forever thing." So don't be too hard on yourself — or him — on those days when you feel like you're struggling through remedial math.

2. Whoever decided to tell newlyweds "Never go to bed angry" doesn't know what it's like inside a bedroom where tears and accusations fly as one spouse talks the other into a woozy stupor until night meets the dawn. If this scenario sounds familiar, I've got three words for you: Sleep on it.

3. You will go without sex - sometimes for a long time - and that's okay.

4. A great marriage doesn't mean no conflict; it simply means a couple keeps trying to

get it right.

5. You'll realize that you can only change yourself.

For more read the original article.

If I had a magic wand...

...I would dissolve all this fog over Delhi's skies. It depresses me
beyond limit.

Excerpts from Tibetan journey - a book by George N. Patterson

I have been fascinated with Tibet and its people since the
day I visited Mcleodgunj. So, when I saw this book named
Tibetan Journey, I had to pick it up. In fact, I picked
up another one as well, named Among the Tibetans.
But I couldn't bring myself to like the later at all because
of its sarcastic tone.

As far as the former is concerned, even that is not the
stuff which can be called - un-put-downable but after
reading few initial pages in sequence, I read few randomly
and eventually settled for reading it in the reverse order.
That made it slightly more interesting.

It is written by George N. Patterson, a Christian missionary
in Tibet at that time. He journeyed from Tibet to India to
be out of the Chinese clutches, which were about to grab
Tibet, in 1950.

The author was well versed with the local Kham dialect,
and it shows in his understanding of the local culture and
customs. Written in a humorous tone, the book is worth
one read at least, though in a reverse order :-).

Here are few excerpts :

.........
Our deliverance from the jaws of death had given
me an appetite, or perhaps just made me more
conscious of the digestive function, and I gave orders
to dismount for something to eat at a house which
suddenly thrust itself at us from amongst the trees.
.........
It was an iron bridge-at least , its name meant "Iron Bridge".
The iron was conspicuous by its absence and the bridge almost
equally so. The misnomer disturbed my aesthetic appreciation and
I asked the guide why it should be thus named.
...........
"How do you do?" we Britished.
...........

Setting Free Download Manager as your default Download handler in FireFox

How to set up Free Download Manager as your default Download handler/manager/application
in firefox :
Go to :
Options -> Download Options -> Monitoring

Under the title Monitor, select the checkbox in front of Firefox.
That's it.

Two things you can do with Yahoo! but not with Google

Here is the original Post.


1. Specifiy the order of search keywords in queries

Say you want only web pages where word x comes before y but not vice versa, then just put the search query in Square Brackets. An example:

[Sylvester Stallone] - will only return web pages where the word Sylvester appear before Stallone.

2. linkdomain - An undocumented Yahoo Web search operator.

A quick question - Can you find the number of articles on Wikipedia website that link to CNN.com ? It’s almost impossible to get this data from Google but you can do so quite easily in Yahoo! with the incredibly useful linkdomain operator. The answer is:

linkdomain:cnn.com site:wikipedia.org

Vampire Electronics Suck!

From Environmental Graffiti :
.........
Recent studies suggest almost 5% of all energy used in the US goes towards standby power. With new consumer gadgets, one of the biggest “vampires”, coming out all the time, that amount could reach 20% within three years. Currently almost $4 billion a year is used to power devices that aren’t being used.
.........

Read More Here.

Shivpuri Rishikesh Slideshow

Goa - January 2007

Mcleodgunj trip with satish

Vagabond Wanderer

Today I have started a new blog, Vagabond Wanderer
, which is my travelogue written in videos and images.

Har Ki Paudi ( Haridwar)

Ganga Aarti - Har Ki Paudi - Haridwar - Part I


Ganga Aarti - Har Ki Paudi - Haridwar - Part II

Shivpuri (Near Rishikesh)

Camping experience at Shivpuri near Rishikesh - Part I


Camping experience at Shivpuri near Rishikesh - Part II

Sattal

Entry:



Paragliding(starting):


Paragliding - view from the top :


Paragliding - crash landing

Chandigarh

Chandigarh Roads


Sukhna Lake


Rock Garden


Rose Garden

अब के बरस

अब के बरस भेज भैया को बाबुल
सावन में लीजो बुलाय रे
लौटेंगी जब मेरे बचपन की सखियाँ
देजो संदेसा भिजाय रे
अब के बरस भेज भैया को बाबुल...

अम्बुआ तले फिर से झूले पड़ेंगे
रिमझिम पडेंगी फुहारें
लौटेंगी फिर तेरे आंगन में बाबुल
सावन की ठण्डी बहारें
छलके नयन मोरा कसके रे जियरा
बचपन की जब याद आये रे
अब के बरस भेज भैया को बाबुल...

बैरन जवानी ने छीने खिलौने
और मेरी गुड़िया चुराई
बाबुल थी मैं तेरे नाजों की पाली
फिर क्यों हुई मैं पराई
बीते रे जग कोई चिठिया ना पाती
ना कोई नैहर से आये रे
अब के बरस भेज भैया को बाबुल...

Terror attacks in Rajasthan

Rajasthan must be one of the few states in India oblivious so far to the terror attacks.
But not any more.

Here is my guess to what could have helped Ajmer blasts.

In February last year, India and Pakistan decided to reopen the Munabao Khokhrapar
rail link, after more than 40 years. Munabao lies in Rajasthan. It seems the rail link
has opened the terror links as well.

Videos

Talking of videos, here are my two most popular videos till date.
One features Sudeep Goyal, another Chandigarh Roads :

Sattal - Paragliding - Crash Landing

Just came back from Sattal, it was a group outing by and for Mentor Graphics Noida team.
Here are two videos which I shot while doing paragliding.
I ended up doing a crash landing in the end ;-)
Don't miss that prolonged "Oye" sound just before the end.

Only the last minute :



Complete version :

Arun's wedding video

Recently I attended Arun's wedding in Agra. Here's the video :

Ramazan bodes well for Pak

In the ongoing Twenty20 cricket world cup Pakistan have now beaten
both the world cup finalists(SL and Aus) in a row. These wins coincide
with the festivities of Ramadan. Pak seems to be benefiting from the early adoption
of Twenty20 at the domestic level. They have held 3 contests thus
far, less than only England(5) and SAF(4).

Pakistan's wins come as a much needed freshener for the cricket world,
bored and numbed with the monotony of Oz supremacy. Let's ravel
in as long as it lasts. Hope Bob is enjoying it too...

20% discount on books and NCERT online

Having moved to Noida, one thing I miss about Bangalore is the flat 20% discount on books.
Premier book shop and Blossoms on Church Street used to offer it without asking.
Same was true for Tata Book House in IISc.
But here in Noida, I don't yet know of any such shop. Do you?

On a different note, some time ago I came to know about NCERT's course material
online. It's a commendable feature with one problem though. One can't download
a book in one shot. One has to download every chapter separately.

If one wants to download it slightly faster, here are some file lists which one can
use with wget(wget -i fileList).

SRK in Chak De

Much has been said about Shahrukh Khan's performance
in Chak De India. I have to agree it is a fine one
but only as compared to Shahrukh's previous
appearances.

It is hard not to imagine how Aamir Khan would have
done it. And he would have done it much better.
No second thoughts on that one.

SRK didn't go over the top in this movie but he
didn't have the required intensity for an emotionally
battered coach.

In my opinion he was outshone by many actors
in the movie itself. Chitrashi Rawat(Komal Chautala),
Shilpa Shukla(Bindia Naik),Javed Khan(Sukhlal) and
Anjan Srivastav(Tripathi Ji) did far better. As far
as emotions are concerned the Dahi-Chawal dialogue
between Bindia and Sukhlal was the highlight
of the movie.

From the fun point of view players' registration
scene and antics of Chautala were the core of the
movie.

Anyway, nitty-gritties apart, it is a must watch.

Hats off to Bishnois !!

It is common in India for celebrities to commit a crime and
to get away with it by buying the witnesses. But not so for
Salman Khan, poor chap. He was caught hunting in a Bishnoi
territory. Bishnois are a community who religiously guard
trees and wild animals and have laid down their lives in
past doing the same.

Salman Khan was in trouble in another case of rash driving
in Mumbai, in which case the witness has gone missing(no surprises here).

But in Jodhpur he is up against Bishnois, who have the
political backing and near zero possibility of being
sold out to money.

Salman, you are in trouble.