Reach

Does Youtube throttle Facebook?

2011-02-02T18:54:00.000-08:00

I have noticed this more than once now. If I try to view a youtube video via Facebook, the stuff doesn't show up quickly. The same video if I get through youtube directly at the same time, streaming starts almost instantly. I finish my video on youtube and facebook is still trying to fetch it. Well, there are multiple questions here:

Does Youtube throttle Facebook servers? They could well do it owing to a high traffic rate from Facebook servers.
Is Facebook - Youtube network a bottleneck? This could be owing to the traffic that flows between the two websites. Facebooks hosted videos work fine, so facebooks servers are certainly not overloaded.
What format is Facebook trying to fetch the video from Youtube in? Well, Youtube does content adaptation to match the rate of incoming connection. So if I view a video on a extremely high speed network, Youtube would show me HD. On my home network I get 360 by default and that streams slowly too. So I manually switch to 240. If Facebook tries to fetch video in a particular format from Youtube and tries to send that over on my slow connection at home, that explains where the problem is.
Finally, is Facebook trying to throttle Youtube fetch from its own side? No idea.

I finished writing this post and Facebook is still fetching the Youtube hosted video as I write.

Cheers,
Manish.

A count of Installing Ubuntu 10.04

2010-10-30T07:48:00.000-07:00

This was simple. It reminded of my college days when we had to do a lot more work while installing a linux version. Here are a few steps that me and my friends used to do then as I roughly recall (well, this was a decade ago) -

Create the partitions on Hard Drive to accommodate both Linux and Windows.
Get a bootable CD ROM. I had RedHat from my friend.
Boot from CD.
Install
Try to locate missing drivers if some components don't work. After step 4, just pray that things would work else this step was more tedious.

Forward to now, I did this -

Downloaded Ubuntu Installer for Windows from here. No HDD partitioning required. I already had Windows running. It is still just plain simple
Install like any other Windows program
Boot and you see Ubuntu alongside Windows. Done!

However, my wireless card wasn't working after install Ubuntu. Ubuntu just did not detect my wireless network. I thought I had to repeat my college step 5. However, I was lucky. After a lot of Googling, came across this post - http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1490123

Just 3 commands fixed my wireless card issue with Ubuntu -
%sudo mkdir -p /etc/Wireless/RT2860STA/
%sudo touch /etc/Wireless/RT2860STA/RT2860STA.dat
%sudo service network-manager restart

The steps worked fine because my wireless card provider was RaLink and this was a Ubuntu workaround for that.

Cheers,
Manish.

Missing the fun of Persistent System's IPO

2010-03-21T20:11:00.000-07:00

My company Persistent is about to be listed at the stock market. The response to the IPO was phenomenal. IPO was subscribed 93.3 times and received the highest bid in 26 months! More on this story at - Moneycontrol.

During these exciting times for the company, I miss Pune. All my friends and relatives in Pune say that the IPO is the talk of the town. It would have been great to be there and experience the sheer thrill of one of the most important times of the company in its history. Would have loved to talk about it in the cafeteria, during coffee time, with colleagues and just feel it.

For now, being so long from Pune, I feel great satisfaction and pride (as always) to be a Persistent Employee.

Manish.

Google playing with TV, for Real!

2010-03-09T09:11:00.000-08:00

I suspected Google playing with TV in my previous post - here.

Google is now trying certain applications related to TV. Read more about it here.

Google on TV?

2010-02-16T07:40:00.001-08:00

Recently I stumbled upon Chrome TV extension.

The 3rd party extension allows you to watch free online TV channels. I could see some, however, majority of them don't work. That's fine. This stuff is still nascent.

Then, Google has their TV ads product - http://www.google.com/adwords/tvads/

Now, what if Google starts to use this into the internet TV (or has it started doing it already, don't know). A TV content generator or a TV channel can offer free channels and have Google Ads giving them the ads plus revenue. However, the share has to benefit the channels to offset their content generation cost.

To summarize, we might see a free TV world with Google Ads and Google in this way will get another stream to add revenue to their already fat pocket.

Goodbye Opera

2007-02-22T22:13:00.000-08:00

Opera, the fastest browser on earth! Yes, it indeed is, I felt so. I was a devoted Opera user for past 2 years. Finally, my association with Opera came to an end. I switched to Maxthon.

Maxthon is based on IE engine. So whatever opens in IE, has to open in Maxthon. Well, that's what the site claims and is their USP. And the very same was Opera's biggest drawback. Some sites just did not render correctly. Nothing to blame to Opera since Opera browsers are web compliant. However, site designers tweak sites to render them perfect in IE.

So why did I switch from Opera -

Issues with rendering few sites may be because of no fault of Opera at all.
Memory leak in Opera. Opera keeps growing in memory and I had to restart it once after 3 days since it became unresponsive thereafter.
Hogged a lot of CPU during data fetch.

Maxthon gives me Opera's features with IE's rendering capability. It runs smooth and takes much less memory for its operations. It has everything from Tabbed Browsing, Mouse gestures and so on.

One feature that lacks in Maxthon though and I dearly miss is the vim type search from Opera. In Opera, if I type slash (/) and search keyword, it would start looking it up in the current page. I simply loved that feature over to doing a Ctrl-F and then entering a search string. It would be great if Maxthon folks add it. Another one is partial rendering that Opera does. Opera goes on rendering the webpage as it fetches it. So you don't have to wait to view the parts of page until entire is fetched.

All in all, the memory leak issue that causes Opera becoming unresponsive was the main reason I considered to switch. I would certainly not have switched otherwise.

Cheers,
Manish.

Girl in the train...

2007-02-22T05:17:00.000-08:00

I see her travelling through the train,
And feel that this girl is very sane.

See her daily in the train lobby,
But I still don't know what's her hobby.

Dusky female with an angelic face,
Haven't talked with her, such a big disgrace.

This thing can't happen I new from the start,
Some people are destined to be very apart.

Pray that she finds her Perfect soon,
The guy will be born with a silver spoon!

Manish.

Train travel in India...

2007-01-12T05:10:00.000-08:00

Found this site while browsing the internet - http://www.seat61.com/India.htm

Wanted to know about the different classes (First Class, Sleeper class) provided in trains of India. This site had covered them all with pictures of each.

The site also gives you details about ship and train travel across many countries - http://www.seat61.com

A wonderful source of information indeed!

Cheers,
Manish.

REVIEW: Airline reservation portals in India

2007-01-05T05:16:00.000-08:00

This post tries to analyse various online airline booking portals in India.

Well, I just wanted to check which site offers me the best deals to fly from Mumbai-Delhi-Mumbai. I did not have to fly/book-tickets to do this, just check the deals provided on the websites :)

The sites I analysed were -
www.makemytrip.com
www.cleartrip.com
www.ndtvtravels.com (Powered by http://www.travelmartindia.com)

These are few of the most seeked airline reservation portals. Also, the assumption here is, you are ok to switch carriers. Else, you could accomodate flying miles from one carrier and acquire cheaper deals if you are a frequent flyer.

All the three sites competed farely well. The fairs are almost equivalent.

Let's compare them on a few comparison points:

Airlines included: MakeMyTrip does not offer deals on Air Deccan & Go Air. ClearTrip does not show deals for Go Air. Ndtv Travels shows what MakeMyTrip and ClearTrip show, plus Air Deccan & Go Air.
Lowest fairs: Well, it surely depends on the time of day you need to fly and whether you are OK with a budget carrier. If you are ok to fly with Air Deccan, MakeMyTrip is useless for you as it doesn't list Air Deccan. Air Deccan is one of the best airlines that offers lowest fairs. The caveats like frequent delays and no in-flight Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner go along with it though. So as far as lowest fairs go, ClearTrip surely gives the best deal. Though NDTV Travels offers Air Deccan in its portfolio, options provided by ClearTrip are far more as compared to NDTV Travels, primarily because NDTV Travels must be selecting some of the flights and not all during the day. For other airlines like Air Sahara, all the sites provide almost similar fair, Rs. 500 here and there.
Direct booking through carrier: Tried to check if the carriers offered me a better deal as compared to the aforementioned sites. Air Deccan did! I got a better deal on Air Deccan as compared to the ClearTrip offer. It is another story that ClearTrip helped me locate Air Deccan's flights and then I went to Air Deccan's website. Air Sahara's website asked for more fair than MakeMyTrip. MakeMyTrip had a discount offer going on for Air Sahara tickets at the time of writing this post. Kingfisher website offers better deals for Kingfisher airlines as compared to above portals. So if you want to fly kingfisher, try checking Kingfisher website for sure. If you are looking for a return journey through the same carrier, you must visit the airline website.

Conclusion: Which portal to choose ?

I would suggest to start with ClearTrip. It has coverage across most of the carriers and covers most of the flights within a day for a particular carrier. NDTV Travels does not list all flights within a day and MakeMyTrip does not list all the carriers.

The ClearTrip website also allows you to select/deselect airline carriers of your choice so that you would focus on airlines of your choice.

You may not be eligible for flying miles if you book these low fares. Please read the Terms and Conditions on websites if you are interested in earning flying miles.

Finally, if you want to choose different airline carriers for depature and return journey, you need these web portals. Else, if you are choosing the same carrier, make a point to visit the airline website after shortlisting a lowest deal from the web portal.

Cheers,
Manish.

Riya Rocks!

2006-12-25T00:41:00.000-08:00

Riya is a software firm that has pioneered image search.

It was long back when I first visited Riya, some 2 years back. Visited it again a couple of months back. Folks at Riya are really doing great work.

Where Riya clicks is, it looks inside the image. So, if you search for "Bill Gates", Riya would not merely look at image files with names as Bill Gates, but, would try to match the face to a known Bill Gates face. See - Bill Gates and Warren Buffet (move mouse over the image).

How do they do it ? That is their USP... With image file being merely bits floating around, they manage to identify the face/logos/text and match it up across different image files. That is great revolution in image search.

I was discussing the use cases with one of my friend Vivek, and here is one thing that came out of our discussion:

Riya could be used in matrimonial searches. Say, if you are looking for a girl who looks like Kareena Kapoor, fire a search on matrimonial site that is backed by Riya. If all goes fine, just approach the girls who match your criteria :)

Well, agreed that marriage is not merely based on looks, but the example use case tries to highlight the technological revolution Riya brings in.

Riya has already started "Visual Shopping". See - http://www.like.com/

Let's see where Riya takes its search from here and will Google pay a heed to it.

Cheers,
Manish.

पुण्याच्या पॊरी (Pune girls)

2006-11-01T04:22:00.000-08:00

Disclaimer: This is not my creation. I received it as a forward. Very interesting so thought of posting here. Forward does not mention original author...

पुण्याच्या पॊरी रॆ पुण्याच्या पॊरी,
बकुक्यांनचा मार आणी बॊलायची चॊरी.

दीसायला असॆल पडलॆला प्र्र्काश जरी,
मागावं श्रीउजबॆरी तर मीळतॆ मारी.

कुणी असॆल स्मार्ट तर कुणी असॆल गोरी,
जवळ जाऊन बघा ह्यांची पाटीच कोरी.

झाल्या कीती मॊठ्या तरी ऎकतील लॊरी,
पेंटहाऊसला जशी एक एटॆच मॊरी.

थोड्या आहॆत बाभळी अन् थोड्या बॊरी,
कुठलीही पोरगी तशी आहॆ फ़ासाचीच दोरी.

पुण्याच्या पॊरीन्चा असतो हजारदा रीटेक,
बाटींग करता करता उडलेली असते वीकेट.

TVS ची Scooty आणी बजाज ची Sunny,
शांपु लावला तरी सुटत नाही फणी.

बाहॆर जाताना ह्यान्चॆ तोंड असते झाकलेले,
आसावेत ह्यान्ना स्वताहाचे वीकपोईंट समजलेले.

पोरींन्ना वाटते आम्ही पावसाच्या गारा,
आगं, उडालेला फ्युज तुमचा तुम्ही तुटलेल्या तारा.

सांगायला सरळ असतात या पोरी वागायला - पाजी,
खाणार्यांन्नी जपुन खावी, ही तर कारल्याची भाजी.

म्हणूनच म्हणतॊ, पुण्याच्या पॊरी रॆ पुण्याच्या पॊरी,
सगळ्याच अश्या पोरी सॊडून माझी छोरी.

- Anonymous.

The Boy and I...

2006-10-27T03:48:00.000-07:00

Can I go for the sky - asked me a boy,
Don't see a reason can't you why - told him I.

Far too it is - apprehensively, said the boy,
So is the moon but people still reached it - confidently, told him I.

How do I get there - asked the boy,
Catch someone who has already been there - told him I.

Will I find him - asked the boy,
If you can't, read the books he wrote about it - told him I.

Won't I fall down and die - asked the boy,
You might but if you don't the world will see you - told him I.

-Manish.

Happy Diwali...

2006-10-19T04:27:00.000-07:00

Wishing you and family a Happy Diwali ...

World's most boring Job is...

2006-10-13T03:17:00.000-07:00

Me and my colleagues were having a stroll after our company lunch hour. Sabu started a topic - What can be the world's most boring job ? He talked of a job relating to a painter. This painter he talked about was supposed to apply fresh paint on the wall and wait for it to dry. Using somekind of instrument he had to check periodically whether the paint has dried. Sabu reasoned that waiting for such a long time to see if the paint is dry is real boring thing to do! Yes true... Then we started to think of other boring jobs...

The Gatekeeper, one who keeps opening the main door at hotels and salutes you, was another candidate.

Ruchir, another colleague, suggested that any job that requires WAITING is a dull job. Good argument...

The one that beats them all, according to me, is the job of lift-man. Poor fellow is tied up in a 4X4 feet lift for the entire day. All he gets to sit is a chair and his work area is restricted to that 4X4 (or much less too) lift. Entire day he keeps moving up and down doing the same thing myriad times. Furthermore, most of the times he doesn't have control over his motion. He will be resting on 6th floor and someone on the ground floor requests the lift. He is at the ground floor in a moment!

Other people can at least see/move around. If the lift-man is lucky enough, he will get a glass lift installed outside of the hotel where at least he can enjoy the scenic beauty. Else, if the lift is a typical oldie, what he sees is just a opaque lift-door hoping to get away with a busy boring day.

Cheers,
Manish.

Note: Image is obtained from http://www.dcimprov.com/boring.jpg

Justice delayed is Justice denied...

2006-09-15T02:19:00.000-07:00

That's the famous quote by Hon. William Ewart Gladstone. This quote struck me as the verdicts for 1993 Bombay Bomb blasts have started to come, in 2006...

Here are some more related quotes for Justice:

The more laws, the less justice. Marcus Tullius Cicero

Justice denied anywhere diminishes justice everywhere. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The voice of the majority is no proof of justice. Friedrich von Schiller

Injustice is relatively easy to bear; what stings is justice. Henry Louis Mencken

When justice is done, it brings joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers Bible

Source: http://en.thinkexist.com/quotation/justice_delayed_is_justice_denied/227920.html

More quotes on Justice at: http://en.thinkexist.com/quotations/justice/

Cheers,
Manish.

Kids disrupt Mumbai's routine

2006-07-12T03:20:00.000-07:00

This is not related to the Mumbai blasts.

It is to the recent demonstrations by a few Shiv Sainiks who wanted to express their vent against the desecration of the Statue of Hon. Meenatai Thackeray.

While viewing the succession of events after the desecration, I was wondering whether there is a kid in all of us. 5 year old kids go berserk when people do not listen to them. They start throwing their toys at people around and in the house. Hardly do they know what they are doing. The only thing they know is, this will get them what they want.

If anyone starts behaving like a 5 yr old kid, pelting stones at buses and destroying public property and causing nuisance to general public, is the behavior justified ?

Don't we punish the kid and teach him the values to be a more responsible kid ? Should the same pattern be applied here as well ? The government has to play the parental role. More importantly people should start realising the difference between them and a 5 yr old kid. Go and find some sane ways to protest. Else, get slapped!

Thank you,
Manish.

Dr. Kalam visits Pune - Southern Command HQ

2006-06-08T04:08:00.000-07:00

Today, Dr. Abdul Kalam visited Pune for a sortie onboard the Sukhoi MKI. Pune, which plays the headquarters to Southern Command of Indian Army will feel a great pride to be associated with this historic event. Dr. Kalam becomes the oldest Indian to fly in a Sukhoi or any Advanced Jet for that matter.

I thought of visiting the official website of President and wow, it is great. See it at - http://presidentofindia.nic.in/

Every citizen of India will feel proud when he learns more about our venerable President. You may read the Profile, Quotes, Poetries at - http://presidentofindia.nic.in/scripts/presidentprofile.jsp

Jai Hind,
Manish.

My Best Friend's Wedding

2006-05-24T02:52:00.000-07:00

Hi All

This post does not talk about the Hollywood movie. If you are looking for that, visit this.

Here I share my experience during my best friend's marriage. The most amazing thing about his marriage was, he had not met his bride until the day of marriage!

He's from UP. Per their custom, the parents (Father and Mother) select the bride/groom. The couple meets each other on the day of marriage. The girl's dad handedover 3 photographs of the girl. That was some solace for my friend. At least he had some idea how she looked. The girl did not have that luxury. My friend handedover a passport size photograph to her dad in return! Later many of us berated him for his act. Anyway, that's the way of things! He's a good guy and apologized to us for his behavior.

I was quite concerned for him :) I asked him, what if there were some issues after the marriage ? And didn't he have any opinion on the kind of girl he wanted ? He got a bit concerned and said, "Manish, I have to marry the girl if she's good and I have to marry her even if she's not good. Afterall, my parents have selected her and they will always think of my benefit". Rarely do I find such people of our age. I don't think I'm that way too...

After much suggestions and bantering from us, he started to talk to her over phone. That was a lot of progress for his culture...

The marriage ceremony was held at Kalyan, a suburb near Mumbai. There was a good baarat where we danced to the tune of band our friend had arranged. After about and hour of hard unruly dancing, we settled into the Marriage Lawn. We were pampered by the girl's relatives, afterall, ladke waale hai yaar! :)

The reception went on till 12 midnight. Weddings in North India are usually held at night. Same was the case here. Wedding ceremony started after 1:30am and went on till 5am.

Overall, it was an amazing wedding and I wish him the very best for future.

Cheers,
Manish.

Hasri

2006-05-14T22:28:00.000-07:00

There is my friend, her name is Rupali
Let me tell you, she is Mumbaiwali

I don't know how she looks
Coz I read her only in the blog books

Her screen name is Hasri
Meaning, someone who always holds an emotion that people get after watching mimicry

Her philosophy she tells me is Keep Smiling
An attitude me thinks is worth admiring

On Friday it was her Dad's birthday
This is dedicated to wish her Dad a Belated Happy Birthday!

Manish.

Birthday poem - Impossible is possible

2006-05-05T05:51:00.000-07:00

The last line, "Impossible says I M Possible" is borrowed from some internet forward :)

Can anyone tell me what is a birthday
Is it supposed to be just another fun day?

Let me tell you what I think about it
For I in my 20s feel there's nothing to rock about it

This is the day when we turn an year elder
Fast must we run now as the time gets a bit older

The dreams that we thought when we were sixteen
Should be started as we are now no more a carefree teen

Fast must we evaluate to see if the dreams are still possible
Otherwise reevaluate what we think is just feasible

But what seems feasible today may seem tomorrow impossible
So do it dude what you thought at sixteen, coz even "Impossible says - I M Possible".

Cheers,
Manish.

Telemarketing

2006-05-03T02:19:00.000-07:00

If you are tired of telemarketing, my friend Mandar has some solutions. See Telemarketing by Mandar.

नागपूरी मराठी - Attention Nagpur :)

2006-04-21T05:20:00.000-07:00

मिनष, तू उद्या हे काम करशील !

मी काल जेवून राहीलॊ...

दीमाग नको खाउ बॆ !

अशी बरीच अजब वाक्ये नागपूरी व्याकरणात आहॆत. मला ती माझ्या priya मीत्र्रांन्न मुळे कळली.

मला एक सांगा, "तू उद्या हे काम करशील", हे वाक्य order नाही का वाटत ? माझ्या नागपूरी मीत्र्रांन्ना order द्यावयाची नसते, पण तॆ असॆच बोलतात! मी, मुळचा कोकणातला अणी सध्याचा पुणेकर हे वाक्य असे म्हणीन: "तू उद्या हे काम करशील का ?" वा कीती आदर आमुच्या भाषेत!

"मी काल जेवून राहीलॊ" हे तर मला पटतच नाही. राहीलॊ ह्या शब्दाचे काय प्रयोजन ?

जर आपण सगळे एकसारखी मराठी पुस्त्के वाचत होतो, तर मग हॆ असॆ झाले कसे ?
पण खंरं म्हटलं तर, वेगळेपणातच तर खरी मजा आहॆ. त्यामुळेच वीनॊद हॊतात!

त्यामुळे मला माझ्या नागपूरी मीत्र्रांन्च्या वेगळेपणात फार मजा वाटतॆ.

पुन्हा भेटू बॆ,
मिनष.

टीप: मला हे blog मधे मराठी लीहीण्याचे software नीट वापरता येत नाही. त्यामुळे बरेचसे रस्व दीर्घ मध्ये दीसतात. एवढे वाचल्या बद्दल आभारी आहॆ.

The OBC arithmetic

2006-04-12T05:42:00.000-07:00

Mandal Commision is back. This time Arjun Singh, the HRD minister of India, wants to formulate a policy to introduce reservations in the elite institutes of India, the IITs and IIMs.

I've an anecdote to share related to the OBC quota issue.

One of my friend belongs to the OBC caste. One day I met him and we were discussing our education. My friend proudly told me that he completed his education on open merit, and not the OBC seat. He was of the strong belief that he should study at a place where his marks warrant him a seat and not the government quota. In other words, he took admission on an open seat in one of the engineering colleges in Pune. Since his marks were not in proportion to those required by the topmost educational institutes based on the open merit criteria, he did not get a seat in the topmost educational institutes in Pune but rather took it in another college based on his marks for the open seat. I admired his courage to do that. Afterall, I haven't met many people with such high self-esteem. He could have easily taken the reserved seat in the topmost college in Pune, which he, according to the rules, was entitled to.

However, he did commit, according to me, one mistake. He took admission through the open category. Now, you would ask, so what's wrong with it. Well, lets say a typical engineering college has 40 seats for each engineering stream. Of the 40, 50% are reserved payment seats. So we have 20 free seats. Of the 20, 50% are reserved. So we have 10 free seats for open category. If I'm not mistaken, there is some amount of reservation for the girls, I'm not sure how much, but lets take it 30%. So we remain with only 7 free seats for an open candidate! Of the only 7 seats that are available for the open candidate, 1 is grabbed by my friend. So we now have just 6 of the 40 seats for an open merit male candidate. If 6 other OBC candidates think this way, an open merit male candidate has no engineering future, for sure. God save him! He would never get that seat even when he deserved it.

The OBC candidates who had the guts to take admission based on their merits are really role models. Not many can think like that. However, while taking their admission, I believe, they should still choose the OBC seat. They should opt for the college where they would get admission based on open merit criteria (like my friend did), however, while taking admission, choose the OBC seat instead of open. That way, they would not end up consuming an open seat which an open male candidate badly needs.

Manish.

The Indian Idol (a money game)

2006-04-07T05:20:00.000-07:00

Indian Idol, the famous show based on the concept of American Idol. The show where talent matters less than luck. The show where people move forward based on a sms electorate than the real talent in their voice. And finally, the show where a good voice crowns the candidate an Indian Idol.

The sms-thing-to-take-part-in-competitions dates back to Kaun Banega Crorepati - Dvitiya (that's as back as my memory goes). Back then, I had received an email forward which explained how the program is raking in moolah by way of sms votes. I think Indian Idol too started with the same concept.

The Indian Idol (II) show, which I happened to watch confirmed 14lac sms votes. Each sms costing Rs3. That makes it Rs42 lac only through sms for one show! Plus the advertisement rates at prime time would add up to the show's revenue. Now that the show is in final stages, Indian Idol (II) show with final 3 contestants gathered more than 1crore sms votes!

Back in the old day, the way a channel received its revenue was through cable operators. Add to it some subscribers who installed Direct To Home (DTH) service. Now, the sms voting game is in vogue. Television channels have an alternate source of income, directly from the viewer, bypassing the cable operator. Yes, there is a telecom operator inbetween them. However, the stakes are much high. India, with so many of its people sending sms votes to make their candidate win. And in return, I wonder what the people get out of it! They would end up making someone's life. The only point is, does he deserve? Many deserving candidates were thrown out of the show and couldn't compete because of a lower sms score to their name.

But Sonu Nigam, one of the judges on the show rightly said that someone might become an Indian Idol this way. However, only his talent will tell whether he survives later in the long run... May the best prevail!

Cheers,
Manish.

Tourism in India

2006-03-23T04:43:00.000-08:00

Never quite remember whether I have ever seen an advertisement on Television, as a kid, promoting tourism in India. Kerala was the lone state with punch line- God's own Country. That started some couple of years back I believe.

Times have changed. It's raining tourism ads these days. Incredible India or Atulya Bharat, Incredible Northeast - a separate advertisement specifically for the North East India. Incredible India has an advertisement devoted for every part of India under its banner. Then there is a advertisement shown by Maharashtra Tourism - Maharashtra Unlimited.

Just hope that these advertisements are shown abroad, the way Malaysian Tourism advertises the motto Malaysia Truly Asia, in India.

Tourism is finally been taken seriously and advertised seriously in India. And why not! You name it and India has it. India has Snow, Rains, Desert Safaris, Beaches, Mountains, Forts, Caves, Big Temples, Huge Churches, Wildlife Sanctuaries and so on...

What else does one require to promote tourism ?
A democratic government, which we have and good, amicable people of which there is no dearth of :)

The summer temperatures are very high in some parts though. Visitors from outside India must check local temperatures before visiting since India experiences a tropical climate in South and temperate in North.

Here are the websites:
Incredible India
Maharashtra Unlimited

Cheers,
Manish.

Win With Times - When I got lucky

2006-03-21T03:03:00.000-08:00

It was one of those rare times when one gets prize for doing nothing extraordinary. Someone just comes and knocks on the door and hands over a prize...

Something similar happened with me couple of days back. I was at my home, getting ready for office. Someone knocked on my door. I opened it to saw a seemingly senior college boy dressed in Red T-shirt at the door. He enquired if I'm a regular buyer of Times of India (TOI). I was aware of the "Win With Times" contest since the snaps of people winning are in TOI.

In the Win With Times contest, the only thing one has to do is, carry along the TOI copy everywhere they go. If the TOI employees ask for paper and we have a copy, we get a free gift.

I handed over my copy to the guy at the door. And Voila! I was offered a free gift sitting at home! He stamped the paper and gave me a wrapped gift box. It had 6 different flavors of Lijjat Masala. Not much use to me since I do not cook food at home however, the sense of getting a good gift was a nice one.

Cheers,
Manish.

माय मराठी

2006-03-14T05:10:00.000-08:00

माझ्या मराठी मीत्रान्नॊ
माझ्या एका मीत्रानी लीनक्स मिधल KDE चे मराठी अनुवाद करायचे यॊजीले आहे.
तरी आपण सरवांन्नी जमल्यास हातभार लावावा ही वीनंती.

त्याचे webpage.

मराठी अनुवाद येथ करावा.

मला हे blog मधे मराठी लीहीण्याचे software नीट वापरता येत नाही. त्यामुळे बरेचसे रस्व दीर्घ मध्ये दीसतात. एवढे वाचल्या बद्दल आभारी आहॆ.

मराठी लीहीण्याचे software येथे मीळेल: baraha

धन्यवाद
मिनष.

National Geographic Channel (NatGeo) and Baba Ramdev

2006-03-10T05:27:00.000-08:00

This article briefly deals with the issues that can come up during a Baba Ramdev training course of Pranayam (breating exercises).

National Geographic Channel celebrated Microkiller week in India. The programs were related to killer bacteria and viruses. The programs seemed to be well researched as they always are in case of a channel like NatGeo.

I happened to see a recent program on NatGeo which dealt with Tuberculosis (TB). The program was a story about a foreign national who visited India. On his visit he caught TB. The doctor gave him a course of antibiotics. He took the course partially as the symptoms of TB started to wither away thinking that his TB is cured. However, there were mutated bacterias still in his body. Since he did not take his full course, the TB bacterium survived. During his visit he learnt the breathing exercises in Yoga, known as Pranayam.

He then went back to his country thinking he had his TB cured by the antibiotics. With all noble intentions, he started to evangelize the science of Pranayam to his friends. Pranayam consists of breathing exercises supposed to keep a human mentally and physically fit.

However, in this case, the person was exhaling Mycobacterium TB. Within a month, the channel said, all the 5 people in the room caught TB.

I'm a great fan of Baba Ramdev. Baba Ramdev preaches Yog in India. Pranayam was always thought to be a divine art until Ramdev Baba popularised it to everyone and anyone in India who wanted to practise it. I regularly used to watch his television programs on Aastha channel and did the exercises he taught on television. Ramdev Baba's classes are filled with not 100 or 200 but by 10,000s of people at a time. The classes are conducted on huge grounds.

After viewing NatGeo program, I was a bit concerned about the implications of such a case on these classes. My friend had done Baba Ramdev's classes and he said there is no medical checkup prior to attending these classes.

The solution is not to do away with Pranayam class that benefits people more than it harms. Baba Ramdev must in this case be notified to take due cognisance of findings by such a reputed channel and its implications on his classes that we, people of India so much love.

Manish.

VastuShanti Vs Housewarming

2006-03-07T05:20:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to compare how these two words often used for the same ceremony, ironically differ.

VastuShanti is a ceremony by Hindus to sanctify a new house before moving into it.

Recently I received an invitation for VastuShanti. My friend had sent the invitation in English and hence the subject line read:
"Invitation for Housewarming".

VastuShanti is a Marathi word which is a combination of two words:
* Vastu meaning House
* Shanti meaning Peace

Hence, roughly it means, a ceremony that is supposed to bringing peace into the house. In other words, it means we are trying to cool off the house.

Whereas, Housewarming is exactly the opposite :)

Just thought this as interesting. Two words, seemingly the same and having different etymological meaning.

Cheers,
Manish.

NOTE: Got the yagya pic from http://www.vedic-yagya.com

A sojourn to Kolkata

2006-03-03T04:12:00.000-08:00

Recently I had a chance to visit Kolkata. I was very excited. The only place I've visited outside Maharashtra being Goa. So just the thought of visiting a place on the other coast of India was enough to cause excitement :)

I was wondering about the Bengali people because I had a Bengali friend who used to get angry quite often :) Then the Bengali language... The English Bengalis speak has a lot of Bengali accent in it. And then, I had read about Kolkata a lot in my history books at School. After all, the then Calcutta and its people played significant role in India's freedom struggle. Netaji was one of the cardinal players in Indian freedom struggle. All this arose in me huge excitement about Kolkata.

We (me and colleagues from my company, Persistent Systems) landed in Kolkata on a Friday evening. We were visiting Kolkata for campus recruitment activity. The Professor of the college had arranged for our accommodation and travel within Kolkata. We went straight to the Indian Institute of Hotel Management - Kolkata (IIHM-K) and shrunk into the bed. The IIHM-K doubles-up as Business Hotel and College for Hotel Management. This gives the students a field experience by training them directly through client interaction. Campus interviews were scheduled next day, Saturday, early morning.

From my interaction with Professor so far, I found him a very cool and supportive guy, quite contrasting to the previous opinion about my friend :) Maybe since we were here for interviews, we were pampered a bit :)

Me and one of my colleague, Ashutosh, went for a walk around the hotel. There was still some time left to start the interviews. The place we were staying was Salt Lake City. This is the IT hub of Kolkata. However, since we were from Pune, which is only second to Bangalore in IT for India, we felt Kolkata has still a long way to go. TCS and IBM were the two major companies in the vicinity.

We started the interviews from 9am on Saturday. The first session went on up to 2pm. Professor called us for lunch.

The lunch was simply superb. Me being a non-vegetarian pounced on everything that was non-veg. There was chicken, the regular dish and Bengali fish. The fish was Bedgi as it is called in Kolkata. I had lots of Bedgi, Roti and Rice. Then came the desserts and it was the famous Rasgulla. I had tried Rasgullas before but none tasted so great. After all, I was having the authentic Rasgullas in the city where it is supposed to be! Rasgullas are pronounced by Bengalis as Rashogollaas. Basically, Rasha means syrup and gollas means spheres. Then came the Mishti Dohi. Mishti is sweet in Bengali and Dohi in Bengali is Dahi in Hindi or Curd in English. Since I don't like curd, I did not have it. The Professor thought I did not like the preparation and I convinced him that I do not like the basic curd itself. Forget sweet curd. I instead made a deal to have another Rashogolla :) During this period I ate a lot and almost forgot that we still had to interview our candidates. Aaah... That was going to be tough with so much food in my tummy! We all were very much pleased with the hospitality showed by the Professor. And in the end, Bengali food esp. Rashogollas is one of the best rendition of a chef. God bless the people who invented Rashogollas (see wikipedia link to check who created this recipe).

The interviews started again. They went on up to 7 in the evening. 7pm is very late in Kolkata! The sun rises early and sets early. We all in India follow the same timezone and hence this odd behavior. I saw outside the window at 5pm and it was like 7pm in Pune. The city gets up early and closes early.

The interviews went fine and there were some offers made, not much. The Professor told us that we were visiting late, hence most of the toppers were already placed.

Since all the interviews were over on Saturday, we were all excited by the thought of being able to get a glimpse of Kolkata on Sunday. Our return flight to Pune was at 6 in the evening on Sunday.

Kolkata is famous for its Kolkata Sarees. We requested Professor, on Saturday evening to let us know about any shop nearby. It was already 7:30pm by now. The Professor told us that he would take us to one of the most famous shops for Kolkata Sarees. We went with him and spent an hour and half at a shop named Basak in Kolkata. Sarees are inexpensive in Kolkata. Most of them were at Rs.300 and the the highest of the one I liked was at Rs.800. The girls in our group told us that Rs.300 saree in Kolkata was almost equivalent to Rs.800 saree of similar make in Pune. So everyone ended up buying a lot of them, some for their spouse and me for my mother.

So, Saturday, the interview day was a very nice experience. Ahh... I forgot to mention one thing. The eyes of Bengali women. Bengali women, in this matter, are really gifted. I've seen many people around but none with such beautiful eyes as Bengali women. Their eyes resemble the goddess Durga that we see in Durga puja pictures from Kolkata. The accompanying picture will give a better idea.

The Professor was very kind to arrange a taxi for us on Sunday. We had told him about our travel plans and he advised us to visit a few places in Kolkata on Sunday. The taxi driver Naimuddin was a 60+, aged man. He knew Kolkata as if he had spent his life there! He took us first to the Belur Math. This Math has memories of Sri. Ramakrishna Paramhansa and Swami Vivekanand. Ideally, it would require almost 3 hours minimum to see and read all that is present there. However, we quickly went through everything as we had to visit Dakshineshwar, the Maa Kali Temple in Kolkata. We then went to Dakshineshwar temple where the security procedures were similar almost similar to an airport!

Both, Belur Math and Dakshineshwar temple are located on the bank of sacred river, Ganga. The legends says it that a bath in Holy Ganga would wash away all the sins committed by a mortal. We went and washed our hands and feet hoping that our counter was reset :) Jokes apart, but this river, I felt had something in it. I had never seen a river big as this. Its width was almost a kilometer or maybe more. Rivers in Maharashtra that I've seen are not so big. This was almost like an ocean to me...

We then drove over the Howrah brigde, the one on which the fight sequence of the Hindi movie Yuva is filmed. We got a glimpse of Eden Garden, the world's highest capacity cricket stadium and then the Howrah station. We then took Rashogollas for home from K. C. Dass, one of the best makers of Bengali sweets as Naimuddin said.

One thing I noticed about Bengalis is, they eat lot of sweets. The preparation is undoubtedly the best in India as Bengali sweets are preferred anywhere in India. While we just had our lunch, two college students came on a bike, stopped by a Rashogolla shop, ate a few Rashogollas as if they have just had Wada paav and left. Wada paav is a famous recipe in Maharashtra.

Finally, it was near about 5pm and we headed to IIHM-K hotel. We packed up and headed for the airport. Naimuddin took us from hotel to the airport. It was time to say goodbye to Kolkata which is such a lovely city and has so convivial people. This memorable experience would not have been possible without my company, who gave me a chance to come here, the Professor and Naimuddin.

We were offloading our luggage from taxi with Naimuddin's help. We offered Naimuddin some tip. He had really been very helpful to drive us in Kolkata and telling us what we should visit and in which order. My colleagues had just started walking to the airport gate. I said to Naimuddin, "Phir Milenge" (English: We will meet later again). Naimuddin smiled back, pointing a finger at himself and said, "Agar Jinda Rahe to Jarur Milenge" (English: Certainly, If I'm alive). I was deeply moved by that statement. Naimuddin was a old man, probably in his late 60s and I did not realise his age until he said this...

Manish.

Can I compare India and European Union (EU) ?

2005-12-20T05:25:00.000-08:00

Few months back, the news came...
The Dutch rejected EU, then the French.

And then, the comments flowing in...
One of the common comment was:
The Dutch and French should learn something from the world's two great and diverse democracies (India and the Unites States of America). They should accept to live in a changing world and expand borders.

Let's leave US aside as I won't speak much about that.
Since I'm from India, it would be best for me to compare my nation with the condition Dutch and French are facing.

As we all know, INDIA is a country with multiple States, each having their own local language as the mothertongue of that State. India is one of the most populated country and with around 24 states and more than those many languages, it is really diverse!

Still, can we really compare the state of Dutch and French with the current state of Indian people ?
I guess no...
We in India were brought up from our childhood as sons and daughters belonging to our proud motherland, India. Students from Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, everywhere else - all read about Gandhi, Nehru, India's freedom struggle right from the arrival of British, 1847 unprising and India's independence. These values of mutual brotherhood against fellow states were imbibed in us right from our school days. So, a Maharashtrian will study along with a Gujarati, Punjabi, Kannadiga and so on...

Hence the question of consider someone else from some other state as an outsider really does not arise (There are few issues here. Few people do consider others as outsiders but their number is not bothering).

Now, picture this...
We in India are being told that we would have to form a Asian Union (AU) which would include China, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and so on... That is the true way of comparing the EU against the AU. How many in India would accept that ? Will the Chinese and Pakistanis accept that? I believe, that gives a healthy comparison instead of just comparing EU against diverse democracy like India and then blaming the French and Dutch for non-compliance. That's too harsh on the Dutch and French.

If EU wants to succeed, it can take a leaf out of our book and start teaching common history of Europe and mutual respect right from school level (Don't know if they are doing that already. From the EU results it looks like they are not). That is the best place to eradicate hatred and instill moral values. No one is asking them to do away with local history. We learnt our local histories in schools as well, and we are definitely proud of being our own identities like Maharashtrian, Marwari and so on along with being an Indian. But we also know to respect other fellow state members and that would not have been possible if we were not taught that at school level.

Manish.

Crawling into a 9'' x 9'' hole... That's Kanifnath cave!

2005-07-27T22:47:00.000-07:00

Every weekend is a good one for me.
This one turned out to be better and one of its kind.

Kanifnath cave is a place situated near Pune, India.
It's about 20/25 kms from Kothrud, a suburb in Pune.

Kanifnath was a great Saint and belonged to the Navnath clan. The locals told us that Kanifnath visited this place and discovered this cave.

The cave has now turned itself into a temple. It's situated atop a mountain. It took me and my friend around 45 mins of climb to reach to the temple.

The bizarre thing about the cave is, you need to crawl inside the cave through a 9-inch by 9-inch square!

Initially we were apprehensive on getting stuck. It is just hard to digest that you can crawl yourself through such a small frame. Then we saw a middle-aged man do it skillfully without any problem.

Ah, forgot to tell one more thing. Before you crawl in, you have to take off your shirt/t-shirt. Bare it all on top, pants must stay :).

Women are not allowed to get into the cave. Some temple's in India have that restriction. Here it is not possible due to the aforementioned clause.

So people crawl in with their heads going in first. Once you are in, there is room for about 10 people to stand comfortably. The cave does not have any other opening apart from the 9'' hole. So people with claustrophobia should refrain from going inside. There is a Samadhi like structure inside and a lantern burning.

Coming out of the cave is a difficult task too...
The legs must come out first...
That's the established protocol.

This way you never end up turning your legs towards to holy Samadhi structure within the cave, either while going in or while coming out.

Having done this once, we felt a sense of achievement.
It's a great feeling that you go inside and come out from there.

The climate was amazing too, windy and cloudy which made the trek even more heartening.

How to get there:
Take Pune-Hadapsar-Saswad road.
From Hadapsar GadiTal go further 10kms.
On Saswad road, you would see some snack outlets.
Turn right, Kanifnath temple is visible right on the top
of the mountain.

You would have to climb your way up...

In case you want to reach up using your vehicle, go further to
Saswad and there is a road directly from Saswad to Kanifnath cave at the top.

Cheers,
Manish.

Sansani

2005-07-18T06:43:00.000-07:00

'Sansani' is a Hindi word which roughly translates in English
as "something causing an uproar"... (I'm not that good translater)

Sansani is name of one of the TV shows started in the "Star News" channel in India.

Once while skipping through the channels I came across this show.
The compere's appearance and his way of speaking caught my attention.

He has quite an unorthodox look being in India.
He sports a moustache and a beard (okay, people in India have that), with a pony tail (rarely seen).

His voice is characterized by his effort to command the audience :)
Tries to speak too loud and in higher pitch.

Now about the show.
The show focuses on carrying 'sting operations' against -
* Self proclaimed Sadhu's (Saints) who claim to have a panacea for any worldly problem
* Government departments taking bribes etc

In short they ask people who have been duped to approach them.
Sansani would try to help these people by bringing the injustice caused to them in public...

Wonderful idea!
These 'sting operations' are not a new thing per-se.
However, the way Sansani does it is something which I really hated.

There was one Baba (Sadhu/Saint) who claimed to have remedies to cure ailments of some girl. Baba took some money and did not lay-by his claim. Girl approached Sansani. Sansani was all set to carry out the operation.

Baba's false claims were open in public, which forced Baba to wrap-up his store and quit.
Okay till here... This is done for the good.

What followed next was horrible.
Baba was punished in front of camera.
He was told to bend down his knee and do some stuff our teachers asked us to do in school. Why humiliate a person so much? Sansani did what it wanted to and Baba's shop did close. But this stuff was really bad and not upto the taste of a channel like Star News.

Few days later I noticed a similar program on Zee News, another news channel in India. This guy's tone was similar to the Sansani guy. The show did the same buisiness as Sansani.
However, Zee news did something real disgusting.

One such Baba was approached and when Zee News made their identity known to him, the poor fellow was frightened so much that he peed in his pants! I came to know about this because, Zee News camera person shot his pant and the commentator was giving a whole-hearted commentary on their latest kill. Shucks!

Is this the new trend in journalism ??? or something we would like to see ???
Sorry, Nope!

It is okay for Sansani or the other program to help public by doing good to them and exposing such false Baba's or whoever they want to. However, it should be done with decency and flair.

Manish.

Why Reach ?

2005-07-18T05:23:00.000-07:00

The word Reach fascinated me ever since long.
No matter wherever we are, we always try to expand our Reach.

Blog in its own way serves as a medium to allow everyone know
about you, your thoughts, your likings and more importantly know only things you would like to tell ;) No questions asked.

Till now I used Blog as a medium to Reach people.
This is my effort to have people Reach me.

Manish.