Thoughtworthy : Honey Krishnan's Blog

2010 Main Events

2011-01-14T08:57:00.001+05:30

My blog posts have dried up. I don’t want to give any justifications.

Its always interesting to look back to see the events that happened. I have been doing that almost every year in my blog.

Another year in Danbury, CT. This is my 3rd year in this small little New England town. A peaceful town this is, I would love this kind of life when I retire.

Some of the main events that happened in my personal life last year.

Visited India in April. Visited Mumbai, Kerala and finally Bangalore. Returned on May 8th and on the way stopped in Dubai for a quick visit to relatives and friends.

Ishika celebrated her 1st birthday in May. We had a party at the crown court hall, around 45 people attended it. Preksha and Ishika had their own individual cake cutting and then we served dinner to everyone. There were some games for the kids and adults. Overall a fun evening.

Travel

Visited many places this year. Major ones are

Niagara falls

Virginia beach
Bronx zoo
Beardsley zoo
Hammonasset beach
Six flags New Jersey
Boston city
Essex steam train
Ottawa- Canada (me alone)

Summer was quite busy with all these trips and the big India trip.

Preksha

Preksha started her Kindergarten this year at Mill Ridge Primary school. She has her school bus coming at morning 07:45 and dropping her back at noon.

Preksha had her dance performance for the Diwali function organized by Indian association here. The program was covered by media and her picture appeared in the local newspaper too.

Lastly some significant statistics of this year for our family.

Books

We Read a lot of books thanks to Danbury Library. A reading history check at the my account in Danbury Library shows an astonishing number of 260 for the year 2010!!!! Its interesting to note the total number also 850 from 2008. Its all me and Preksha’s books.

Movies

Also, another interesting number is the number of Movies watched. Thanks to Netflix.com. My account history shows 71 Movie DVD’s were shipped to our home last year. Online watched movie count stands at 130. That is 200 movies in 365 days !! kind of unbelievable.

Grand Design - Review

2010-10-31T02:03:00.001+05:30

The Grand Design by Stephen W. Hawking

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It was Einstein’s dream to discover the grand design of the universe, a single theory that explains everything. Hawking, considered one of the most intelligent man alive today and the coauthor Mlodinow's with his exceptional writing style brings out this masterpiece; trying to explain the intricacies of the Universe we live in. The book tries to answer some of the basic questions we all ask every time. Why do we exist? Why are the laws of nature what they are? Did the universe need a designer and creator?

Authors have done a great job in explaining the scientific point of view while answering these questions. The last one attracted a lot of controversies due to its blatant attack on Biblical theory of Origin and creation. Hawking tries to prove that the Universe does not need a creator but can spontaneously appear out of nothing, each with different laws of nature.

The book gives us a lot of smart but simple examples and pictures and along with brilliant narration, this book has attained the status of a must have on your shelf. For grownups like us it’s like revisiting your old physics class and for younger generation it is the future reference book.

Public safety in India

2010-02-23T18:45:00.001+05:30

I have been thinking about this for a long time. A tragedy in one school in Kumbakonam (TN) back in 2004 may be the first instance that prompted me to think about it. Today, on hearing the Carlton towers fire in Bangalore made me write this.

I am not sure if we have a department of Public safety in India at State level or Centre. Also, we don’t seem to have required policies and standards to follow for public safety. I think its the duty of BIS to come up with standards related to public safety. This like many of our quality standards like ISO and Bharat Stage norms needs to have different levels so that an organizations can choose and mandate minimum level of acceptance whenever the case arises. For example, Bangalore City makes level 1 of safety standards mandatory for all organizations that employ more than 50 people. similarly, state governments can say all schools should confirm to a particular level of safety standards. A city can mandate that all schools should conform to some level of safety standard in order to be qualified for approval.

This brings a lot of scope for this area currently totally neglected. We will have certifying authorities approved by BIS who in turn will be responsible certifying organizations and auditing them whenever they need to confirm to safety standard level.

For general public, it will become easy to understand the safety level of a place or organization or any public utility looking at the safety rating they have. It is also going to be a marketing point for organizations too just like quality standards.

Now, coming to levels of public safety it should be defined in such a way that minimum deterrence to risk and a basic plan in case of emergency should be available even at the lowest level. Awareness level among people in the organization also needs to be audited while awarding the safety level grade. Fire safety, crowd management, security training, emergency medical training are some areas that need to be measured while rating the safety level standards.

Nothing works in India without some money involved in it. I would propose a tax deduction percentage depending on the safety level rating being awarded to the organization to encourage this practice. This is something Financial ministry should actively consider as spending money on public safety should be encouraged in India to make sure we are spending money on preventable calamities.

This is not something that can be achieved in a short time, but some giant steps in this direction will surely take our surrounding a lot safer than now is. I can clearly see a lot of organizations that would gladly accept this and imbibe into them. But the real value will come when cities and communities accept them and encourage them.

Technorati Tags: public safety,carlton towers,bangalore,india,fire safety

The curious case of Toyota

2010-02-16T01:22:00.002+05:30

Technorati Tags: toyota recall

[ VR7TV4YD77NJ]

2010 may be a memorable year for auto industry. What we are witnessing now is a live unfolding of a story, that is going to be part of numerous future case studies and management lessons. Recall of 8.5 million vehicles in US for potential sticky gas pedal issue has shaken and damaged the perception of Toyota among its customers and buyers. The fall of Toyota’s ‘Champion of quality’ image is nothing short of a intrigue filled fiction, I won’t be surprised if there are no movies inspiring from this.

While its quite difficult at this point of time to analyze deep into what went wrong, it is not so complex to see the repercussions and reactions that caused in the industry. Everyone is watching how customers are reacting. Every one wants to know how competitors are reacting. We have a marketing situation lab unfolding in front of us to learn from it. Future Kotlers and Druckers are already deep into the statistics of various studies at this time.

This is not something to be looked only in the context of Auto Industry and what transformations are going to be in store for it. The core dynamics of this change is going to be applicable to any industry of similar nature.

To me its plain ethics of marketing. Suspected relations between regulatory bodies and manufacturers are not so uncommon in US though less common than India. An issue as serious as this was successfully kept under cover and ignored for years, how is it possible without active assistance of regulatory bodies? Startling details of this complex unholy relationship is still coming out from the closet.

That is just one part of the question. Another more serious part is the so called reputation of responsible and responsive organization that forever seem to care about the customer above everything. Is that just another advertising line?

May be there is something else we fail to see here. Why do people buy Toyota? Do they make best cars available in the market or is it because they make the most value for money products. The answer may be no for both of this questions. People buy Toyota because they hear everywhere about Toyota as the leader and as the producer of best quality cars made in this country. If this is true, then its never going to be easy for a Japanese company to overcome this image. The damage is already done.

Sticking gas pedals are not just a Toyota issue, it seems this happens in many cars if you floor the accelerator. Recalls due to safety issue is also nothing new. 2008 saw Ford recalling more than 2 million cars. There are around 30 cases of death with suspected issue from Toyota cars from 2001 in US courts. The real issue here is the a perceived reluctance from Toyota to admit an address this issue in a timely manner. More irritating is how Toyota deals with issues like this in a closed door manner that seems to convey a authoritarian regime trying to save its face. That is not the kind of communication style an American expects to hear. Japanese may be better makers or cars but they still have a long way to go when it comes to marketing. As the saying you goes “the higher you climb the harder you fall”, this is a time to stop and look how you achieved what you have and make corrections to your path as you go rather than waiting to for the last moment.

2009: The year that was…

2009-12-26T00:25:00.001+05:30

Looking back, 2009 will be remembered for many important happenings in our life.

Most event of course is the Arrival of Ishika Krishnan, our second daughter on May 17th 2009

In-laws visiting us in America was another memorable event. After Ishika was born we visited Washington DC, Atlantic City, Baltimore and NY city with In Laws.

This year will be remembered an year of Maximum Hospital visit for us!! Mainly due to Maternity and Baby visits. My insurance statement shows 43 visits in total and a out of pocket spending of more than $5000 excluding Insurance premiums which is an extra $6000. Unimaginable!!

Preksha successfully achieved an admission into Mill Ridge Primary school and we moved to a home on Mill Plain rd.

Career wise, 2009 was an year of consolidation. Unlike the previous year, there were not many personal challenges and uncertainty. Compared to that 2009 went as planned and many things nicely fell in place. I got a star award from office and a client appreciation raised my intangible asset value higher!! Looking back it all looks very perfectly executed though there were many twists and turns. Many things helped me. Concentrating on what I have was the major lesson. That helped me to see through difficult situations and sometimes react positively to get the best possible outcome at the end.

I spend considerable amount of time on reading books of my Interest in 2009. Thanks to Danbury Library membership and many suggestions from the internet I now have an impressive reading list. Some books have helped me change my point of view drastically this year. I hope to continue this habit as much as I can. I always used to think that I will never have enough time to do things like this. Now I know, I have as much as time as everyone else has.

Healthy resolutions are another major change this year. Changing the diet to include more fruits and healthy foods was successfully implemented this year. I have a fruit bowl as evening snack to carry to office every day now. It made a lot of difference. Hope to continue and improve this in the coming year too.

Overall a happy year on looking back.

My Most frequently visited websites

2009-12-24T18:55:00.001+05:30

These are the sites I visit most in a day.

Gmail.com
Igoogle.com [customized to give me top indian news sites, weather, daily horoscope etc]
orkut.com
Times of India
Malayalamanorama
Facebook.com
mail.yahoo.com

The second list has sites I go for a definite purpose.

linkedin.com (networking)
weather.com
team-bhp.com ( Indian car forum)
Codinghorror.com (tech blog)
deals2buy.com (daily deals)
slickdeals.com (deals)
stackoverflow.com (tech questions)
joelonsoftware.com (tech blog)

Top 10 things that makes a great day!

2009-12-13T18:59:00.001+05:30

These are some of the things that changes ‘Just another day’ to a great day. Totally my views.

Watching a quiet Sunset or Sunrise on a beach
A good after lunch nap.
Getting some time to read a book
Walking bare feet on the green grassy park or lawn
Meeting your best friends and talking about good old days
Watching a cricket match that India wins at the end
Visiting a Temple
Lying down on the terrace watch a starry sky .
Finding something Interesting on the Web
Day you get a new coveted thing or achievement

"The Child is Father of the man"

2009-10-12T15:40:00.008+05:30

I have studied this Poem back in school and like many other things never understood the meaning of it completely. Now, after becoming a dad of two kids I am kind of getting an Idea what WordsWorth and Kahlil Gibran etc might have meant!!

Children do teach us a lot, everybody says that. But I don't think anyone really bothers to learn from them. When Preksha, my eldest daughter came to us in 2005 we felt totally changed. Bringing her up to a Preschool child was an amazing experience. So when we were ready to receive our second child Ishika in 2009, I was not feeling much anxiety as earlier. I felt I knew it all. Just like you feel you can beat the world after doing your first Project at work.

Most of the things that we can learn from a child does not come from them in the form of traditional teaching. That means, a child is not going to tell you something like your teacher did. They give you an opportunity to learn something like a Zen guru or Hindu Rishis have done.

I will list out some of the things here.

Patience and lots of them : This is something that you will learn really fast I guess. You have no other way if you want to get your child to do something.

Time Management: There is no time to waste, every moment is precious. This is true if like us, you don't have many caretakers for your children. Like Parents or Uncle Aunty's etc.

Managing your Expectations: You really can't cause any change but only can guide them towards it (whew!! that was a good one right!)

Giving up is not an Option: May be one of the best lessons. A child will show you the value of persistance.

Limitations do not exist: Yes, in a childs world there is nothing Impossible. This is one quality we should all keep burning inside us. Its the elders who introduce the word Impossible to them.

Judgement : A complete abscence of judgement towards other beings. We all have them, what they call cognitive judgements ( I still remember my MBA lessons you see!!). A child can accept anyone at her early stage, she does not carry a baggage of thoughts and pre-process that information before dealing with one person. This may be one of the best lessons a child can teach, as we can never really see another persons thought. We think we know what he is thinking or He will think or He thinks about us before dealing with someone known or Unknown. I recently read the book A new earth of Eckhart Tolle and he makes this point very clear. When we see a person we know, we need to understand that our knowledge about that person is like the tip of an Iceberg. The unknown is huge and that makes all the difference.

There are many more small lessons. Its just that we need to take time to learn.

Hello World from Ishika

2009-05-21T03:17:00.002+05:30

Virtual Earth Article Published.

2009-04-29T17:02:00.003+05:30

My article on Virtual Earth Implementation is published in ViaWindowsLive.com. Here is the link VE Maps using Georss and Pushpins

Its been around a month now that I have got interested in this technology. I am not officially in any project related to that, this was purely a personal pet project done at home during my offhours. Maps are great and I am attracted to them right from my childhood. Hope to do more on this in future.

Life in the recession era

2009-03-03T06:07:00.013+05:30

Life is going on with its twists and turns. I have completed an year already in US. Its not a really good time to be here. Life is tough for everyone. A rich and progressive society like US does not deserve this kind of a bad economic downturn. On the contrary, some one sure can argue about the inevitable natural correction time brings up. The economic discipline and paradigm shift in the general financial risk taking mentality that is resulting from the recession is going to strengthen the basic foundation of the American economy in the long run. There are some aspects that are terribly wrong, for example the education and health care. But belive me, americans don't need someone else to make them understand something like this. Its not that they don't realize it but feels powerless to do anything against the lobbying powers of huge MNCs who seem to have a huge stake in the running of this country. I don't want to find an analogue to the feeling of an Indian citizen against the growing corruption in all spheres of life. But sometimes I feel the feeling is same.

Danbury is a small town and life here is very slow. There is nothing much to rush for or feel excited about. Being in Bangalore for last 9 years and then moving to a town like this is like going for a year long vacation!! No traffic jams, no crowd, only 4-5 shopping places to go everyweek, these are some perks of a small town. But it becomes monotonous and boring especially during the terrible New England Winter. Termparatures were below zero for last 3 months now. Even during afternoon it does not come above 1-2 degree celsious. Kids can't go anywhere out to play, there is only one covered play area that is in the mall. All the danbury kids crowd there in that 100 sq feet area and have some fun. Lack of a frequent public transport greatly reduces the mobility of the family members unless they have another car at home.

I don't want to face criticism like Mathew hayden had to on his comment about India as a Third world country. If you see Cricket and money earned from that sport we are first world for sure. But how long we will have to go to drink municipal supplied water directly from tap? How long its before we get uninterrupted power supply like this. (during the last one year, may be for 5-6 hours power was not there here that too due to a tree falling on the line during heavy storm). How long till we get a police force and all equipped ambulance arriving within minutes from a distress call? Those are the aspects that makes a country developed.

On the contrary, Americans don't have options to go to hospital without having insurance and without loosing obscene amount of Dollars for silly tests and exams. The same X-ray or blood test costs in India with same technical facility costs less than one tenth of what it is here. You can't get an appointment with your pediatrician on short notice. While in Bangalore, when your child gets a bad cold you take her directly to clinic. Here, you call the clinic for appointment and they tell you don't bother to come just take tylenol(crossin like medicine). Only if the fever increases above 104 we can take them to hospital, that too only to emergency. The amount of charges billed will be equal to your six months salary!! Insurance will pay most of it so no one complains!!

Another aspect is the education. A preschooler in India can write A-Z and can even count upto 20 easily. Here, teaching such things is considered torture to a young mind. Educationalists in this country have alreay realized this and Obama admin have plans to restructure the whole education system soon.

Overall, Any place has its plus and minuses. There are good people and bad people everywhere. Brilliance and stupidity are everywhere. Hatred is there along with love. Its upto you to choose. Like A R Rehman said during his Oscar speech of 2009. "All my life I had the choice of Hate and love. I chose love and here I am..."

stackoverflow.com

2008-09-15T17:54:00.003+05:30

I am sure this is going to revolutionise the technical QA on the web. As Joel says Its really frustrating to search an answer for a specific programming search on the web. You get hundreds of hits and after going through everything also your doubt remains uncleared. I think that's where this innovation of Jeff Atwood comes in as stackoverflow.com. Belive me this is going to be as big as digg.com or even orkut for a developer.

Its really a web 2.0 site with OPENID usage for login and TAGS and voting etc

Joel and Jeff writes good informative and thought provoking blogs. I came to know about Coding horror only some months back, but Joel on software is been in my favoutites for a long time now. I hope someday I could write like them.

Search for Rules and Acts in Indian Law

2008-09-15T01:51:00.001+05:30

http://www.india.gov.in/howdo/otherservice_details.php

You can search for any acts or rules under indian law. There is a freetext search also. looks like an extensive database.

Article about my Business School

2008-08-30T01:59:00.001+05:30

An article about my Business school (Amrita School of Business, Coimbatore) in LiveMint

http://www.livemint.com/2008/08/25012137/A-Bschool-leveraging-educatio.html

No Zinger burger in KFC US!!

2008-07-21T02:17:00.002+05:30

It was a major disappointment. Whoever had zinger burger in KFC's in India would admit. I was so excited to see KFC very near to home after moving to US. The menu does not have Zinger burger!! I don't know why..In Bangalore, we go to KFC to eat this mainly. Almost all our bets were once Zinger burgers! But in the land of KFC its not available. You can find the bucket but Its huge as to fill the American appetite.

Even normal raw chicken is avaliable only Frozen. Can't match the taste of a freshly dressed chicken back home. Some guys told me to look for Halal shops as they will be fresher. There are none in Danbury. Settling for days old Frozen chicken and meat.

Classic Mistakes in Project Life cycle

2008-07-16T21:54:00.001+05:30

A really classic article. http://www.stevemcconnell.com/rdenum.htm

My favourites are

#5: Adding people to a late project.
#13: Wishful thinking.
#28: Requirements gold-plating.

Summer holiday in Cape cod

2008-07-13T04:31:00.035+05:30

Cape cod in MA is a geographically unique place and considered as one of the best place to visit in this cost of US. The 'arm' of cape cod goes inside the ocean forming a totally different envirnment. From Danbury, where we stay its around 220 miles away and its a 4 hour drive. We started on July 4th 2008 to spend our long weekend there.

The hotel was booked sometime in advance (Americas best value inn, Hyannis) and the google maps were taken and ready. Google maps were a back up in case my TOMTOM GPS fails in some case (which did not happen). So the journey started around 7 AM and the TOMTOM told me the that we will be reaching there around 11:30 AM. It was drizzling and the journey was good. On the way we stopped once for breakfast in Mcdy's and reached Hyannis at around 11:30 itself. Checked in to the hotel and was welcomed to a decent room. Due to the long weekend rush, the rates were too high I should say, paid around $139/ day for King bed room. Just a quick freshening up and we came out to explore cape cod. The first thing we realized is that, its not a good idea to drive around in this traffic. The traffic was heavy (though nothing compared to Bangalore jams). To explore Hyannis, best way is to just walk around.

We headed to Kalmus beach and it was quite near. The parking fee was $15. The beach was good and with family crowd. Preksha got into her swim suit quickly and headed for enjoying the sand and water. She soon found some company and really started to play in the water. The beach had lot of wind surfing going on and it was the first beach experience for Nisha and Preksha after coming to US. Preksha loves the sea, we realised that when we went to Goa and preksha was a 1 year old. She just refused to come out of water!! After that, everytime I go to Kannur; my home town in kerala, we visit the Payyambalam beach and that really is a wonderful and neat beach though not known much.

Coming back to Cape cod, the rest of the day did not have anything much but a visit to the famous Baxter's Boathouse for the dinner. We tried some fried clams and they were good. The best thing was the setting of the restaurant, you will be sitting on a deck that is build on the shore extending to water. In the evening sky the july 4th fireworks started soon. We enjoyed the dinner and walked back to the hotel ending our day 1 in cape cod.

Next day morning we woke up to hear the sound of rain outside. It was kind of gloomy outside and soon it spread all over our face too. The day was planned for visiting Martha's vineyard Island. Marthas vineyard is a small Island in the Atlantic and its around 30 minutes ferry ride away from cape cod. We went to a place called Fallmouth to board the Island ferry. The rain had stopped a bit but was still drizzling. We went to the ferry parking and it was crowded. But got a place to part and headed towards the boat.

The journey started soon and withing minutes we were out in the middle of the ocean. It was windy and cold but the air in the sea is quite different. For all 3 of us it was another 'First' experience. We had never been so far out in the sea. Soon the island became visible from the boat and we headed towards the oak bluff port of Marthas vineyard. There are two main ports there, one is Oak bluff and another Vineyard heaven. The Island Ferry that we took heads for Oak bluff whereas another major ferry 'Steamship authority' lands in both places.

Marthas vineyard is not very big in area, but it has some of the best beaches in US. We landed in oak bluff, went around for a while walking through those stone paved foot paths. The roads are not very wide here, so driving there is not a good idea. Moreover traffic is too slow to move around. The trasportation options are rented Scooters, cycles or Buses. We opted for VTA buses. They have some 13 routes which covers most of the island. As we had done the homework before starting, we knew which bus to take. The rain was getting heavier occassionally. We took route 13 bus to edgartown and spent some hours in that beautiful place. We walked around those green streets and checked out many small cute shops. Went inside vineyard vines showroom and found some of the costliest Tee shirts ever saw in US. Undoubtably good quality stuff they have but not quite in our range.

Moved ahead and we all were hungry by then. Looked around and saw a crowd near the next street munching food on the road side. The eatery was called Quarterdeck and the smell of fried seafood was in the air.. Went straight ahead and ordered some fried clams and onion rings. Preksha had french fries. I am not sure if this is a known famous eater around here, but the taste of clams were superb and anyone who likes seafood shouldn't miss them.

After luch we walked towards the VTS bus stop in Church street (reminds me of chrurch street Bangalore, though similarity is only in the name!!). On the way went to a shop and picked up some T-shirts to carry back and remember the visit. Took the route 8 to south beach to go to KATAMA beach. The bus was not at all crowded as the the rain had increased little more. Reached south beach in 15 mins and got down there. This beach is called Katama beach is beautiful. The atlantic ocean ahead was not very calm due to rain. There were not many people on the beach, surprisingly most of them were Indians!! Its such a great feeling to see your fellow country men so far in such a place. Me and preksha went to the waves and got ourselves wet in no time. We saw a Seal in the water and some people told us that they are seeing a lot of seals these days as they migrate to cape cod in summer. Almost an hour back we were back in bus to Edgartown. From there to Oak bluff again.

Bus stop in Oakbluff has a scenic park in the background. We had our snap taken there and slowly headed for the ferry back to Cape cod. It started raining heavily while we waited for the ferry. Preksha had already fallen asleep, we had one umbrella with us. I had sleeping Preksha in my lap, Nisha holding the umbrella for all three of us we waited there in the ferry dock. Soon we took the ferry and landed in falmouth. Took the car and headed towards hotel and crashed on to bed.

That day's dinner was Indian Rice and kerala style morukari!! No surprise, we had carried moru mari with us while going from Danbury itself and the rice cooker helped us in cooking the rice. It felt so good to eat that homely food after many episodes of burgers and french fries.

The next day morning was bright and sunny unlike the previous day and the plan was to go for whale watch. We headed towards Provincetown to get into the boat known as Dolphin fleet. It was hot and bright and the ride to provincetown was smooth. The highway is not very wide and speed limit in most of the places is only 40 miles. So it took some time to reach there. Took the tickets and we waited for the boat to arrive..

The boat soon arrived and the guide Dennis started explaining about whales and stuff like that. To see whales we have to go little deep into the sea, almost an hour ride it was and the more we went inside to the ocean the weather felt very different. The color of the sea was getting greener and darker as it became deeper.. The guide showed us some charts of the common whales found around and was talking about various things. Soon we found our first whale, there were two whales swimming in tandem. It seems its a mother and calf, apparently her 10th calf. They were huge, by almeans of course thats why everyone goes to see them!

In another one hour we had seen couple of other whales and they really were amazing animals. This was a trip that we wont forget for a long time. We headed back by 3 PM to the shore and slowly the cape code light houses began to appear on the banks as we kept coming nearer. . slowly the boat came to Provincetown shore and we got town saying bye bye to those wonderful boatmen. It was getting hotter and we had some real good homemade Ice creams from there. It was around 4 PM and we decided to head back home. Another 4 hours drive guided by our GPS and we reached back Danbury by 9:30 PM. The highways in US are just amzing, for the first time in my life I crossed speeds of 90 miles/hour (around 145 Kms) and it was such a smooth thing thanks the the dependable and stable Honda civic. Back home with wonderful memories of a short trip. That was the first big outing for Nisha and Preksha after coming to US.

Cold Colder Coldest!!

2008-03-15T03:52:00.003+05:30

Finally, I am getting used to this cold weather.
Its been almost 3 months since I arrived here in US. In Danbury town where I stay, the winter has been unbearable at least for me!

Back in Bangalore, this year we used to talk about how much severe the winter is etc. The temparature had dropped to 10-13 degree celcius during this december. It was very cold by Banglaore standards. And now, I am transported to this place where anything above 0 degree celsious is considered good in winter. Most of the January it was below 0 temparature. Now slowly its back to somewhere around 0-8 degree celsious.

Last year, I went to Shimla to see snow but there was no snow that time. Now that I have seen snow everywhere and experienced it, I don't think this weather suits me. I don't think I like cold places.

Its March now and everyone has started saying that Spring is arrived!! I don't see any green leaves around yet. I hope to see some soon.

Its summer in Bangalore...and I miss the place.

The Interview

2007-12-24T17:43:00.000+05:30

No, It's not about any job interview. Its about school admission interview. Candidate was Preksha our 2 yr 7 months old daughter and the institution is one of the good one in Bangalore(name can't be revealed!).

Preksha has to be in Nursery or Montessori 1 next year. Hunting for good schools nearby to our home was not very easy. In our parents\relatives\well wishers words,we ( Me & wife) were not too serious, casual and even irresponsible in this regard. Here in Bangalore, we found out that many schools don't even announce the admission application distribution dates. If you are a responsible parent, you are supposed to constantly be in touch with the schools you wish to have your ward join to find out this. It can start from October 1st to March or April (not sure). We missed many of those good (?) schools, but managed to get this one.

Preparation...

Candidate was very relaxed during these days, but the mother was getting worried. She went around and asked every other mom around about more information about the interview. Luckily some of the other kids nearby had attended already and now we know what the questions are going to be. Some of them were expected and some others we could never imagine any kid less than 3 years could answer. After all this is for Nursery not even LKG.

Sample questions:

1. Your name
2. Father's name
3. Mother's name
4. Colors. [They will show the color chart and ask the color]
5. Animals [Same as above]
6. vegetables and fruits [Same as above]

Some activity based tests like,

7. putting beeds through a thread
8. Arranging some blocks on the board

Till this it looked fine to us. Preksha already knew the above items 1 to 6 quite well. Animals and fruits need some work. We just showed her the beeds thing and she could easily repeat that with lot of enthusiasm. Last thing the blocks she already knew.

Now, some of the questions like " Why do you want to join this school?" Forget about
2 yr 7 months child, even I cannot answer this question properly when asked. So we just left it [ Frankly, I don't think this question will be asked at this level, if asked just forget about this school!]

The most challenging thing was to prepare her mentally to answer questions from a stranger. Preksha does not like "some" kind of people. I can't explain this clearly
here but we have some Idea of what kind of people she won't like!! I was just hoping
that interviewer is not that kind.

D-day!!

So on that day, we started with her to school. Its in a crowded place as like anywhere in Bangalore. But luckily we found parking very easily. Entered the school. There was a person guiding us to the area where the interview was going on. It was nicely kept and a lot of balloons and things like that were kept around. Preksha seemed like the place already. A lot of "happy" kids and "tensed" parents were seen around. We joined them.

After sometime, her name was called and a teacher came to take her inside. They said " For nursery Interviews, one parent can accompany the child to inside" my wife went
along with them.

I waited outside looking at other parents and kids. School was quite big. I peeped
inside the empty class rooms. They were pretty colorful and nicely arranged. It was
a Saturday so no one was there inside.

After some 30 minutes, Preksha and her mummy emerged from the corridor. Preksha had a Purple balloon with her. Mummy was quite pleased with her performance. She told
"pineapple and zebra were wrong, rest everything she did ok" Seems, Preksha was very enthusiastic about answering, even though she did not know zebra, she answered CAMEL for that!!

Now, we were told to wait for the next round with the Principal. After some few minutes we were asked to go into her cabin. This time all three of us. Principal was an elderly lady. She asked us to sit, there were 3 chairs in front of them. Some chocolates kept on her desk. No smile on Principals face till the end.

Principal : " Preksha, take one chocolate"

Preksha: No answer, no movement.

Principal : Don't you like chocolates?

Preksha: No response.

We both looked at each other. May be she did not like this Principal, I thought.
Principal asked again.

Principal : You like chocolates?

Preksha: Yes.

oh, finally she told something I thought.

Principal : Then take one.

Preksha took one this time.

Principal : What color is that balloon Preksha?
She asked pointing to the balloon that she got earlier.

Preksha : Pupple... (Purple)

Principal : Good. Tell me what did you have for lunch?

Preksha : Thinking....

Principal : Did you have lunch before coming here.

Preksha nodded her head.

Principal : What did you have?

Preksha : Dosa.

Principal : Good.

Now the principal turned to us and told us to come back on Monday morning to check
the results. We got up said thanks and left. I was quite happy the way she performed. Unbelievable but true. Preksha finished her first interview in her life at 2yr 7 months. That too two rounds!!!

Results: When last heard, Preksha is in Waiting list!! We will be informed by January about the availability it seems. I was laughing when I heard waiting list! Quite an experience it was. Last update on Preksha's next year plan. Looking for a small and nearby school to put her till LKG or 1st standard. Once she reach that age, again we have to go through this process...

Mumbai Unplug - Batti Bundh

2007-12-05T17:59:00.000+05:30

http://www.mumbaiunplug.com/

A good initiative. Hope this comes to Bangalore too.

vote

2007-11-23T17:24:00.000+05:30

My name is successfully added to the voters list. Earlier this year I had used the online application provided by Election commission karnataka to do this. Last saturday I went to the nearby school where they have published the list. And my name was there... The coming election I am going to vote. Enough of nonsense happening here. Let s make a difference.

World around us...

2007-10-16T11:54:00.000+05:30

This is my contribution to the blog action day on Environment.

I was a member of WWF during college days. Being in Kerala, you can't escape the environmental activism promoted by many teachers activists and thinkers around you. I still remember having nature clubs, planting trees around the campus, visiting national parks etc. The importance of conservation was inculcated during the very early days.I love to live in a greener world and I will surely not miss any chance to make it greener.

Delhi-Agra-shimla

2007-10-03T23:16:00.000+05:30

Just got back after a vacation.
This time to north india to see himalayas mainly. Went to shimla and on the way visited delhi and agra also.

From bangalore to delhi on 26th Sept morning. Reached delhi by 10:30 AM. Jetlite flight was late and nothing great to mention about. We had a taxi arranged to pick us up from Airport and to take us directly to agra.

The delhi trafic was bad and it took lot of time to reach the highway. The agra highway is good but dotted with hundreds of villages on the way hence a smooth journey is disrupted often due to some camel carts or tractors blocking your way.

It took almost 5-6 hours to reach the Taj mahal area. Agra is a very dirty small town and I could not believe that the approach road from agra to such a great monument, worlds wonder is so pathetically maintained. Then again the rickshaw wallahs and a lot of other people will not let you walk around freely there.

Finally we reached the taj mahal and the first glimpse of it is enough to make you forget the tiresome journey and all the other things. Its simply marvellous and you can't stop clicking snaps. It just stands tall and great right next to yamuna river. The clear sky in the background adds to the beauty of the marble and its a must see for everyone who lives in this country.

After that we left back to delhi and reached there by 11:00 PM. Crashed to bed as we had to get up early next day to catch the train to shimla.

Early morning we left to New delhi railway station to catch shatabdhi express train to KALKA. Train left at exact time. The journey was good. The coach and food served was better than any other shatabdhi I have travelled before. Reached KALKA by 12 noon.

From there we have this 'Himalayan Queen' which is a mountain toy train. It runs on a meter gauge rail and passes through 113 tunnels on the way. This train and its route is very famous for its scenic beauty and been running from 1800s.
Unfortunately for us, this part of the journey was the worst of all. The train left KALKA 1 hour late and reached shimla 1:30 hours late!! We were dead tired by then and on top of that the chilly Simla evening wind was unbearable. The train was very uncomfortable to sit even in our CC chair compartment. There was hardly any luggage space.

On reaching simla we took a taxi to hotel fairmount which is located a good 3-4 kms away from simla town. Its nestled in the nature and through the window you can see the forest and valley clearly. The road to this hotel is a steep climb and the hotel was on the ridge looking down to the valley. We really enjoyed the stay and the lazy walks on these roads. The hotel used to drop us to simla town whenever we wished to go and also pick us up from there back to hotel all free of cost. The food was great and we had loads of rotis and tandoor items. Compared to Bangalore, it was a lot more cheaper too.

Simla was not so cold and there was no snow. We went to kufri on the next day morning by taxi. Then to reach the peak you have these pony rides. No vehicle can go there and you cannot walk also.

The pony ride on those steep hills is an experience that you will never forget. I must say that there is hardly anything worth seeing in Kufri, I don't know why everyone goes there. Moreover the people out there including the shop wallahs, guides(?) and photographers have one common agenda of taking unsuspecting tourists for a ride. Never entertain them, we had a bad experience with one of the photographer there. He cheated us royally and we were helpless. This is true in most of north India. Never believe what they say and its not their habit to say NO. You will be irritated to the core to see people being very cordial and finally changing their word.

We spent two full days in shimla and then headed back to Delhi on 30th September. This time we cancelled the train ticket and opted for a taxi. It took 2 hours 30 mins to cover this distance and was very comfortable compared to the earlier train experience. Then the shatabdhi from KALKA to Delhi was also on time. Reached delhi around 10:30 PM and our driver was waiting in the station. He took us back to the room and the day next was for delhi darshan.

Morning, around 10 we ventured out to delhi. The driver took us to important places and finally to all the shopping places in Delhi. We checked out Delhi hatt, Sarojini nagar market, Palika bazar, connaught place and Janpath. Most of the stuff around here are very cheap and low quality. But its very crowded and popular among young people who wants style on a low budget. We also picked up some show pieces for our home and some dresses for Preksha.

By evening 5:00 we headed back to Delhi airport to catch a flight back to Bangalore. Reached bangalore by night 10:00 and were home in another 11:00 pm.

Overall some good memories and there ends the most awaited yearly vacation.

(More snaps at http://www.flickr.com/photos/honeykrishnan/)

Onam - Sadya (Meal) explained

2007-08-27T20:20:00.000+05:30

Here is my attempt to explain the famous onasadya (onam feast). This year we managed to make 18 dishes with rice. Served on a plaintain leaf, its the perfect representation of a traditional kerala meal.

Also we had a small little pookalam (flower rangoli)
so, the end of Onam 2007.

Another Onam...

2007-08-24T15:12:00.000+05:30

Another Onam is coming...

This time we are celebrating at home in Bangalore. I don't think Mahabali visits Bangalore!!(Read the story if you don't know what I am talking about).

There is supposed to be a Onachanda (Sale of Onam related items) near our area, arranged by local malayalees. Then as usual, getting flowers from HAL market and making a Pookalam (Flower Rangoli) in front of our house. Then eat a typical kerala food at home. Thats all.

Best vehicle for Bangalore

2007-08-23T12:53:00.001+05:30

I hope I have something like this to ride in Bangalore
Mahindra's new vehicle specially made for Indian Army, may be an Indian Hummer like.

New LCD...

2007-08-21T18:09:00.000+05:30

2 Major pending things got done last week.

One - changing my CRT monitor to LCD. Got an Acer 17" for my home computer from SP road. Looks good and saves a lot of space on my table.

Second, getting new seat covers for my car, done after a visit to the (in)famous JC Road. Had a horrible time there getting stuck in the traffic jam. On top of that a 407 truck came and banged by bumper down! Got it fixed there itself and got the seat covers also. No hifi, just a fabric cover with bright blue design. As usual, no one else other than me liked the flashy color!! My car, my choice rules!

Certified...70-431, 70-315

2007-07-04T18:10:00.000+05:30

Getting a Microsoft certification was my long time ambition. Finally that happened last weekend...

Update: Got another certification 70-431 and become an MCTS also.

The learning never ends...

Garuda Mall Accident..

2007-07-04T18:01:00.000+05:30

The shocking death of a boy after falling from the Garuda mall escalator is the key incident this week. I can feel the pain of the parents...I am scared to go there with my 2 yr old preksha there... may be we wont go to that place at all. There will be many parents like me.

I have read in the past about this Garuda mall and how unsafe the place is. Bangalore Mirror had a report of how a child got stuck in the parking area drain cover and struggled for hours before being rescued. I read in Team-BHP about an elderly lady who had the same experience. These incidents happened before the latest accident. It's not like everyone is coming up with complaints after this incident.

The comments made by the owner of the Mall makes me more worried...His attitude was that this is just an accident..

Pentominium Dubai- Super rich apartment

2007-06-07T18:28:00.000+05:30

Pentominium Dubai

Look at this building. Its supposed to be the worlds tallest residential building. More than 500 Mts tall. Its going to come up in Dubai.

Each floor is an apartment spanning upto 6500 sq feet it seems. This is for the super rich. The price starts from 11 Crores indian rupees.

May be the power of sustaining such buildings will be equal to that of running a small town. How extravagant and waste of money and resources!

All these buildings with glass facades adds up the heat inside and outside. We talk about global warming etc etc at one side, and developed nations don't even care about it.

But If you have money no one can deny you a space here..go and enjoy!!

why no posts!!

2007-05-25T19:02:00.000+05:30

Why?

I am kind of loosing interest in this. There are a lot of things in life that comes and goes. We try them and then leave it. What is the strong reason for anyone to continue blogging. I think I don't find any. I have used this blog for bookmarking my favorite sites, venting out my frustrations, announcing personal incidents and also to loudly express my views. I have got many comments replies from all over the place. Alright, fine. Is that all something I can't live without? Not really.

I am getting concerned about the cyber crimes that are happening around. There has been a surge in higher end tech crimes. Its time to worry about personal information. Yesterday a tele caller who claimed to be calling from my credit card bank called me to give some offer. Finally she started asking so many personal details including the credit card number. I got really annoyed and disconnected. I am sure a lot of people would fall for these things.

But this is just a blog, what can it possibly harm anyone or me myself. Yes, thats also a good argument. But you never know.

I have turned 30 this month. Getting older, I can feel that. 30 is a milestone really. My priorities have been changing and its taken drastic turns lately. Never to be the same again. A grounded feeling. Need to be on earth. Being a taurean its my innate feeling I believe.

Life is going fine, things are happening better than we ever thought it would be. India is going great guns improving our life standards. Another 10 more years if this continues, then probably we are going to be looked upon as winners. Yes we lost the cricket cup badly. Its also an sign. I don't see many people playing cricket in future. See the school, college campuses. The 'In thing' is campus placements, not any cricket match. Every one is getting highly paid jobs. 2007 grads are going to be offered 4-5 Lakhs annual it seems, says times of india. Thats big money and more than any working middle class parent earns in this country.

But there are many who are not affected and they are going to be the problem in future. Money is not spreading, its getting accumulated with few and its huge money. Haves and Have Nots are going to clash whenever any type of unrest happens. Be it a Bundh or any major politicians death. The unrest is wide spread. You can see that in the eyes of the auto driver when he refueses to give way for a new skoda or Honda. I can see that in the eyes of Govt. office employees when you go there to get your things done. Understandable. So everyone need to worry about having some ground to lie down and be safe. You need to save enough resources for the short term contingencies. Those kind of situations are imminent anytime. Everyone needs a personal disaster management plan. What will I do if a situation happens where I can not go out and do my things. One needs to plan it out. Pessimisting thoughts??? no way. Very real and may be an intuitive discovery. You can trust a taurean on this.

Indian Cricket : My Dream Team

2007-01-17T21:17:00.000+05:30

Here is my Dream team for the World Cup...

Virender Sehwag
Sachin Tendulkar (WC)
Sourav Ganguly
VVS Laxman
Rahul Dravid (C)
Yuvraj Singh
MS Dhoni (WK)
Irfan Pathan
Ramesh Powar
Sreesanth
Zaheer Khan

Openers will be sehwag and tendulkar. then Ganguly and Laxman can handle most of the oppsition, still dravid is there in case of a collapse. Yuvi and dhoni can be good in slog overs combined with Pathan. Powar is also a good batsman.

Bowlingwise, Sreesanth and Zaheer will be opening. Pathan will be supported later and spin will be done by Powar. Tendulkar, ganguly and sehwag can also be used occassionally.

Amrita Setu

2007-01-08T22:34:00.000+05:30

The new bridge that is constructed between the vallikkavu Island and the mainland. The island was under great danger during last tsunami and evacuating people took lot of time. Amma felt the need for the bridge and the work was started by volunteers.
This bridge was inaugurated by President APJ Abul Kalam last month. Its a foot bridge and a visual marvel.

Interersted in seeing the complete story view the link Click Here

Bangalore Envy

2007-01-08T22:04:00.000+05:30

Its a new term that you are going to here more from now on.

‘Bangalore Envy’, is being described by many as a "now" expression that refers to the systematic movement of much of the “world's smart money to where many of the world's smart people are.”

http://www.ibnlive.com/news/has-bangalore-envy-gripped-you-yet/top/30666-3.html

It was introduced in Next Now - a book compiled by marketing guru Ira Matathia and trend-spotter Marian Salzman, credited with turning the term 'Metrosexual' into a global phenomenon.

Bangalore or bangalooru, is rocking the world. Surely, smart money will follow smart people. lets see.

Bye Bye 2006

2006-12-30T17:18:00.000+05:30

Another year is moving over...
I should sit and think what 2006 meant to me, the things that I am going to remember 2006 for.

Personally these are the top stories of 2006,

Our new home
Preksha's first B'day (and many other first's for her)
Vacation in Goa.
Passing away of close relatives Ravi ettan and aunty.

Professionally

Nothing Much Happened. I hope 2007 is going to be better for me.

Plans for 2007

I hope to earn more and have better environment around me. I should continue my learnings on umpteen subjects. I should keep thinking about new Ideas. I should be less egoistic and more down to earth. Concentrating on Wealth creation is the key point this year. I will try to enjoy each day to the fullest.

Tom and Jerry creater passed away today

2006-12-20T19:42:00.000+05:30

Joe Barbera dies at 95 - Yahoo! News

Tom and jerry, Scooby doo, flintstones...
Amazing creations that entertains you everyday and will keep you entertained. Thanks joe, for making us laugh and feel good.

May your soul rest in peace.

Anyone interested in eating a scorpion candy?

2006-12-13T20:38:00.000+05:30

BUGS IN YOUR CANDY!!

Anyone interested in eating a scorpion candy?

Road to Mysore

2006-11-13T18:13:00.000+05:30

Mysore is been classic always. Whenever you think of Mysore there are a number of things come up in your mind; the royal palace, Tipu Sultan, Brindavan gardens etc. But of late, it’s been the Bangalore-Mysore Highway that’s attracting all the interest.

I was delighted when I read the marriage invitation of Karthik and saw that the venue is Mysore. Ever since the Bangalore-Mysore Highway got fully functional, I was waiting for an opportunity to drive down there. The last time when I went the roads were under construction and it was not at all a smooth journey. But this time, it was different.

Once you cross the Bangalore city limits, the road stretches in front of you, tempting you to floor the accelerator hard. It’s a well-laid Four-Lane highway, and a beauty. Over the last 5-6 years few such roads have come up all over the country, which has changed the way Indian look at taking long road journeys. Be it driving down or taking those modern Volvo coaches. Things have changed for sure.

My M-800 was pushed up to its edge, and was cruising along at 100 Kms/h for most of the time. It was a pleasure to overtake many new siblings and cousins of her genre, proving a lot of things. The ones I admire, the Skodas, Hondas and other biggies went way ahead of me and strengthened my aspiration to possess one of those when I upgrade.

The journey took 2 ½ hours in total, could have been better if not for the traffic till Bangalore outskirts. The return was much relaxed with a lavish coffee break at the new Coffee-Day outlet. A lot of development is happening all over along this route.

Hope to be on this way again…

Back to life...

2006-11-04T23:22:00.000+05:30

We can't run away from life in reality, but an occasional break from the ordinary schedule makes us feel the difference between living a life and just existing to perform your duties.

Back from the week long vacation, I get a similar feeling. The sound and smell of the sandy beaches of Goa will remain with me for quite some time. The photographs that I captured will carry it forward to the future also. Little Preksha who is just 15 Months now won’t even remember this vacation, as her memory is still not so big to store these things. But out of all three of us I am sure it was her who enjoyed every second of this vacation.

The flight from Bangalore to Goa was in time, to my surprise, and it was not very packed. Season is just started. The hotel room was booked in advance so that was not a worry at all. We had one backpack and one big bag to carry and Preksha also is to be carried along for most part of the journey. Inside the aircraft, she does not bother to sit, she just walks around, and the airhostesses warn us that anytime seat belt sign may appear. They don't really understand the difficulty of persuading a 15-month-old naughty babe like Preksha. She learns from making mistakes at this point of time in her life, not through lectures. She learned a hard lesson after hurting herself on the chin and getting her tongue cut by a small fall at the Goa Airport. We rushed her to airport duty doctor, who assured us later that it’s not of much concern. To my surprise, the medicine prescribed was to get her an Ice cream from the outside shop to cool her mouth. Not a very good learning though.

Airport to Hotel we took a prepaid taxi, and it was a long journey. The temperature was 35 degrees outside. Hotel chalston is in Calangute and is around an hour drive from Airport. The weather was hot and humid, much like Kerala and I was feeling very homely already by the sight and smell of the place. Goa is very much like kerala.

The stay in the resort was very enjoyable. The hotel has a restaurant on the beachfront and it just opens up to the beach. It’s a real good felling to have your breakfast looking at the waves and feeling the cool morning breeze from the sea. Evenings were much better and relaxing.

It was preksha's first time at the beach, she was so happy to see so much of water!! We played a lot in the waves and the hotel swimming pool later. Second day of the trip, we hired a taxi for the day and went around goa to see other places. Old goan churches are real splendid structures, though not well maintained. The roads are very narrow and traffic gets piled up very fast near to all the important tourist points. Prices of daily commodities are sky-high. We bought 500 gms sugar for Rs. 45 in Calangute!! But the real good thing about goa is the cuisine, I feel. The fish curry and fries we ate during our stay has a distinctly different class than what you get anywhere else. We went to Ritz in Panaji to have their Fish Curry Meals, It was just too yummy. We also tried other places in Calangute they were really first-class.

On the final day, we had to go to Mumbai to visit Nisha's parents and to spend the next 3 days with them. The train ticket from goa to Mumbai did not get confirmed and we had to struggle to get a bus ticket at the final moment. It was a Volvo coach but the journey was tough and we were really tired by the time we reached Mumbai next morning. Incidentally it was the first time Preksha was traveling in a Bus. She had her first train journey when she was 8 months, her first flight journey when she was 11 months old.

Mumbai was hotter, but we did not venture out during the mornings and afternoons. We wentto juhu beach, had kalakhatta, bhelpuri,panipuri etc which mumbai is famous for.

Finally on 2nd night we were in the Mumbai Airports new swanky terminal to catch the Bangalore flight. Reached back home at 01:00 AM after a delayed flight and much delayed baggage transfer in the airport.

Back to work and getting back to the usual affairs. Waiting for another vacation....

Kids in Bangalore.

2006-10-09T18:11:00.000+05:30

It was raining when we reached HAL vegetable market yesterday. Not very heavily but enough for one to get drenched if you happen to be out for more than ten minutes. While rushing to the market after parking the vehicle I just glanced around to see if still those fruit vendors are around. It was late in the evening around 8 PM, most of them I thought would have gone back. But they were there to my surprise, to avoid the rain from spoiling their fruits they have kept polethene sheets on them. No one wants to loose the business on a weekend.

On the left side of the parking lot there are couple of shops one of them is a small restaurant. In Bangalore they are known as Darshini's, its a self serving eat out, pure vegetarian dishes only and at a cheap rate than most of the other places. You can find one of these on almost every corner of the town. There are no chairs to sit here, but they have those high tables, where one can keep the plates and stand around and eat. The shop was crowded, most of them enjoying a cup of tea while waiting for the rain to end. In front of this place just on the outside near a pillar sat two kids. One very young and the elder one was carrying him on his lap. They were not just sitting there; they were sleeping in that position. The younger one had bowed himself in such a way to place his face under the elder kids heavy-eyed drooping head, I guess to evade the occasional raindrops carried by the wind from disturbing the nap. The elder one, even in his sleep, had his hands carefully held around the younger one’s little body. Both were dozing off quite nicely in such a place in this weather and in this manner. It was quite a scene for me, disturbing enough to bring on long thoughts all through the late evening and while going to bed.

Who could they be? Not a very intelligent question especially in Bangalore, where there are plenty of such kids on the street. They are there on almost on all the traffic signals, begging or working in small restaurants like the one I described above. Most of the migrant laborers who have come to Bangalore for construction jobs have their kids with them. Few of them are working with them in the same places were their parents work doing some odd jobs like carrying load etc. Others look after their siblings while their parents are at work. No school life no education. Their life is not having much colors and the childhood is lost just after they have stopped drinking their mother’s milk.

Nowadays, I see a lot of kids around, almost everyone out there seem to have a newborn baby, a toddler or a kid. Earlier, I don't remember noticing so many kids around. I don't know if this is because we have a baby at home, that we unconsciously happen to notice other kids around. That could be true also; we see what we want to see. But the kids you see around are so very different. You can see many of the luckier ones like our Preksha in malls, shopping places and all those new and neat places to hang around in Bangalore. They are all dressed in their designer labeled frocks and skirts or shirts and shorts which their mammas carefully pick from those special Kids shops or the funkiest of malls here. They all seem to know and recognize a cell phone, computer and all the gizmos their parents play with. But there are others who don't seem to be having any luck from the time they are born. They don't seem to find their mammas when it’s lunchtime or dinnertime or whenever they are hungry. They don't seem to be inside their homes when it’s hot outside. They have not heard or seen any infant food or toddler’s health drinks. They eat whatever they get to eat from their sibling’s plate. They are out there on the streets most of the time in search of their childhood.

What should I do when I find these kids on the streets begging? Should I give them money? Many say I should not, as I will be encouraging them to beg again. Should I give them food? I don't carry food always with me to give them. May be I should take some while going out on weekends from now on.

I am going to ask these questions to many people from now on, at the same time I need to look for some one who can help us to help them. I am not sure if all those NGO's who come for donations are really worthy. I think India government is going to strictly ban child labor. I don't know what is going to happen to those thousands of kids who work and earn their living. Will they not be out there on streets to beg? I know the working conditions of these kids are not good or they are tortured most of the times. But is it not possible to account them while they are in some address than while they are on the streets. I don't know. May be as every other law made in this country, this will also be forgotten conveniently after the initial commotion. Still many childhoods are getting lost daily in it city right in front of out eyes.

Better Bangalore...

2006-09-30T14:59:00.000+05:30

The difference is beginning to show. I was a little pessimistic about future 3-4 months back when this goverment took over. It was an unusuall way of coming to power, and the new CM was a brand new leader. But now I think, we have some reasons to be be happy and proud.

I am very impressed with the way our CM is visiting villages and spending time with them, staying with them in their house etc. You may dismiss this all as some political gimmic. But belive me, only those villagers will know what it feels like. I am sure our CM is winning a lot of hearts and goodwill. He is going to go a long way.

See Bangalore, there are development works are going on. At least I can see near my house, airport road, wind tunnel road and then on the way to Office, some work is going on. Not only that, they are not some cosmetic patch works, but well planned and using good materials and methods they are doing it. Roads in the wards are getting concreted, not asphalted. It looks so good nowadays, those Crosses and Mains which were muddy and dirty. I dont know if all these things are due to the new goverment. But it is certainly much better than the previous one.

I take pride in distancing myself from politics. I dont like most of these politicians. But of late, I am sort of realizing what I am doing. Its wrong. I have entered my name in electoral rolls now. I am 29, but till now I have never voted. But next time I am going to. I am sure my vote will make a difference.

Back to bangalore.

2006-09-12T10:55:00.000+05:30

Went to Mattanur over the weekend. Journey was very tough. Since roads are very bad after virajpet, the buses are not going thru that route. They go via waynad. I had to get down at kuthuparamba and take an auto to Mattanur. The road from Kuthuparamba to Mattanur is also in very bad condition. Last time they were so good.

This time I went to Calicut also while coming back. I took a volvo from calicut to bangalore. Journey was good, but howeever comfortable the bus is I never get comfortable enough to sleep.

Back to bangalore on Monday morning. After coming to Majestic, i got the BMTC volvo to airport road. Belive me its more comfortable than auto, and not hassle of bargaining with auto driver. Signs of improvement in Bangalore. Hope it gets better. Al around you can see some urgency in bringing back the infrastructure of Bangalore to a better level. Marathahalli bridge widenting is happening at a fast pace. hope things better fast.

Happy Onam

2006-09-04T20:02:00.000+05:30

Onam tomorrow. I am off from office.
Preksha's second onam. our first onam in the newly built house.

also achan amma is here. so can have some good onam feast for lunch. no other programs.

tired!!

2006-08-25T19:21:00.000+05:30

From last satuday onwards, I am part of some firefighting exercise here in office. lot of issues with on last delivery, need to fix them all.

I was feeling very feverish last wednesday and went to our inhouse doctor, he told me that I have 100 degree Fever! But what use, cant take any leave. So I am just surviving on some medicines, waiting for the weekend to arrive. Finally today is Friday! TGIF!!

No much plans for the weekend, parents will be coming on Monday. Hope I get good rest.

WonderLa wonders

2006-08-16T19:15:00.000+05:30

Last saturday we went to WonderLa, the theme park here at the outskirts of Bangalore.
enjoyed the visit very much. entrance fee is 480 per head. you can try any ride any number of times. There are dry rides and water rides there. very neat and clean place. overall a good weekend getaway in Bangalore.

My blog is not not banned anymore!!

2006-08-11T19:51:00.000+05:30

Good news...they have removed the ban on my blog. I can see it live now.
Thanks to PKBLOGS.com for giving me access to my blog while it was banned in India.

Crossing Marathahalli Bridge @100 Kms/H !!

2006-07-26T19:52:00.000+05:30

Not a joke. Last sunday I drove through Marathahalli bridge at 100 Kms per hour speed. I know most of the would not have gone past this narrow, heavy traffic route beyond 20 Kms. Then how did I do that!! No magic. Just that I was driving back home at 03:30 AM!! and there was no traffic. The road was empty. I knew, this might be the only chance I get to go fast on this road. In fact I had to come to office on Sunday Night due to some issues at client location. I finished the work by 3:30 monday morning, then started back. I reached home at 03:42. 12 kms distance I covered in 12 Mins. Amazing by bangalore standards. It takes 40-50 Mins on usual days.

Moreover I was careful not to go slow or stop anywhere, since the crime rate has increased in bangalore. Even on Airport road, there was some mugging incident last week. So I just wanted to reach back asap.

Who Blocked my BLOG?

2006-07-22T15:49:00.000+05:30

My blog is been blocked. Why?
Because some idiots attacked Mumbai and killed many innocent people. Our netas wants to show that they are doing something. We know what you people are capable off. I am not terrorist you crackpots. I am just one of those citizens who are more patriotic that any of you @#$*!&% politicians can ever be.

There is a saying " to kill the mice burn the house", Do you think if you block all the blogs then you achived something. Come on, have some brains. Why dont you block all the EMAIL sites then. Its a pity that in a democratic country like ours such things are happening. Just like I can post and view my blog now, any one can do it. Internet is not something you can steal my dear politicians.

June is gone!!

2006-07-03T20:23:00.000+05:30

June went very fast...
Last week was a busy one. Morning half was in Training and then from afternoon to around 9 at work. long days! Got very little time to spend at home. Training was good, need to apply for the second on that series some time this month. Got some performance award last week for a project done some time back. cool..

Gave the home computer for servicing. The AGP card was not working, the display just hangs after sometime. Its an NVIDIA 32 MB card. First the Fan stopped working then the card also got spoiled. The service guy is telling me that now there is no 32 MB card available, there is only 128 MB and 256 MB. I have decided for 128 MB NVIDIA. He just called and told that the system is ready. I need to pick it up tomorrow morning. CMOS battery was also not working, it always used to show CHECKSUM error while boot up. Hope they have corrected it.

Went to CMH road yesterday to look for the long pending Dining table and TV unit cum showcase. Found something in Godrej shop, the dining table is not available to see, only the catalog they have. I want to see that before buying, but he says only on order it will be available. Somehow not comfortable with that concept. Need to look around more. We need to get at least one of these items this month.

July 4th is my parents wedding anniversary. This is their 30th anniv. Need to gift something, thinking of giving a new Microwave or some crockery sets. need to fix on fast. Tomorrow is the day.

Bangalore-Mysore road and politicians.

2006-06-23T21:06:00.000+05:30

Busy days are here again. Not much time from work.

Yesterday night we were at airport till around 1 am. waiting for my in laws to arrive from mumbai. Flight was late, so I was sitting there from 11:30. We were sitting inside the car without getting out. I saw some people raising banners and flag decorations to welcome our PM Manmohan singh, who is arriving today. So much of decorations on the airport exit! I wonder if they will remove all these things after tomorrow. I dont think so. Sometimes these political dramas, irritates me so much.

There are some bunch of idiots in Bangalore also, who are against any developments. Every day the newspapers are filled with politicians property information, corruption, how the goverment and NICE is fighting over the Mysore highway etc. Roads to mysore will get develped at some point of time soon. what about the roads after mysore? I have driven to hunsur, virajpet and coorg. Some places, the road is non existant. Villages have nothing, no infrastructure at all. All these politicians are becoming richer day by day eating our money.

Rain has started, but still its hot in Bangalore. Its raining here almost every evening. Marathahalli and other places on the way to office become very difficult to drive through during rains. They are doing some work, hopefully, roads will be better soon.

Preksha's B'day tomorrow!

2006-05-29T20:33:00.000+05:30

It's been 1 year since Preksha came to this world. She was born on 30th May 2005 in Manipal Hospital Bangalore at 02:41 AM.

Last 1 year we have seen her growing up, very closely. Its been amazing and no words can explain the pleasure and pain of watching your own child grow up.

I was away, when she was born, almost on the other side of the earth. On Memorial day of 2005, I was in Washington DC, enjoying the sights, when I got a call from my brother-in-law telling me that Nisha is in hospital for delivery as her pains had started. I was in front of Union station when I got this call. I got a little tensed. I knew its not going to be easy for her, that too I am away not reachable. After that, we continued the sight seeing in Washington and we reached the Whitehouse. There was some rush there, and I had to wait for some time to get my snap clicked in front of the worlds most powerful office. Just after the snap was taken, I got another call. It was him again from Bangalore, telling me that its a girl baby. I asked him how Nisha is doing. He told, both are fine. I got relieved.

That moment I knew one thing for sure, that our life, once I am back is never going to be the same again.

I did not get to see Preksha for almost another month. I saw her on July 4th When I landed back in Bangalore. She was a tiny baby, I held her in my hand, carefully. She was so tender. She looked at me and after few seconds, gave me a smile!! My mom in law who was standing next was surprised. It seems baby had only smiled in sleep before, and I was the first person who she smiled at directly looking at the face!

Then we had her named in a small little ceremony at home. From then She is Preksha. The name means 'view' (Not through eyes but through your inner eyes). Nisha got this name from some internet baby name sites. She did lot of work searching for names, and sending to me. Finally this was the name both of us liked.

Last one year not even a single day has passed when we felt bored or had time to feel bored. Preksha likes outdoors. We take her out whenever we get a chance. She likes other kids, dogs and traveling. Our shopping trips are mostly to buy her things now. When we built the new house, she has got a new room. We are now trying to make her room, a place where she likes to spend time.

Now she is walking some steps without support. Soon she will be running around the house. And another few months she will start talking too...

Anyways tomorrow is her day and we have invited all near and dear for the party. See the invitation card I prepared for this. The wordings are from Nisha.

see all Preksha Snaps.

Flickr badge

2006-05-23T18:22:00.000+05:30

I have added my Flickr photo snaps 'badge' here at the right side. cool utility, it shows my latest flickr snaps. have a look.

Back to blog

2006-05-23T18:16:00.000+05:30

It was a very busy week. lot of work at office.

In between one night the car also did not start while going back from office. Got the battery replaced now. Yesterday I got stuck in Marathahally signal also. Car just refused to start. Fortunately I could find two good people who helped me to push and start the car. I could not even say a proper thanks to them, they just vanished after the job, waving their hands. Thanks guys, I will not forget this for a long time.

At home we are gearing up for Preksha's first b'day. Not a grand event though, but having party in the evening with family and neighbours etc. So this weekend lot of guests expected.

Back to Bangalore after one week vacation.

2006-04-19T19:55:00.000+05:30

My one week long vacation is finally over. today back to work.

Due to Raj kumar's demise and related incidents, our onward journey got postponed by one day. Bus got cancelled at the last moment, and we had to take flight to kozhikode on 14th. Reached there on vishu day.

Our Vishu Kani at home.

It was preksha's first vishu (nisha's too...she had never seen vishu before). Both of them liked the vishukani and the gifts very much.

Back to bangalore on 17th by flight again from calicut to bangalore. it was raining when we reached the airport. Its an Air deccan flight, a small ATR plane. takes 55 minutes to cover this distance. both the flights Onward and return were late by 3 hours almost. I heard deccan never flies on time. overall a very relaxed one week.

See more snaps of our vacation and vishu day at
http://flickr.com/photos/honeykrishnan

Vishu and Vishu Kani

2006-04-10T11:17:00.000+05:30

Vishu is one festival that I love to wait for every year. I make it a point to go home every year on that day to see vishu kani. unfortunately last 2 years I couldnt go. But this year I going going to be there.

There are many things about vishu that makes me love this festival. I love the yellow 'Konna' flowers. The fully flowered Konna tree looks so lovely and auspicious.

secondly, the Vishu Kani. Early morning my mother used to wake us up to show the Kani. She will come and wake us up and ask us to wear the new dress that is bought for vishu. Then wearing that we will go to the room where Kani is kept, all the way till there, we are supposed to close our eyes, so that we see the Kani first before seeing anything else on that day. Amma used to hold our hands to guide us till there and would make us sit infront of the Kani. Then she will ask to open the eyes and see the Kani infront. Its such a beautiful thing, the Kani will contain a little amount of all the produce like rice, and other cereals, then vegetables then Konna flower, a small idol of Sri krishna, a mirror, water in a small vessel called 'Kindi', some silver coins, some gold ornaments and some fresh currency notes.

Kani is the first thing that we see on Vishu day, which is the New year day according to Sun calendar. The idea behind keeping the above mentioned items for vishu kani is to see them first thing and hope the next year also brings them in abundance. There is no puja or prayers involved here.

After seeing the Kani, my fater who is the eldest in the family will give us 'Kai neettam', that is some money. When we were kids we used to get Rs.5 or 10 or max 20. As we grew up the amount was also increased!! For me and my sister this money -from Kai neettam used to be a great motivation to wait and prepare for vishu. I am sure all the kids like vishu.

After this, there are crackers and fireworks from each house. We also used to have some crackers. Its like diwali in other states.

Vishu is also known as soura ugadi in other parts like Karnataka, Maharshtra, Bihu in Assam, Baisakhi in Punjab, Polia baisakh in Bengal, Gudi padva in Maharashtra. All these states celebrate this festivals in different manner but mostly comes on the same day every year.

Going home!!

2006-04-10T11:05:00.000+05:30

After 8 months long gap, I am getting ready to go to mattanur, my home in kerala. All these 8 months I just couldnt go, mainly due to house construction here in Bangalore. Now, house is complete, we have moved in and Preksha is also kind of grown up (She is going to be 1 year next month 30th). So we are off on this wednesday.

Its such a nice feeling. Thats the place where I have been till I was about 21 yrs. Then I left to coimbatore for studies, then cam to Bangalore after that. Last 8 years I am outside and I dont think many people wont even recognize me there.

Its a break too from work and the daliy routines. When I go home I get to eat my favourite Fish dishes, Kallummakayi (Mussels) and I hope this being VISHU time, there will be Mangoes and Jack fruits also.

But its going to be unbearably hot there in kerala at this time. I dont know how preksha and Nisha will cope. Anyways I am so excited already...

Finally the D day is coming...

2006-03-23T19:15:00.001+05:30

Its an experience that I can't forget this life time. yes, getting a house built in Bangalore. Here, bangalore is the keyword. I had gone through this while my parents were making the second house in my home town ; Mattanur, Kerala. My father was away on duty, so I used to take care of the construction supervision. That time I was in college, was 20 yrs of age. In kerala, getting a house built in Mattanur like small town is no big hassle. Moreover, I am strongly convinced that those workers, be it a plumber or electrician were far better professionals than what I got today in Bangalore. It might be because of the strong will of malayalees to do well in what they do and learn more and then go to some Gulf countries to earn more. Almost all those people who worked for us that time are well-to-do people now. I still meet them here and there, when I go back to my kerala home.

Coming back to the experience here, there were show stoppers at every imaginable stage. Starting from getting the permission from corporation. I have visited that office umpteen times last year to get the permission and documents in order. I just can't describe how I got it done. But finally, I managed to get it done.( The officer home delivered the documents to me!! You can guess what I did to them.)

Construction work always looked like going at snails pace. The workers, especially the mason was amazingly inefficient! Every evening I came back from office to get surprises. We had a good amount of rework to be done at almost every stage.

It took almost 7-8 months to reach this stage. its been a big learning for us.

My Tamil has improved, talking to workers who are mostly Tamil speaking.

I have become more patient than ever.

I try to find humor in the mistakes. I have realised that there is nothing one can get through anger and shouting. Instead, try to see the lighter part of it.

I have stopped beliving the estimates given by contractors. If you want to know the actual, multiply the amount given by the contractor into 2. Your approximate cost will be that.

There is always another shop somewhere, who sells the same thing at lower cost. But you will find it only after you got it from the other shop.

If you don't like something break it and redo it. bear the one time cost than life long agony.

I have learned and kind of mastered the art of bargaining.

There are many more.

Anyways, on the coming saturday, 25th March we are moving to the new house. Wish me good luck.

Preksha again, and some thoughts about the photos and life...

2006-03-08T16:00:00.000+05:30

This must be the best snap of Preksha till now. I am improving my photography skill also I think.

Last week we went to GK Vale (one of the best and oldest studio in Bangalore link)to enlarge some of the snaps, so that we can decorate the new house with them. The guy was amazed about the clarity of the picture even after enlarging. He was asking about the camera used and all. sadly, Nisha did not know the details of the camera, she just said its some KODAK model. (Pity her!!)

These pictures are taken using KODAK DX 7590 digital camera. Its a 5.1 Megapixel, 10x Optical zoom camera. It also has a large 2.1 inch LCD screen. I got it from US last year, costs about $ 450. I have given it 512 MB RAM memory additionaly, and bought a tripod also for still photos. Can take videos also.
It comes with a Dock to connect to Computer and also could be used for charging the battery. I think this is available in India also now, costs some RS 20000 here, without memory and other accessories.

We have captured so many moments of Preksha's growth through Photos and videos till now. I write them to CDs and keep them safe. May be when she grows up, she can look back and see how she was and how she learned to crawl, how she fell down, how her grandpa used to play with her...So nice.

Me and Nisha always discuss this point, how lucky our daughter is compared to us when we were of her age. We did not have so many toys, we hardly have some couple of photos to see how we looked then, we did not have grand parents to pamper us like this ( They are a bit too much, sometimes I feel).

May be thats the way every generation thinks, my father would have thought the same things when I was a kid..can't say. Compared to what he had, we had so many things may be. Funny how life goes on...

Me and Preksha in Lalbagh

2006-03-02T15:03:00.000+05:30

It was hot and sunny, so we took out the umbrella.

see more of Lalbagh visit snaps at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/honeykrishnan/

Add your name to voters list in Bangalore.

2006-02-22T16:28:00.000+05:30

Electoral Rolls of the Assembly Constituencies in the State will be revised now. Persons who are not less than 18 years of age as on 1-1-2006 may get their names included in the roll if not already included, provided they are otherwise qualified.

If your name is not available in the electoral roll in Bangalore then you can add it online now.

http://ceokarnataka.kar.nic.in/eregn/default.asp

Last data is 24th Feb 2006

This facility is provided to the residents of Bangalore, Hubli-Dharwad, Mysore, Mangalore, Belgaum and Gulbarga Mahanagara Palike areas and Bangalore urban district except Anekal Assembly constituency.

The basic requirement is that one should have an e-mail id. If you have an e-mail id, and if you have not filed Form no. 6 for inclusion of your name in the Electoral Roll so far please click on Application for Enrollment. This exclusive service is entirely free.

Act fast, don’t miss your vote next time…tell your friends also. Your vote can make a difference to Bangalore.

What the Hell is the Fibonacci Series?

2006-02-09T20:31:00.000+05:30

What the Hell is the Fibonacci Series?

A good Flash representation of Fibonacci series...
I remember Soman sir, who first introduced this to me...

Spam calls from banks,credit cards????

2006-02-01T18:35:00.000+05:30

Daily we get so many calls from banks asking if we need any credit card or personal loan. Some times I get at least 5-6 a day.

Here are some tricks to irritate them. I try all these.

1.Say, You are busy, could you please call later..repeat this for the whole day. try not picking the call if you note the number.

2.Make them repeat almost every second sentence. say your voice is not clear.

3.Listen to the conversation for a long time, let them finish. Later ask them if they can put everything in paper and sent it to you. You don't believe whats told over the phone.

Rediff insulting Kumble!!

2006-01-25T16:10:00.000+05:30

See the screenshot of rediffscorecard at 4:10 PM during Pakistans 2nd innings Faisalabad test. See Anil Kumble's bowling figures. Rediff scorecard blunder.

Rediff scorecard blunder

Tired of Times of India Bangalore.

2006-01-25T13:35:00.000+05:30

I am really bugged with this newspaper. It used to be a good newspaper, but nowadays there is nothing other than Ads and some really not 'newsworthy' news in this paper.

Usually I read other papers like The Hindu and Deccan herald also from office. I find Hindu better. Next month, when I shift to my new house I am going to change to The Hindu. I need news early in the morning, my dear friends, I am not looking for what Amitabh bachan has to say about not paying his taxes!!

Honey krishnan's Flickr snaps link

2006-01-25T13:33:00.000+05:30

Honey krishnan's Flickr snaps link
Honey krishnan's Flickr snaps link

Karunashraya: When there is no cure....

2006-01-19T21:41:00.000+05:30

Karunashraya

I visited this place yesterday to see my aunty who is in her last stages of her life. This is a place for terminally ill cancer patients. Its a free service, purely run on donations.

Patients who are rejected by modern medicines and are left with no options but to wait for their death are admitted here. Karunashraya offers them good care during those last days of their life.

Its such a peaceful and elegant looking place, I was really surprised to see and could never imagine that such a place exists in Bangalore. The people who have envisioned and made it materialize are really great.

Karunashraya is a venture by Indian cancer society and Rotary club Indiranagar.

Sehwag the Great

2006-01-17T18:58:00.000+05:30

Finally he got out.
Sehwag started by copying sachin and now he is the real crowd puller. Pakistan will remember his knocks for a long time to come.

Preksha Again...

2006-01-10T17:20:00.000+05:30

Some more snaps of preksha

Preksha - getting ready for a bath!

Preksha wearing a lovely cap..with her friend.

Fire And Motion - Joel on Software

2006-01-09T20:17:00.000+05:30

Good article. Explains Fire and Motion theory.
Fire And Motion - Joel on Software

New year, new house...

2006-01-09T19:48:00.000+05:30

My new house is under construction, and I am very busy with that. Hoping it to get completed sometime in Feb. Flooring is going on.

Last week and this week me and Nisha are running around the city to get the flooring materials. We took Granite from some shops near MICO. For living room and sit out we chose 'Kashmiri gold', and for other rooms other than bedrooms we took Silver grey color. Laying is almost complete. Now today we went to Kajaria and bought Bathroom tiles also. Its a kind of Bright blue,white and border theme. Looks good, I liked it. Now for the bedrooms we are going for semi vitrified tiles. We liked some wood finish looking ones in the SOMANY display center on CMH road. Checking the price for that with different dealers. Tomorrow we need to fix on that and order.

Still so many other things are pending. Need to look for Bathroom fittings, we liked the johnosons fittings though. For the closets we might go for Hindware European collections. Its imported it seems, looks very good. Then kitchen Chimney is there, mostly Faber we are planning. A lot of work is pending in Kitchen though. Have not yet decided what kind of material to go for cabinets. Modular kitchens are damn costly, something like Rs.200000 and 300000 !! Can't think of spending that much on kitchen now. We will have to get something else without our carpenter.

The Year 2005, looking back...

2005-12-30T22:14:00.000+05:30

It was quite an eventful year for me.

Major incidents happened are

* I became a pappa!! pretty little Preksha was born on 30th May 2005
* Had my first foreign trip. I was in US from April 24th to July 4th 2005
* Started constructing a house here in Bangalore, will be completing in 2006

Other than this, I learned so many new things on the net, which some day I am sure will make my dreams come true. I look for a day in future where I can work at my own pace, but earn a lot more than I do now. I look forward to a day where I get a lot of time to spend with my family, do a lot more travel and apply my mind on lot many new things which I enjoy doing. I am experimenting now. I hope 2006 will make me a better implementor of my wild plans and create more opportunities for me.

Me and Preksha during our office Annual day.

Bangalore terrorists blundered?????

2005-12-29T22:29:00.000+05:30

I think these terrorists have gone nuts...I don't understand why they have to kill a Mathematics professor. Was that a blunder.. who knows.

Dirty Politicians of India

2005-12-17T18:37:00.000+05:30

Operation Duryodhana, a COBRAPOST-AAJTAK investigation unearths 11 MPs accepting cash to table questions in the Indian Parliament.

Read the full story of our DIRTY politicians. Its much more than accepting money. You can understand the culture, how indian democracy functions thru middlemen etc.

Trip to Coimbatore

2005-12-14T20:20:00.000+05:30

Last weekend I went to coimbatore. Me nisha and preksha wanted a break and chose to go there.
Why coimbatore? because I wanted to go to my college (Amrita school of Business) where I stayed and studied for 2 years for my MBA. After passing out in 2000 I had gone there only once, in 2001. Secondly its the nearest city for us to travel.
I can't go to kerala as travelling with baby is difficult and I have no trains to my place. And Nisha wanted to do some shopping. She buys a lot of clothes and coimbaore has the best textile shops.

Preksha was so happy about going out and she enjoyed the trip most I guess. All thru the jounery people were looking at her smiling and remarking 'cute baby', pretty child etc. Even though just 6 months old, she is a public personality! Loves being with a lot of people and does not mind smiling at any one if they smile at her or look at her.

We reached there late as the train was late. Went to hotel city tower where we had booked the room. Quite decent hotel, room rent was around Rs.1250 + taxes per day.

Since I know coimbatore quite well it was not very difficult to go around. Auto rikshaws are horrible but. Better avoid them. They have no manners and charge whatever they feel like. But call taxis are much better and charge by meter. We took call taxis.

I have my cousin living here, so they had come down to meet us in hotel, went out with them to the exibition at parks ground that night.

Next day went to Amrita. It was wonderful. There are a lot of buildings and college has a totally different look now. Still looks very good and mesmerising. I met my professors, met some students. Had tea in the college canteen. It was such a good feeling to be there again after 4 years. We spent some 2 hours there and then started back to hotel. By night train we headed back to bangalore.

Marathahalli Traffic jams...

2005-12-10T10:03:00.000+05:30

Today, saturday early morning 7 0'clock I got stuck in a traffic jam there. This marathahalli bridge will soon enter records I think. On a saturday, when most people are not working, that too at 7 in the morning, we have traffic jam.

Todays jam was because of one Truck that broke down on the bridge. Being such a narrow road and with hundreds of call center vehicles who doesn't care about lane discipline these kind of situations are happening very often. Two weeks back we had another terrible jam at 11:30 PM. it lasted upto 12:00 midnight and some traffic police was seen doing some good work by directing the call center vehicles to follow the lane.

Call center vehicles drive like crazy. If you are stuck somewhere and waiting for the jam to ease, you can see them overtaking you from both sides and blocking the whole road!! They drive toyota qualis like a two wheeler and squeeze in.

I wonder how they will widen the bridge, if they want to. because the apartments on both sides are very near to the road.

Floods: Mumbai, Bangalore..now Chennai..next?

2005-12-06T18:48:00.000+05:30

The year 2005 will not be forgotten by many of the residents in these major cities of India. One after other they all experienced flood situation.

First it was Mumbai. Heavy rains completely stopped life in the city. Water gushed into homes destroying assets worth billions. Normal life was paralyzed for almost a week.

Then it was the turn of Bangalore. This is a city that has grown so wide and large and that too so rapidly. People did not know that the newly bought high-class apartment is built on tank beds and swamp areas. Builders had neatly covered and cleaned the area and built and sold the apartments to unsuspecting customers. And one day it rained and rained… and everyone found themselves under knee deep water. Bangalore flood was completely due to human negligence. People protested, we saw the picture of a housewife blocking the way of chief minister in newspapers. All politicians came and promised solutions. Now rain has stopped and we have forgotten everything. We will remember this next year…year 2006.. floods in Bangalore again!! You don’t need Bejan Daaruwala to do that prediction. Bangalore will be flooded again in 2006.

Now its Chennai. This time its due to cyclone effect it seems. But every year at least one cyclone hits this cost, and we don’t remember any flood like this. What is wrong there? Let some chennaite explain to us.

If you take the world in 2005 we had Tsunami, Katrina, floods in US and many other major cities in India.

Do you think Natural disasters are increasing? The elderly Anglo-Indian lady from our neighborhood had asked me this question almost two months back.

I told her “ I don’t know, I don’t know how it was earlier.”

I did not notice any disasters happening so often. After that day, I have started noticing them. I think they are increasing.

Being an evangelist, she had her religious explanation for this. I am not sure about that, but no one is predicting any good for the future.

I think when people forget earth, earth also forgets us.

Why she has to think about us if we don’t care about her. And she is more powerful than we think. Watch one Tsunami video, you will agree with me.

What do you think 2006 will bring? More disasters?

Outsource Writing and Design Services

2005-12-03T19:24:00.000+05:30

chillibreeze

These are 'talented indian writers serving global companies'.
These guys are specialized in content writing. So if you are looking for someone to write your Manuals, tutorials, whitepapers, make your ppts, brochures etc. you can approach them. I think they write only In English though. Interesting venture!!

current atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration highest in 650,000 years

2005-11-25T17:02:00.000+05:30

current atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration highest in 650,000 years

The earth is changing drastically, more tsunamis, rains, earthquakes, floods will surely follow.

The other day I was thinking, how much rain this year we got. Almost every other week in this year there were rain...
After some years a lot of costal tows will disappear at this rate. When I go to costal kerala, I have always seen people talking about sea has eaten up the land, and earlier the sea was farther etc...

Thanks for visiting Bangalore, Mr President

2005-11-22T17:44:00.000+05:30

Wind tunnel road was asphalted and footpaths were cleaned last week. Thanks to president Kalam's visit to Bangalore ( I am not quite sure of this reason behind the sudden road repair, but thats what everyone around here says)

Though the work done looks very cosmetic and is surely not going to last for long, its a welcome change for us who live around here to see this road in good condition after a long time!!!

There is no drainage here, and the foot paths are not usable at all due to vendors and Stray cows, dogs etc.

Anyways lets hope President keeps visiting this place often. He should have come to ITPL too, this road also would have become better.

But the traffic was in chaos that day...read the report

An interview with Amma:

2005-11-18T18:38:00.000+05:30

Interview with AMMA
A living God to some, to others the embodiment of the spiritual mother � SixDegrees

BangalorePotholes.com

2005-11-11T22:44:00.000+05:30

A site for bangalore pothole reporting. But I wonder if anyone notices.

Bangalore Fire service--looting the distressed!!

2005-10-28T20:04:00.000+05:30

Vehicle pumping charges: Rs 800 per hour; pump charges: Rs 600 per hour; charges to and from the fire station: Rs 25 per km.

That's the bill the state-run Fire and Emergency Services has been slapping on hapless residents after clearing water from their houses. This, for a service that the department proclaims is free! "

Don't pay to get water cleared- The Times of India

At the time when people are in distress, everything lost in the rain fury, these government officials make money!! Such high standards of corruption might be unheard anywhere else. Is no one seeing this. Where is this country heading to...

I think its time government allow private parties to do fire service, rescue etc. Anyways people need to pay. so why not get good service then.

Those idiots should be shot dead.!!

It seems if you call 101, they will come acccording to the priority and the payment you make. Are they humans! so sad...

Surprisingly SBI !!

2005-10-26T17:17:00.000+05:30

Surprisingly SBI...
A DD for Rs.5000/- took 1.45 Minutes to get issued. surprised!! Yes that is SBI. I went to bank at 11 AM, came out at 12:45. Not because it was too much of rush, but thats the pace at which they work.

As soon as I entered the bank (NAL branch, Airport road) I found counters 5,6,7 all written DD recipts/issuance. Just to confirm I asked the enquiry, where to stand. 7 was the answer. I stood in queue waiting for my turn, some 6 persons are waiting ahead of me. I knew thew will take time. Almost half an hour gone, now I have only one lady ahead of me, she also came for DD. Then the shock came, the lady at the counter told that she does not take payments, only issues DD. Means I have to be in counter 5 or 6 for payment then come to 7 for collection. I got really wild and looked around to find the person who had told me to stand on this queue. Then without wasting much time went to counter 6.

That was a bigger queue!! waited and finally after 30 minutes reached the counter. Then another shock!! The lady at the counter told me that the bank can issue DD's to only those who hold an account there. I said I dont have any account here, she said sorry, she cannot issue any DD.

I came out, called my mom in law and got her account no(she has an account here). Filled the form again, came to the queue. This time it took another 20 minutes. She took the payment. To collect the DD I had to wait further. Went to counter 7 and waited till 12:45. finally got it.

Surprised about the service!! that is SBI. It seems they have maximum coverage in India. Now you know the level of service we get from the bank. Fortunately, I dont have any acccount here. These people does not belive in any customer service or anything like that.

I feel the only reason they have more number of branches and growing is becasue they go to places where no other bank goes. If you have a choice, they know you will not opt for them!! what a strategy.

I am not surprised though!! every time I see those ads, I feel like laughing now.

best breakfast of the world

2005-10-25T20:37:00.000+05:30

http://people.indiatimes.com/quickiearticleshow/1274446.cms

Kerala breakfast is adjudged as the 'best breakfast of the world' by some. Typical breakfast items are 'Appam with Egg curry', 'Puttu with Kadala curry' or 'Idiyappam with Chicken curry'. Appam is a sort of pancake, made of rice and coconut milk. Idiyappam is one variety of appam and Puttu is made out of rice flour and is cylindrical in shape. You could also have puttu with fish curry. So there, there’s lots more than just idly and vada.

Johnson tiles site

2005-10-25T17:07:00.000+05:30

http://www.hrjohnsonindia.com/main.html

I need to check this out for deciding the tiles. Good website, but no mention of prices at least approximate.

The outdoor tile section is good too, I hope I can make it to the showroom and have a look.

google failed W3C validation!!

2005-10-15T20:42:00.000+05:30

Check the W3C validation result for the google home page!! it fails with 40 errors!!

google likes pages to confirm to validation and they are not bothered about their own page. hmm!!

Honey krishnan -View My Snaps

2005-10-14T18:55:00.000+05:30

I have updated more snaps to my personal web site. after a long long time.

Honey krishnan, Nisha and preksha : Snaps!!

Granite showrooms in Bangalore

2005-10-12T19:22:00.000+05:30

I was just checking on the net for Granite shops in bangalore. Bangalore in a good place to buy Granite, since a lot of Factories are located here.

I need to go to some of these places now to see the price range. Why no one lists out approx. price at least.

Our architech was suggesting vitrified tiles. I still have a soft corner for Marble and granite though. let me go and check some time. The difficult part is, these are mostly located on outskirts of Bangalore. I need to suffer the horrible Bangalore traffic to reach them. Anyways.

http://www.shalomgranites.com/granitepage1.htm

http://pragatigranites.trade-india.com/Exporters_Suppliers/Exporter5826.282C/Granite.html

http://www.arotile.com/slabs.htm

http://www.crystalgranite.com/granite.htm

http://www.preethigraniteexports.com/colours.htm

http://www.shalomgranites.com/Marbles.htm

The Perfect Boss

2005-10-12T14:48:00.000+05:30

Some one sent me this email....

The Perfect Boss . .

There were about 70 scientists working on a very hectic project. All of them were really frustrated due to the pressure of work and the demands of their boss but everyone was loyal to him and did not think of quitting the job.
One day, one scientist came to his boss and told him - Sir, I have promised to my children that I will take them to the exhibition going on in our township. So I want to leave the office at 5 30 pm.
His boss replied “OK, You’re permitted to leave the office early today”
The Scientist started working. He continued his work after lunch. As usual he got involved to such an extent that he looked at his watch when he felt he was close to completion. The time was 8.30 PM. Suddenly he remembered of the promise he had given to his children.
He looked for his boss, He was not there. Having told him in the morning itself, he closed everything and left for home.
Deep within himself, he was feeling guilty for having disappointed his children. He reached home. Children were not there. His wife alone was sitting in the hall and reading magazines.
The situation was explosive, any talk would boomerang on him. His wife asked him “Would you like to have coffee or shall I straight away serve dinner if you are hungry.
The man replied “If you would like to have coffee, i too will have but what about Children ??”
Wife replied “You don’t know ?? Your manager came here at 5.15 PM and has
taken the children to the exhibition “

What had really happened was ... The boss who granted him permission was observing him working seriously at 5.00 PM. He thought to himself, this person will not leave the work, but if he has promised his children they should enjoy the visit to exhibition.

So he took the lead in taking them to exhibition
The boss does not have to do it everytime. But once it is done, loyalty is established.

That is why all the scientists at Thumba continued to work under their boss even though the stress was tremendous.

By the way , can you hazard a guess as to who the boss was..?
He was none other than Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, current President of India . . .

bangalorebpojobs.com

2005-10-08T21:16:00.000+05:30

A jobsite exclusively for call center jobs in bangalore!! Its free also for employers to post jobs. looks fine. Has some general info also.

Bring Your Dog to Work Day!

2005-10-08T16:02:00.000+05:30

http://www.swerdlin.net/aboutus/staff/photos/DogDay/2005.html

Thats really interesting. see the pics.

Preksha some more pictures

2005-10-01T18:47:00.000+05:30

Preksha with me...

La-Z-Boy LAZYboy chair in Bangalore

2005-09-28T21:44:00.000+05:30

You can spot those ad hoardings announcing the availability of LAZYBOY chairs in Bangalore. Being a lazy guy I am naturally attracted to it!! I checked net for more information on this and found some amazing things.

First finding, the price of the recliner is above Rs. 25000/- !!

Secondly its imported by STANLEY Seating, a company started in bangalore and grown to international fame..and I did not know the furniture shop "Stanleys" that I see almost every other day while passing through Indirangar 100 Ft road is such a great company. They are know for their world class leather seating and supplies to worlds leading automobile giants like General Motors, Ford, Mitsubishi, Toyota Kirloskar, Volvo, Honda Siel, Mahindra & Mahindra to corporate clients such as General Electric, DELL, Wipro, 3M, Windsor Sheraton and the Leela Palace.

AT the Detroit Motor Show two years ago, the legendary Aston Martin’s new V8 Vantage concept car created quite a stir, not only because it was the James Bond’s car in the movie Die Another Day, but also because the car featured interiors designed and executed by Stanley Seating, a Bangalore-based leather upholstery maker.

Its founded by CEO Sunil Suresh in 1995 and was started with an initial investment of just 4.5 lakhs, now the turnover in 2004-05 was 50 Cr!! Isn't that impressive.

I thought bangalore is only for IT. I really admire these guys.

Now coming back to LAZYBOY recliner, I have decided to add it to my WISHLIST. Some day I will have it.

Stop SQL Injection Attacks

2005-09-12T23:04:00.000+05:30

Data Security: Stop SQL Injection Attacks Before They Stop You -- MSDN Magazine, September 2004

10 Things You Shouldn't Do with SQL Server

2005-09-12T22:54:00.000+05:30

http://www.sqljunkies.com/Article/92CC4817-604D-4344-8BE0-4490F8ED24B6.scuk

SQL Junkies article.
10. Add a Low Privilege Account to the Admin Role
9. @@IDENTITY vs. SCOPE_IDENTITY
8. Fetch Semi-static Data on Each Request of a Resource
7. Include SQL Data Manipulation Language in Application Code
6. Abuse SELECT *
5. Create Stored Procedures without Exception Handling
4. Prefix Stored Procedures with "sp_"
3. You Don't Protect the Database Connection String
2. Accept All Input
1. Access the Database from the Application with the "sa" Account

Read for explanations.

Why the world must watch out for India, China?

2005-09-12T21:39:00.000+05:30

Why the world must watch out for India, China: "Why the world must watch out for India, China"

A good article.

Answers about India

2005-09-05T18:33:00.000+05:30

Some one sent this to me... a good one...

help the new wave of incoming students from India, here are the proper answers to awkward questions asked everyday:

Q. What does that red dot on women's forehead mean?
A. Well, in ancient times, Indian men used to practice archery skills by target practicing by aiming at their wife's red dot. In fact, that is one of the reasons why they had many wives. You see, once they mastered the art of archery and hit the target....

Q. You're from India? I have read so much about the country. All the wonderful places, the forests, the snake charmers, the elephants. Do you still use elephants for transportation?
A. Absolutely. In fact we used to have our own elephant in our house. But later, we started participating in elephant-ride sharing schemes with our neighbors, to save the air. You see elephants have an "emissions" problem.....

Q. Does India have cars?
A. No. We ride elephants to work. The government is trying to encourage ride-sharing schemes.

Q. Does India have TV?
A. No. We only have cable.

Q. Are all Indians vegetarian?
A. Yes. Even tigers are vegetarian in India.

Q. How come you speak English so well?
A. You see when the British were ruling India, they employed Indians as servants. It took too long for the Indians to learn English. So the British isolated an "English-language" gene and infused their servants' babies with it and since then all babies born are born speaking English.

Q. Are you a Hindi?
A. Yes. I am spoken everyday in Northern India.

Q. Do you speak Hindu?
A. Yes, I also speak Jewish, Islam and Christianity.

Q. Is it true that everyone there is very corrupt?
A. Yes, in fact, I had to bribe my parents so that they would let me go to school.

Q. India is very hot, isn't it?
A. It is so hot there that all the water boils spontaneously. That is why tea is such a popular drink in India.

Q. Are there any business companies in India?
A. No. All Indians live on the Gandhian principles of self-sufficiency. We all make our own clothes and grow our own food. That is why you see all these thin skinny Indians -- it is is a lot of hard work.

Q. Indians cannot beef, huh?
A. Cows provide milk which is a very essential part of Indian diet. So eating cows is forbidden. However in order to decrease the population of the country, the government is trying to encourage everyone to eat human meat.

Q. India is such a religious place. Do you meditate regularly?
A. Yes, sometimes I meditate for weeks without food and drink. But it is difficult to keep my job, because I have to miss work when I meditate like that. But the bosses there do the same thing. That is why things are so inefficient there.

Q. I saw on TV that people there walk on burning coals. Why do they do that?
A. We don't have shoes. So we burn the bottom of our feet to make it hard so that we can walk.

Q. Why do you sometimes wear Indian clothes to work?
A. I prefer it to coming naked

India pledges 5 million dollars for Katrina relief

2005-09-03T16:49:00.000+05:30

India pledges 5 million dollars for Katrina relief

Even srilanka is offering aid to US. look how the world is changing.

Other day I saw the images on tv and I just couldn't believe its US. Hope those people reach safety fast. Americans are good people according to my personal experience.

Some more snaps

2005-09-03T15:13:00.000+05:30

Irikkur Puzha(river). This snap is taken near to mamanikkunnu temple. last time I have been there during the kerala trip. very famous temple in kannur. we call it mamanam temple. actual name is mamanikkunnu bhagavati temple. The same river is later known as valapattanam (puzha) river and joins arabian sea.

On the way back, I stopped in front of PRNSS college mattanur to take a snap. This is where I did my degree way back in 1997.

Some great advertisements.

2005-09-01T14:08:00.000+05:30

Some great advertisements.

http://www.epica-awards.org/assets/epica/2004/winners/film/flv/02011.htm

http://www.epica-awards.org/assets/epica/2004/winners/film/flv/03010.htm

http://www.epica-awards.org/assets/epica/2004/winners/film/flv/11071.htm

http://www.epica-awards.org/assets/epica/2004/winners/film/flv/06037.htm

http://www.epica-awards.org/assets/epica/2004/winners/film/flv/01043.htm

http://www.epica-awards.org/assets/epica/2004/winners/film/flv/08101.htm

http://www.epica-awards.org/assets/epica/2004/winners/film/flv/18037.htm

http://www.epica-awards.org/assets/epica/2004/winners/film/flv/19044.htm

http://www.epica-awards.org/assets/epica/2004/winners/film/flv/20003.htm

http://www.epica-awards.org/assets/epica/2004/winners/film/flv/22018.htm

http://www.epica-awards.org/assets/epica/2004/winners/film/flv/25170.htm