Reincarnation

Beyond the usual,

How far would i go into the unknown?

With broken dreams,

Where do i run away from here?

.

Thoughts prevail to haunt,

Where do i find solace?

Drive of the destiny overcomes freewill

How can i hide me from myself?

.

Can’t seem to resurrect,

needing a revival

I’m heading nowhere,

Why do i wander here?

.

It is right that one can write poem only when emotional. This is my third, after Spid and Looking for.. Just for kicks, and some solace.

I’m totally stressed, not able to adequately comment on others’ blogs. I’m thinking of taking a break from blogging as the hits near 25,000 in less than 10 months. My first blog this, i started writing only to keep my mind off from something. Never expected to write something people would find worth reading. Thanks for featuring me thrice on Bangalore Mirror. Thanks to the reporter from NDTV for getting my blog featured on TV. A big hug for all the readers out here.

I’ll be back!

Current Mood: Stressed

Current Music: Anisutide yaako from Mungaaru Malhe

1GB is enough!

About two years back i bought my first portable music player Sony NW-E003F that has a capacity of 1GB with a small single line display. I have listened to music on variety of devices as i have mentioned in one of my previous post.

I see ipods with varients, zunes and other music players everyday with 80GB or more memory. They also seem to have a good sized LCD screen. Even today, I don’t see myself needing over 1GB of songs at anytime, and don’t understand why people need over 80GB of songs, duplicated in their computer hard disk as well as in their music players.

This is how i listen music:

• Pick a few hundred favorite songs, latest songs included.
• Upload that to my music player from my desktop.
• Listen to them a few times over and over for the next couple of months, till you get bored of these songs.
• Then, repeat the cycle.

Why wouldn’t i like to have an 80GB music player? First, i will not really be enjoying listening to all the 25,000 songs in the player. Instead of hitting the ‘next’ key many a times before i hear the tune of my favorite song i would rather like to listen to the songs i like, in succession. With over 200 songs in 1GB i would hit ‘Next’ some 2-3 times everyday, how many time i’d have to press Next if i had 80GB of songs? 80 * 3 = 240 times!

This also has another disadvantage. The more i skip the songs that i don’t like much, the more the battery is drained. This would reduce the playback time of the player. So, i would be getting less than 25% of the specified playback time. Also, the big LCD screen hogs too much of battery as well every time you happen to strike a key.

My Sony player also comes with an FM tuner which i hardly tune in to as i have all my favorite songs in 1GB. So, i don’t need to listen to the blah blah of radio jockeys.

Most of us don’t download music straightaway on to the music player as we neither have 3G or WiFi access in India. So, having copy of same song in computer and music player makes one of the storage redundant.

Now, wouldn’t it be great to have videos? 1GB is no good for storing videos, 80GB sounds great for this. I agree, but how often and how long would one watch those videos relentlessly? Would you watch an entire movie on your 3inch LCD screen of the music player unless you happen to be on a long flight? Not really, ain’t it? So, a huge memory music player and mobile phones are just marketing gimmicks by these companies that do not come up with any worth while feature, may be other than touch screen.

The battery of the player is also a very important factor as i have already mentioned. I don’t want to keep charging my player more than i’m listening.

I charge my Samsung C160 phone once in 2 days when i talk less than 3 hrs per week. Sony NW-E003F player once in a week, for less than half an hour, listening to at least 2hrs of music per day on my battery driven Bose Quiet Comfort 3 headphones. I charge the Bose headphones once in two or three weeks. Bose QC3 is the best among any speakers or headphones i have listened to music on till date.

Bose QC3 seems to be the best performing as per the specified running time, 20 hours, is concerned. Sony player is suppose to run 30 hours when charged for 30 minutes, but runs only for about 10-12 hours. So 1GB, not bad at all. :)

P.S.: Can you guys tell me how often you need to charge your cellphones or music players or laptops and how much you use them?

Harman Baweja - Watch out for him!

He is awesome! I never thought i’ll ever write a post on any movie but this guy is incredible as far as the trailers of his new movie, Love story 2050, i have watched. His uncanny resemblance to Hrithik Roshan does not make him another wannabe star. Not just his looks, and his physique has resemblance with Hrithik but also his dance moves seems to be at least as good. The days when sons of yesteryear film industry people making their presence including the Jimmys and Tommys, Harman is one to watch out for irrespective of the success of his movie.

For advertisers, Harman would be Hrithik at 90% discount.

I can’t comment much about his acting skills, but if he can match Hrithik even in that then he’s gonna be the star of future in Bollywood, may be till 2050, sidelining the k-k-khans. You can point no flaw in his dancing skills, he is amazing. The song ‘milo na milo’ reminds me so much of Hrithik’s song ‘Dil ne dil ko pukara’ in Kaho naa pyaar hai. The music of the movie also sounds good. For those who haven’t watched the trailers, check out the video i’ve embedded from youtube below.

Milo na milo

Sach kehna

Check out the pretty good, futuristic, Love story 2050 website. First time i saw the trailer, i thought some new Hrithik’s movie. Then realized that this is new guy. With pretty Priyaka Chopra is his co-star, I think i’ll watch this movie, what about you?

The Expansionist?

Super Nova tagged me, and here’s my take on this.

Please thoughtfully consider the following, and choose one item for each of the categories below. (Be sure to describe your reasons for choosing)

One religious work from a non-familiar tradition you’ll read:
-> Something on Buddhism, if Playboy is not considered religious. :P

One music video–that you like–from your “least likely to listen to’ genre:

-> Creeping death by Metallica or Hosh walon ko khabar kya ghazal sung by Jagjit Singh, from the movie Sarfarosh.

A book from a genre you almost never read, that you have read, or you will read (promise!):
-> Any fictional stuff. On second thoughts, Chetan Bhagat’s book is something i decided i’ll never read after 1 night @ .., and i might do the 3rd mistake of my life.

Somewhere you’d never thought to go on holiday/vacation, and why it might be fun to go there?

-> Chembra peak at Wayanad. One of the best places i’ve trekked to. Also, I wouldn’t mind visiting Swaziland for Umhlanga. You know why’s that :D

A specific food you’ve never tried, but will because of this meme, honest!:

-> Kashmiri naan, but i don’t wanna try that! Can i consider cocaine as food? ;-)

A sport or game you really hate, or haven’t tried yet, but are willing to give one more go:

-> Golf, looks so easy, but god damn hard. I can’t get a tee off right! Hockey, for having missed out an opportunity to learn and play for college. Also, defeating Rafael Nadal on clay court 6-1, 6-3 and 6-0. I really want to do that! :D

A style of dance you probably won’t try (we won’t make you promise on this one):
-> The street dance to drum beats.

A career job you don’t feel you’re suited for, and why:

-> Any job which requires boot licking or kissing ass.. I just can’t do that.

An item that’s “thinking out of the box’ for this meme that hadn’t been included:
-> Huh? wait.. i went to the loo, but that didn’t help.

It’s there’s one thing in life you wanted to do, and will do because of this meme, what will it be?
-> I wanna change this question to “What is the one thing in life you didn’t want to do, but will do because i asked you this question?”

I want every reader of this post to answer my last question, including the one who tagged me (coz i know you’ll not read?). Also, i tag Bhavna for her first wordpress post, Sakhi, Xylene, and You. :D

Everything seems to be costing more but telecom services!

This last month or so, inflation seems to be sky rocketing without any bound. The dollar is again touching 43 rupees just when i shortlisted a DSLR to buy. Nearly 4 rupee rise per dollar would increase the cost of owning the DSLR by 12%. Though the rising dollar would be a good sign for small and medium scale exporters, the effects of this would not be seen immediately. IT companies have already announced their single digit hikes for the top performers, and fired the non-performers. The crash of the markets has gripped the nation along with the increase in fuel prices. Also, there’s this food shortage crisis looming.

Albeit all these price rises, one thing seems to be decreasing. That is the cost for telecomm services. The tariff for STD and other services are being slashed every other day. First it was Vodafone and Airtel, and now it is BSNL. Though it seems like this is the result of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (Trai) decision to remove the access deficit charge (ADC), i feel that they would already be running these services at a very high price and this small cuts would be insignificant as their customer base increases.

What is the major cost for running a telecom service once they have their network up and running?

Advertisements, with big superstars and not-so-big superstars endorsing to call up your sister irrespective of whether she’s in Dehradun or somewhere nearby or the pug running behind you to help you. Yes, this is the only major cost apart from the salaries for their staff who take only a part of the top brass’ pay. So as these companies capture more market, they could afford to run the network efficiently and optimally without incurring more expenditure. This would maximize their profits. This is an ideal situation for them to get aggressive and capture more market. So, How do they do this?

By slashing the already high tariffs. This would make the customers to make calls more often, there by making higher utilization of the network, raking in more turnover and hence more profits.

The already over-priced telecom service is the only entity to be slashing prices in this near double digit inflation struck India, and i continue to wait for the D-Day.

A furious fan of Federer

After watching a frustrating French open final i am not in mood to do anything. This is my way to vent the frustration. World number 1 in tennis losing in straight sets, scoring only 4 points in 3 sets, can’t annoy a tennis fan more. Was Federer outplayed by Nadal?

Of course not. One of the worst games Federer has played in years got Nadal his 4th title at Roland Garros. Roland Garros happens to be a French aviator, a trivia i was pleased to know than watch the abysmal performance by one of the greatest players in the history of tennis. Coming from a good match against the frenchman Gael Monfils, least i was expecting from Federer was give a stiff competition to the clay court champ. I knew it was too much to expect Federer to trash Nadal on clay. I was hoping to see a competitive match stretching to 4 sets, or at least a tie-breaker! All in vain.

I would be happy if Federer lost to unstoppable Nadal, but not when he lost to unforced errors. 35 unforced errors, crashing an aggressive forehand to the net or hitting it meters out of the box, like a rookie. Federer’s game annoyed me as much as the praise for Nadal by the commentators. Those morons were talking about how Nadal has ‘dominated’ the match. I could only see a few good passing shots by Nadal when Fed half-heartedly came to the net, and there was no signs of domination as Federer was literally throwing away the match with his unforced errors and poor conversion of 2nd serve to winning points. The commentators also started talking how amazing Nadal would be even on grass as he displayed supposedly some outstanding stuff last year in Wimbledon. I hope he gets trashed somewhere in 1st or 2nd round this year.

At one point in the 3rd set, i got so annoyed that i even started watching some crap talk by the Bachans and Ram Gopal Verma on a news channel! An average game by Nadal was enough to beat the off shine, under confident underdog Roger Federer. The only thing that made me smile this evening was the fast recap of this year’s tournament in the end, which showed the gorgeous Maria Sharapova for a moment. :)

Having seen the genius of Roger Federer trashing best of the players like Safin and Roddick, it is disheartening to see him underperform and perish. Watching the King of tennis, who as i have seen shoot a winner even when on a wrong foot, to lose to an average game displayed by Nadal was sheer disappointment.

Federer needs to believe in himself and his abilities. He has to believe than he can beat, if not easily, Nadal on clay. He is world no. 1 for over four consecutive years for a reason, and that is because he is superior to the world no. 2, Rafael Nadal. I hope to see the genius display his abilities in full extravagance at the mecca of tennis, Wimbledon, which i truly believe is ‘The Grand Slam’. Watch out for Maria and FedEx sizzling on grass. :)

Walking on a tight rope

Winning an election is one thing, running a successful government is a totally different thing. Having won the assembly elections with a near simple majority, BJP would soon realize this. 110 seats no good for forming a government in Karnataka. The effort it takes to form a government with the help of independent MLAs is not just the assurance of ministral portfolio but actually getting them to swear in. Does this ensure Mr.Yediyurappa will be able to run a hassle free government for 5 years?

If anyone knows even little bit of politics, he would say no, and rightly so. Congressmen are furious to have lost their foothold in the southern Indian, especially Karnataka. They being in the opposition would be scrutinizing every single move of our beloved CM Mr.Yediyurappa. The Gowda clan wouldn’t be the one to sit quietly in the assembly. The vengeance of their loss would be evident in the allegations they would be making for every minute mistake BJP or their ministers make.

Remember Nikhil Gowda’s drunken brawl episode? Now, if anything remote to that happens with any of the BJP minister kins, no doubt it will be blown out of proportion not only by the media but also by every member of the opposition in the assembly. HD Kumaraswamy was very fortunate to have escaped with very less damage. Both BJP and Congress, to some extent, were not so keen on tarnishing his image for having formed coalitions. But Yediyurappa and his government will not get away easily with any such antics.

Yediyurappa seems to be aware of this, and is trying to please everyone. The biggest mistake a leader does is try to please everyone. First, by swearing in 30 MLAs as ministers, and now visiting former CMs and his bitter rivals in the recent past. Having visited Deve Gowda, he has now visited Bangarappa at his residence. Does he think that they would be pleased by this gesture and co-operate with Yediyurappa, and not create a furore against him in future? One should be an idiot to expect such a thing from Gowda.

Staying mum will not help in leading a government. Taking the suggestion from national leaders, all the time, is a lame excuse for delaying decisions. Mr.Yediyurappa needs to overcome the fear of consequences and has to take his own decisions without trying to please everyone. The walk on a tight rope is for the one with the adroitness of a magician. Yediyurappa faces the key trust vote today, hopefully he’ll be more proactive in future if he secures the trust vote today.

Life without…

One of those days when your loved one leaves you. She slipped into the Goan waters on the beach of Vagator on a bright sunny day. I couldn’t see the brightness on the face as i picked her up from the water. The bright light had vanished. I patted her on the back a couple of times hoping to get that bright light flashing again, but in vain. I thought ‘She’ll be okay. Just a little water has entered, and she’ll be fine if dried in the sun for some time.’ I thought i’ll resurrect her. I was confident of this.

I returned to Bangalore with her, and tried to resurrect her. A day after we returned from Goa, she responded well. The bright white light was back, but flickered a little. I was sure she’ll recover soon. But, i was proved wrong. I realized the water had entered little too much for her comfort and had shorted the motherboard. My cellphone was dead!

I found it funny and weird when people had their cellphone in the list of things they can’t live without. I always felt i could manage without the agony of missing a cellphone since i bought my first phone about 6 years back when it was a fancy, and something i wished to have. Even then, neither was i addicted to my cellphone nor was i totally detached. Cellphones, the very gadget which was an expensive toy of the rich and show-offs soon became a ‘necessity’. Oh, you ought to have a cellphone. How can you live without that!?

I wanted to live without a cellphone, just for kicks, but didn’t get the chance until my working cellphone got conked. And the substitute cellphone had to be given back. I did live without a cellphone for a little more than 3 weeks beyond which i couldn’t as i succumbed to the pressure from my mom, and the one who threatened to work in a cafe to buy me a phone. :)

The three weeks don’t make a huge difference when you have your landline at home and desk phone at work. Unfortunately, the desk phone at work stopped working around the same time. In these three weeks, i managed to go for a treat with few friends at a distance more than 10kms from my home. I also managed to go, with few colleagues at work, to Nandi hills to watch sunrise atop the hills. Leaving home at 4 am on a Sunday morning and without cellphone to contact people was not much of problem. I also did most of my routine work. It worked out fine. I missed my desk phone more, as i had to walk more to talk to team mates about work, than cellphone.

Finally i bought a very low-end, minimal featured handset Samsung C160. I simply didn’t like any of the phones in the market. Either they are bulky or they don’t have any significant improvements other than the higher megapixel or more flash memory. The exception being GPS, which has caught my eye for now. This too is very primitive, and didn’t excite me enough to buy a set with this.

Anyway, with this experience i realized i can live a non-materialistic life. Things i haven’t tried living without are quite a few. On top of the list is a vehicle, the maximum i have lived without that is about 2 weeks way back in 2002. Next is a computer without net connection, the maximum without this being one week. I know i can live without these things more than the achieved maximum, but haven’t got such an ‘opportunity’ yet. Now, temme what are the things you can live without?

Rest in peace, My Nokia 7610.

Bonjour le monde!

Je m’appelle Sandeep. Je suis ingénieur. Je travaille dans un démarrage à Bangalore. Je suis etudient à l’Alliance Francaise en Vasanthnagar, une partie de Bangalore. Je parle la kannada, l’anglais, la hindi, la tamil et le français. C’est mon blog.

J’aime la musique et les sports. J’adore le tennis. Je joue au tennis de table et de cricket. Aussi, j’aime l’équitation. Mon groupe de musique préféré est Pink Floyd.

J’adore écrive aussi. Mon préféré animaux sont des chiens, des tigres et des chevaux. Je déteste rien.

Mon coup de coeur est Coming back to life par Pink Floyd. Priya m’a marqué. Je baliser Priya, Meghana, Nikhil, Vishesh et RJ dans ce message. Je sais qu’il est tard. Mieux vaut tard que jamais.

Bisous tout le monde, gardez blogging!

­

P.S.: This is all the french i’ve learnt so far. Tag tip: You guys write a post in your mother tongue or any other new language you’re learning. Programming and scripting languages not <included> :)

Connecting the Bangalore International Airport at Devanahalli

Why of all the places in Bangalore, connectivity to the new Bangalore International Airport so important? Is there no road to BIAL or is the airport built in some fairyland to which only the angels have access to!?

Of course not. The airport is at Devanahalli, at a distance of about 35km from the city. There is a good National highway (NH-7) connecting to this place. Along the way are many malls, luxury apartments, international hospitals, and IT parks.

Reaching this highway from the central parts of the city, and ‘more importantly’ IT corridors (Electronic city et al) is a pain, time wise. Our government, as of now our governor, and all the smart people ‘leading India‘ are only concerned about providing good connectivity to the Airport. I don’t understand why! The connectivity to Airport is not more important than decongesting traffic in central parts, at least when the traffic is as shown in the image below almost everyday.

How often does an average person with an average job in Bangalore use the Airport? Not more than twice or thrice a year. Even the Narayan Murthys and Azim Premjis would not be flying more than once a fortnight, except may be our beloved cricketers who take short haul flights for their IPL matches more than twice a week. :)

Now consider, how often does an average person travel within the city? More than once a day. What Bangalore lacks is good roads within the city where people commute everyday to work, and not to some outskirt which is used for flying to some other part of the world, once or twice a year.

How much delay would be caused to reach the airport with a not so great expressway and a metro link? Half an hour or one hour on an average. The flights would, on an average, be delayed up to an hour not just during the foggy days of winter.

Building the connectivity to the international airport is causing terrible inconvenience to commuters within the central parts of the city. In making the route from MG road to the Bangalore International Airport signal free, the north-central parts of Bangalore has become a mess with traffic diversion causing total chaos with riders going on footpaths in certain residential areas. The BDA junction magic box under pass has made the life hell for millions of commuters on these roads. Adding to the problems of the commuters is the road widening at Race course road, and along the golf course.

These are the projects which had to be taken one at a time over a few months, are taken up all at once trying to finish everything in a month or two. Delay in opening of the new Airport adds the time limit. The incapable, only money-minded coalition government with betrayal by Gowda and sons gave no interest in answering the traffic issues either in the city or to connect to the International Airport, construction of which started a good two years ago. Hope a clear majority in the current elections will form a stable and sensible government.