Things are not right : Is Earth hour the answer ?

The weather in the last week of march in Delhi used to be generally warm during the day with pleasant evenings. Last year the air conditioner was up and running during this time, but now the fan regulators are yet to reach maximum. It would not take a person much knowledge to conclude that there is definately something that is not alright. So what's really cooking ? Is it the earth under the cap of carbon dioxide and other green house gases such a methane or is this Bhagwan ki kripa or other evil powers . It would not take much to convince people on the latter and all it would need is a priest like looking person spreading the message through provocative speeches saying "America and China are behind this" (Thats not my say and I don't intend to mean any such thing).

Coming back to the sane stuff we need to find a solution of the simple question "What can we do ? Is earth hour the answer". I celebrated triple earth hour(s) compulsorily since the power authorities had decided that probably my community was consuming too much electricity (pun intended). I have my reservations about such things and their real impacts (or mis-impacts) but it wasn't bad experience. I sat with my family and we had some chilled out conversations. It was a good chilled out triple earth hour.

Analyzing the Earth Hour's effects the good thing is that it is spreading awareness about the fact that we can save our Earth in coma from being a tandoori chicken. It's getting hot in here rather the climate is changing. Now comes the mis-impact part. Many people think that just shutting lights off for one hour daily will help. No it won't ! It is not enough to be satisfied that you are switching off all your lights. More importantly you need to keep a check on how many times you forget to switch lights off when you come out of the room or the geyser you forgot to switch off. Another factor is that once electricity has been created it has to be used and hence you might watch street lights on during the day time. Its because the system has been designed to meet the power requirements of peak hours. I gave a seminar on embedded systems (curve below) which was on the use of differential payments for varying hours of electricity usage. The curve from the presentation shows a typical usage pattern.

But sadly we are far away from the actual implementation of these technologies and India as a developing nation, with good GDP growth (sometimes over-hyped), there are people who celebrate upto 8 Earth Hours daily and on the extreme cases most of their lives has been an Earth Hour kind of lifestyle till now. I hope things change (not with hate speeches).

Political war on Youtube : Bhay Ho !

The political war has intensified on youtube and all other XXX number of web sources, mostly Web 2.0 media. In this political war some creative gems are also emerging and this video is one of the good ones(creatively) I found on youtube.

PS: This was posted on this thread of Bloggers for Advani community. I am totally neutral and will begin the process of scrutinizing the MP candidates for my area.

Lets face it - Traffic worsens, no other choice left

I met my worst driving nightmare yesterday. Driving blues had become commonplace because of unplanned and shoddy execution of projects, the construction nightmare on Delhi roads gave me the coma effect yesterday. All I could see was a mile long array of cars and buses in the front and the view was same through the rear view mirror. The only good thing I had unknowingly done was taken my Maruti 800 buggy rather than its longer cousin. Although it was good to have taken a bike version of car, I could only pray to prevent it from overheating. In the end, the turtles defeated my car.
Looking back at the chain of events yesterday I feel such nightmarish clogging of city roads is just an indication of how overburdened our "assets" have become. 3 years back speed checking cars of Delhi Police had some work but now I believe they are no longer needed and it is quite visible from their presence(the lack of it). The upcoming elections and the rallies will only further add to the perils of the commuters. But just cribbing and complaining won't lead us and I thought of some measures to relieve from the mental and physical stresses of the traffic jams.

My 7 point funda

1. Assume that other drivers don’t know how to drive (They'll assume he same for you) and take extra care by honking frequently to make them aware of a possible collision course.
2. Patience is a virtue but it becomes the prime necessity in a traffic jam. Loosing it will make you vulnerable to all the devils of traffic jam.
3. Doesn’t matter if a restless driver in his early 20’s overtakes you. He’ll be standing not far ahead. Trying to overtake may just cost more fuel, so in a way you are helping earth
4. Start early to avoid being late. There is no other alternative. (Only if you have a chopper)
5. Music is almost essential to keep cool (but keep a check on the volume).
6. Always drive in your lane do not jump jump among the lanes. The key should be don’t look for a space where your car can fit, look for the way ahead lest you have to come back to your original lane after driving for a few feet.
7. Keep your car healthy so that it does not break down in the middle of a traffic jam (and further cause problems for all)
   

All the best and sleep well.

Capt. Gopinath takes the political plunge - A new era of Indian democracy begins

Captain Gopinath has decided to take the plunge into politics this year. WoW! That was my first reaction to his decision. When xx and yy (xx & yy >25) are the number of seats on which Congress and BJP are fielding candidates with criminal charges, this comes as a refreshing break. Atleast we know that in cities with educated population (like Bangalore) the chances of educated leaders leading us are high. I have a similar feeling for Gujarat.

"I think people are tired of partisan politics in this country. That is why I have decided not to be associated with any political groupings. There's a need for more educated and well meaning people in politics"--Capt. Gopinath ET

The future also looks good. Reading the case studies in HT Mint (Bharat Shining) it seems the emerging rural sector will also play a pivotal role in the times to come.

"some political analysts are warning that political parties that do not understand the new rural mindset, and deploy stale strategies, are in for unpleasant surprises come this general election" {The rural consumer myth-II by Rama Bijapurkar and Rajeev Shukla HT Mint (25/03/2009) }

I was watching a debate on Times Now where Arnab Goswami, Sachin Pilot (Congress), Smriti Irani (BJP) and two other panelists where debating on the criminalization of politics. Smriti said that it was upto the voter to defeat the criminals by not voting for him/her. This argument was successfully rebuked by one of the panelists who said "It is like choosing between a thug and a thief". I think more such actions by business leaders like Capt Gopinath will put an end to the thug-thief debate, but still it is too early to the outcome of his joining. Whether he wins and how he fairs could be a better indicator, but for now I think it is important and wise to support people like him.

Optimistic snack - The way out of Recession ?

Recession has spread like wild fire and many people stuck in this fire are googling for that fire suit to keep away from the burns. If Google search results (below) are any indication, panic has spread among the Indian working class and people are finding for recession proof hideouts.


The questions that comes to my mind are "What is recession proof career ? or what kind of a job is recession proof ? Are we moving towards escapism ?" Can't really say. Searching for a shelter in the rain may be wise but may not be always possible, if atleast our job demands so. So what if the shelter is no where in sight and the rain comes before we reach it the job is over. Maybe the rain will make us more resilient towards coughs and colds. Changing a job and going towards a recession proof job may not be wise since you may not be alone. You might just be the one to trigger the chain reaction leading to further and deeper recession.
This might sound idealistic and clichéd to some but it is this idealism that is the ray of hope.

Guys just hang on. The winter won't last for ever.

IPL 2 @ South Africa

IPL a.k.a. the revolution (and money) of Indian cricket has been shifted from India. Criticism, concern and all sorts of things are cooking in every form of media but one thing is for sure - I won't be watching live action this time. Delhi Dare devils battling in Johannesburg makes little sense to us and the Africans. Its been a simple shirking of responsibility for whatever reasons. Saying to me that I'm not secure in my own country and the country can't be protected is not justified. Important to me is the message being sent out- "India is not safe (Atleast during elections)". If IPL was like watching a 3 hour movie, that means going to the cinemas during elections is also not safe.

South Africa has seen moderate viewership of the IPL, and by many accounts viewers have found it enjoyable. However, many were unable to relate to any of the teams, although a large number simply supported Mumbai Indians because of the presence of Shaun Pollock.

Maybe the shifting the venue could be like using a contraceptive pill (I-pill), but IPL 2 could have been better had it been in India, but still the hidden diamond needs to be seen in South Africa. Probably South Africa can come up with more positives and make IPL a globally popular league similar to the English Premier League.

There have been positives of intervention as well. The ranting by K highlights the Sehwag - Gambhir pair gift as a result of politics.

Web 3.0 and Tata Nano

web 2.0 to 3.0 might have just taken place with many companies using the free and effective medium of web to promote their product globally. Banner ads, TV ads and couple of other sources including radio might give an edge but a stiffer competition to these rather costly sources comes from the free media of web. The recent Tata Nano web site is such an example where the team of Tata Nano will connect through the interactive 2 way media of social networking. According to wikipedia of web 2.0

Web 2.0 concepts have led to the development and evolution of web-based communities, hosted services, and applications; such as social-networking sites, video-sharing sites, wikis, blogs, and folksonomies.

I'd say the third generation of web has just arrived where corporates are spreading their brand through practically free media of web 2.0. Tata Nano updates through orkut, facebook or email is an indicator of how an iconic product already popular because of its uniqueness can turn into a revolution thorough a pro-youth media. Having said that I'm pretty sure "Nano themes" for various forums, blogs and web sites may soon come out. We may have Nano blogs form microblogs and so on as far as the imagination can run.

Integrate (web 2.0) = web 3.0

Looking at the applications of web 3.0, the horizon is as broad as the vastness of the universe. Small budget companies looking to have an marketing campaign can use it as well as non-profit organizations for spreading their cause. The demonstration by a large company to use this media for promotion of their product should clearly give a green signal to other small budget companies looking to make a mark. Further they get enough publicity for VCs to fund them.

On the other side of web 3.0 is a permanent marker clearly indicating the actions and messages being passed on to the millions through internet highways. Facebook's founder recently flipped over a change in the terms and conditions giving negative publicity to it. Further the internet highway is very fast with high speed winds. If the wind can go in one direction, it would take a simple error in changing its direction that could devastate the product. Hackers too pose a big threat to such campaigns.

Although the picture is rosy on one side, clearly a lot of precautions need to be taken before embarking on such a journey.
My Tip: Once you get into the expressway make sure you don't loose control

Votes for Money : Voters make hay

The recent speculation of Rs 100 for vote by Mulayam Singh or the distribution of watches by a CM caught on camera have caused a lot of people to condemn such acts as a shameful mockery of democracy. While those anchors on their 24 hour News TV channels are not wrong there is another side to this event. Lets look at it from the poor voters point of view.

The person getting Rs 100 is indeed very poor and knows that the government did not do enough for the last 5 years and hence they are compensating by paying them a certain amount of money. And if you think that the poor voter is poor from mind also, you are wronged. That same voter will also try and extract the maximum out of the other party and in the end his single vote (If at all single and no malpractices done) will go to one and only one party. So indeed he is smart and atleast he is draining out some money from the alleged corrupt politician. I'm purely saying this on the basis of the CBI inquiry on the misappropriate assets case against Mulayam Singh.

Another interesting thing to note here is that the money and gifts are mainly being given to males. So that should make me believe that gift giving just before polls as a part of Holi celebrations(As claimed by Amar Singh) excluded women. If god forbid such people come to power can we expect women upliftment. I don't really think so. Moreover that Rs 100 being given to the poor guy might not even find its way to improving his family circumstances. That money would end up on a wine and beer shop. And after drinking if from the huge crowd somebody is not able to handle himself and commits rape or murder in a drugged situation who is responsible ?

Indian democracy - What lies ahead

Naveen Patnaik played the right move at just the right time. It hit BJP harder than it could have ever had. Our country has good solid 545 chess players in their middle ages (Barring a few exceptions) and that reflects in the number of flips. There are more managers than leaders running this country and thats what causes the deep impact of every small and big thing going wrong. I might be wrong in judging the UPA or the NDA government but the fact is we want a damn good and bold leader this time.

That leads me to the next question. Who should we vote ? One set of characters or the other. In case we choose the ideology of one political party over the other what guarantee exists that the two may form a coalition and inflict more suffering on us. My state of mind is rightfully conveyed by Jagdeep (A retired IIM A professor) that we want None of These.

So who were the good guys ? Our filmstars, but they disappointed. Govinda's flop story with the electorate is one example. The promising ones like Smriti Irani (Tulsi virani) could not make the cut and lost out. Sanjay Dutt is now standing for Samajwadi Party, but I don't have high hopes from him (His father was completely different and a much better case).

Can we stand in elections to atleast develop our area. If a single person goes out it would be rather impossible. A society can fund a person to stand up to represent their rights but people are too busy for all this.

After all the deals, mudslinging, back stabbing, people are latching on the rising sun rather than sticking to their stand. To worsen things the violence upon innocent are a common feature to vent out frustration. I'd say our situation is worse than the Tibetans who say chinese have made life hell for them. They atleast have one enemy with one ideology. Here there are many. A friend might become your foe for fulfilling his ambitions and he might also harm you.

The hard reality is that our land is the same, but people have increased and so the number of people contesting for the same land has increased. This has worsened situation for the tax payer since the moment anybody comes to power he/she likes to make most of it by various means thus harming the tax payer.

Recession - Who moved my Cheese ?

Finally after 24 million people read Dr Spencer Johnson's book Who Moved My Cheese ? , I got enlightened to read it. Better late than never! This new enlightenment also led to discover a fact - The current crisis, whether financial, food or energy has its answers in the small parable.
The story is about four characters (2 mice - sniff and scurry and 2 little men - Hem and Haw), a dark maze and cheese.

The men (Hem and Haw) get cheese on a cheese station and decide to sit and relax and eat the cheese, thinking it will never get over. The mice always keep their running shoes closely attached to themselves and ever-ready to hunt for a new station. To the surprise and shock of hem and haw, the cheese finishes. Their cheese has been moved and they have only one question in mind "Who Moved My Cheese ?".

Recession, Food security and Energy scarcity is a combination of people shouting "Who Moved My Cheese ?".

To add to this worsening situation are the Hems of this world - The Talibanis , Mujahideens, corporate fraudsters and corrupt politicians. Our leaders forgot to sniff the situation and that led to a tribe of scurries(the MBAs) travel the wrong road.
The lesser known and considered insignificant Hems (The millions who lost their jobs) waited for their leadership, which did not do enough to help them. They could only vote and the choices were few and in many cases none.
Recession is a situation where the cheese moved because the Hems(leaders) saw growth as an everlasting cheese station.

The story although has a positive end, when Hem and Haw, out of hunger decide to search the dark maze for other cheese stations and they find more.
The current cheese station of fossil fuels will end and hence it is important to search for newer stations that can provide us abundant cheese.
Hopefully the cheese-less situation now will lead us to the cheese station N containing sufficient cheese.
If you've not read Who Moved My Cheese ? and want a quick review of the amazing book check out this short presentation.

Who Moved My Cheese

View more presentations from vmission. (tags: cheese who)

PS:If the presentation does not open, click here

Did Musharraf downplay role of Pakistan ?

A person would require lot of guts to actually go into another country and face one on one its leaders and people in a publicized conclave. Firstly I think it was not the smartest thing to call Pervez Musharraf to this country for a conclave and make him a publicized speaker. Our politicians were smart enough to understand what he was tying to do. Create Muslim rebels in India, which was very-very smartly rebuked by a muslim Rajya Sabha MP (I'd like to personally thank and salute him).

Coming to his talk, there was nothing new apart from the fact that he is now not in power. Do you have Dawood ?No. Now C'mmon the whole world knows that the underworld don is in Pakistan and could be responsible for funding of terror activities. Moreover Musharraf talked about an attitudinal change required in India. Now what do you expect from us ? Some people come in dingies to our coast, get into a heritage hotel and few other 5 stars and kill 164 people. Fortunately one of them gets caught who confesses he is from Pakistan and then you say our attitude towards Pakistan is wrong. Artists and cricketers from Pakistan are probably given the best welcome in India, still our attitude is wrong. Huh!

The worst one was on Terror camps in Pakistan. On being asked about it, he said that people from Taliban are welcomed in Delhi. What !!! Can you imagine that.

Finally, I'd only say that it wasn't a smart move at all to call him here and publicize him. It was media's another strategic disaster.

Blog Camp 2 @ Delhi - Experience

The Blog camp-2 organized by IBNMS was an enriching experience that gave me new thoughts to ponder over. I was at the venue at about 11:00 AM , just in time before the session on 'Using new media for maximizing brand visibility: case studies' by Meena began. Meena who is Head External Communications, HCL Technologies explained how she started the 'employee first customer second campaign' that spread through slide share presentation and other relatively free social media and gained popularity. This session, I felt did not get the 'WOW' factor, which was there in the next session by Mr Madhavan (Associate Editor, Hindustan Times). His topic of discussion was 'What blogs mean to mainstream media, and what mainstream media means to blogs' where he mentioned some very useful points about blogging and traditional media, although I have my reservations on a few things he said. The Q and A, which followed after his comprehensive session was also interesting. I got my chance too.My first question to him was about the future of micro payments, which he said he was skeptical about. On learning about his blog later, I wouldn't have asked that question since he has already talked about it there. Now came the second one and before I began Ajay called a time-out but thanks to Madhavan the query was entertained. Since he is at a very senior position in Hindustan Times I wanted to know about the restrictions in traditional media and recent ranting by Vir and the leaving of Mr Raju Narisetti. He wonderfully answered the question by saying that editing for one person maybe censorship for other. Although he evaded(rightfully, I too would have done the same) the 'Vir and Raju' issue and said he wouldn't comment on it.

I also met my senior in college Abhishek who has started this fabulous website Trouble Fixers that fixes your computer troubles without any cost.

After these two sessions was a wonderful lunch and because of some other important work I had to come back home after that. All in all the camp was good.
Previous related posts

• BarCamp Delhi 5
• Blog Camp 2 @ Delhi

Save environment by smart computer power usage

Saving power might be considered by many as an after effect of recession and if it really is, it's good. Powering off your TV might take you only a few seconds but the lazy loafer in each one of us does it a minute later. And I too am a part of the 'you' mentioned. Going by Thomas Friedman's 'Hot, Flat and Crowded', the world is having fever and it's getting warmer by the day; the of which effect was felt this winter. The solution or the silver bullet to counter this may be that small extra effort, tinier than the drop in an ocean. After 100 years of spewing industrial venom we will need a 100 years of Medicare to get things back on track.

So why am I discussing all this ? All thanks to this post by Bill Weihl who informed about the Climate Savers Computing Initiative (co-founded by Google). They've come out with power saving computers. Although I am skeptical about using environment as the theme of their business of selling computers, they've come up with good handy tips on power management through efficient use of your PC. There is also a contest where you can submit your videos on power saving and win $5000.
Monetary aspect
Smart PC power Usage -> Less electricity used -> Lesser Bill -> Lessening the impact of recession -> Helping the economy

Family aspect
Smart PC power Usage -> Less electricity used -> Lesser Bill -> Happy family members -> Less Stress -> More productivity -> Helping the economy

Environment Aspect
Smart PC power Usage -> Less electricity used -> Lesser power consumed -> Lessening the green house gases -> Reducing global warming -> Saving the world

Switching off the bathroom light after coming out is something I used to forget very often but I've mended my ways. This goes for geyser, computer, lights, TV and radio. Mending my habits did also lighten the electricity bill apart from the self pat on the back for saving the environment. Hence the next time you power off an unnecessary appliance, give a pat on your back for saving the world and share your experience here.This is my unofficial energy initiative.

King of all hearts - Vijay Mallya buys back Gandhi belongings

The King of good times turned out be the king of 1.3 billion Indian hearts after he successfully bid for Mahatma Gandhi's iconic belongings for a whopping 1.8 million dollars. Vijay Mallya saved the day today but I don't really think donating them back to the Indian government will be of much use.

It would have been much better had a private bidder payed a huge sum of money for those five personal belongings of Mahatma Gandhi since I don't have much faith in the capability of the government in preserving the items. Looking at the current state of affairs of our monuments and museums the iconic items I believe might get into the not so safe hands of the Indian government. I only hope they are preserved with much care as they were before. But Kudos to Mr Vijay Mallya.

Save your money by tips from Google

If you found recession tough enough enough to handle, here is an easy way to find out the best sorted out content that will help you save money. I recently read an article that said that sale of motivational books has increased and the most obvious reason for this - Recession. This recession, the worst since great depression of the 1930s can be a great thing for the world to unite under a single theme - Save Money, Save Job; and what better platform than Google.

The blog entry by Colby Ranger on the official Google blog says

As we all navigate today's choppy economic waters, we'd like to put these beliefs into practice. That's why we created Tip Jar (www.google.com/tipjar), an experiment powered by Google Moderator that we hope will help you discover the most effective ways to save money.

So what kind of tips can you expect ?
Here is an example (Work Related)- "Find out about all of the benefits of your job. Most people aren’t even aware of all of the benefits available to them. Spend some time with an HR person finding out about all the benefits of your job - you might be surprised at what you might find."
Tip Jar is a community building effort and a 5 star idea to engage and motivate millions of people across the world. Depending on your choice you can choose from a host of categories from finance to work to food. So go check out Tip Jar.

Marry a katrina look alike

If you are not happy with the marriage proposals you've been getting till now, register on Bharata Matrimony and find a Katrina/Bipasha/Kareena and (many more ) look alike. Bharat Matrimony has started a facial recognition feature, which shows profiles matching your favourite celebrity.



This is a very innovative feature introduced by the matrimonial website but the implications could have both positive and negative effects. Prospective models can put their pics on the matrimony website and get calls from producers. On the other hand if celebrity gets in news for wrong reasons, it could harm the repute of the lookalikes since they've been tagged. But if you pride yourself being called a John or Shahid or a katrina or any other celeb, it could be a good ego boost.
The reactions could be many. Check out the facial search feature. Try reading Amit's view on this feature.
I'd also like to know your view about this feature.

Blog Camp 2 @ Delhi

Know more about blogging @ Blog camp 2 being held in Delhi

Blog camp 2 is being organized in Delhi on the 7th of march 2009. Blog camp is a forum where we discuss, share opinions, tools and other resources about blogging.
The following topics will be discussed

• Blogging technologies & trends
• Micro blogging
• Photo-blogging
• Video blogging
• Social media

To attend the event register at the official website and check out the events and sessions taking place.

Venue
Indian Institute of Mass Communication
JNU new campus, Aruna Asif Ali Marg, New Delhi - 110067

Blog Camp 1

Blog camp 1 was held at the Microsoft office @ Eros tower in Nehru place. It was a good experience with various new technologies being discussed. Also read about the experience of Rajeshwari Sharma who was also present at Blog Camp 1.
Check out the this presentation by Abhishek Baxi who talked about the various aspects of micro blogging at Blog Camp 1.

BJP online marketing campaign

Online marketing campaign of BJP is lacking effectiveness.

The online ads of Shri L K Advani as PM are donning almost all websites across the world- a campaign similar to that of Barack Obama in the US presidential election. These ads link to the blog of Shri L K advani where he posts about once in 10 days. But the online marketing campaign of BJP has some serious flaws that prevent it from having a deeper impact on the net savvy voter.

BJP as Mr Advani - The advertisements project LK Advani bigger than his part BJP. As voters we will be voting for BJP as a party and not for a single individual, the ads need to have BJP as hero. Such campaigns could have been effective for Barack Obama since United States has two party system, which is not the case in India. Hence the impact of BJP as a party lessens by projecting only Mr L K Advani.

BJP achievements - Highlighting the past achievements of BJP can be done through ads and this kind of campaigning has been effective in the past. Shivraj Chauhan won the Madhya pradesh elections by highlighting the policies and the change those policies brought along. BJP is in opposition but in the states where it is in power, it can highlight the policies that brought about change and the use of similar policies at national level. Congress won the 2004 elections by promising NREGA.

Other BJP leaders - There has been no mention of other BJP leaders in the advertisements. It is only a MrAdvani campaign. There is no harm in copying the US presidential online campaign, but it has to be done smartly.

Nationalistic image - It is no very clear that the congress government did not do enough after the 26th November attacks. BJP is a more nationalistic party and it has to highlight the victory of the Kargil war in thepast. I am not a pro-war person,but we need an aggressive stance today.

Secular propaganda - The tag of a Hindu party is something that I believe has been a down puller for BJP in terms of the Muslim vote bank. It has to highlight that it is not the same the party anymore and can take digs at Kalyan Singh who has joined SP.

Economic crisis reforms - The congress party has not done enough to counter recession leaving the country with a GDP growth of 5.3% in the Q3 of 2008-09 fiscal, the lowest in six years. Moreover its flagship schemes such a NREGA and other have not been effectively used. The Comptroller and Auditor General reported that about 51,000 crore that was used for flagship schemes has nto been accounted for properly. Kolkatta's Indian Statistical Institute reported that over 5.5 crore people have been pushed below the poverty line (BPL) during the tenure of UPA. BJP will have to propose solutions to the economic crisis that it will bring about if it comes to power.

The online user is smart and has less time to read long blog entries that to political ones, hence the important points need to be conveyed boldly through the ads itself. Currently Prodyut Bora an IIM A alumnus is heading the BJP's IT cell and his idea for aggressive online marketing campaign has been good but it has not been well executed creating negative publicity too. BJP's think tank will need to do more on their online marketing campaign to make it more effective.

My name is 9801234...

Mobile number could become your identification if alcatel-lucent's plans materialize.

Many people had this problem of their parents keeping strange names that were later made fun of during school and college years. Many even resorted to changing their names to avoid the embarrassment caused. During my schooling in kerala, I had a classmate who changed her name from Radha to Radhika, since Radha was made fun off by her classmates. Imagine what her parents, who were both doctors might have thought of the whole episode.

But here comes an ingenious solutions to all the problems faced by those battling strange names woes. Alcatel-Lucent is working with the government of India to make the mobile number a personal identification number. So if it happens, you might call your friend as "Hi 98..., I am 987..."
One positive effect of this will be that the mugging up power of people and comfortability with numbers will increase resulting in more people getting into number crunching jobs. But there are perils too. Imagine a person bad in remembering numbers will have trouble remembering who his dad is and he'll say, "wait a minute, let me check out my contact list to find out my Dad".

What an !dea sirjee !!!

Coming back to the reality and practicality of this concept I think it is innovative and could solve many problems such as the long identity verification process. On the flip side if your mobile gets stolen, your virtual identity is in the hands of somebody else.

Check out this absolutely wonderful ad by idea cellular showing the role of mobile number identity in curbing riots.


Image source : Techgadgets.in

Shahrukh Khan's publicity manager

This was spam comment posted on my blog. I wonder what Shahrukh might think.

Srilankan team attacked in Pakistan

It couldn't get much worse and much more foolish than this. 5 players of Srilankan team were injured when militants opened fire at their team bus. All five had a narrow escape and Tilan Samaraweera was the only one to suffer bullet injuries and rest suffered from shrapnel wounds. This is country, which says that 26/11 terror attacks did not take place on its own soil and has a rather casual navy chief who does not even know the implications of his own words.

Much has been talked about the heinous crimes being committed under the masquerade of Islam by Pakistan's own child - Taliban. So what is the solution ?
The current verbal exchange between India and Pakistan undoubtedly makes Pakistan believe that we are soft on terror. But intimidating with the army on border is not a solution. The stand-off after the parliament attacks is an indicator of that. It yielded nothing. Talks of surgical strikes by Indian air force were rife after the Mumbai terror attacks, but it did not materialize since it would have given an opportunity for everybody including the terror outfits to come behind the national flag and attack against India. So we come back to the same thing, what is the solution ?

Shall the world unite under one flag and annihilate the anti-human forces in Pakistan ? The implication here could be more serious than anything else and biggest spoiler could be Russia. It played a vital role in closing of a US air force base in Kyrgyzstan. In such a scenario Arab countries too would join hands against US leading to a third world war or another oil crisis. The situation today looks grim and will need an ingenious solution to tackle the problems that threaten our very own existence.

No iphone for kids

When it comes to the dream gadgets list, iphone and ipod rate very high in my must haves but bad luck, low budget and recession have been the three hurdles for me in getting me my dream gadgets. But on the other side of the world sitting high and mighty are another set of kids who have one of the richest people in the world as their father in the world but still no i-gadgets. Melinda Gates said in one of her interviews that although very few gadgets have been banned for their children, ipod and iphone are two things she does not get for her kids and she too does not have one. They've been practically banned from the Gates mansion as being rival products.

Looking at the consequences of the having an ipod or iphone, they could easily distract you from the work. It's like having a pretty girl friend; your mind might loose focus from other issues and you might loose sleep too. The number of mobile thefts are also increasing at an alarming rate with about 35 occurring in Delhi alone. Having an iphone stolen could result in a serious heartbreak. Well, whatever the consequences maybe, a dream and desire does not need logical reasoning, its just waiting to be fulfilled.
Watch this cute video of a baby using iPhone.