Read this before you go to ‘Unleash 2016 Kids Festival’

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My kid’s school had provided a pass to the UNLEASH 2016 KIDS festival by AtomConnect at the Nimhans Convention center bangalore. Today though I wanted to drive there early, I managed to reach there only by 10AM.
The registration counters were swelling with people who were not even aware of what form to fill and what activities are available for the day. Car parking had already become a hassle and I somehow got a slot after much searching which did not leave a pleasant experience for me either.

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Once I was inside by paying Rs.49/- each for two parents, many activities were there some paid and some free. This include the playstation area, trampoline, carousel with horses and benches, caricature, photos with comic characters, revolving bull, automated cricket practice etc.
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There was also a pottery class, but strangely it was restricted to girls alone! Very bizzaire. The queues were not much for all these activities but there was some wait nonetheless. However, due to the hot sun, I did feel that the event organizers could have done a better job to keep the little ones more comfortable.
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Inside the auditorium there were carnival games like dart boarding, foosball, merry go round, etc. Also there was a fashion show organized where little ones could walk the ramp. There were also remote operated toy cars for smaller kids. In the first floor was a concert hall which was getting ready for a magic show and singing competition which I did not attend.

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The rear area behind the auditorium had food stalls selling doughnuts, chats, sandwiches, etc. All these were medium fare and not really tasty at all.
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One of the highlight for me in this whole event was the DJI phantom drone which was used to capture high quality videos of the event. While the person managing the drone told me it costed him about 5 lacs, an actual web reckoning threw up a price of 799 USD which is only about Rs.50000/-. Either it was then a much more professional version or its simply a jacked up price being quoted. Either way it is good to see drones into event video making and these gadgets are bound to get cheaper and cheaper as time goes by. One must also remember that drones can be operated only against permissions within the city.
Overall the event experience was not even average including event management, food, and general stalls and games available. I hope a lot more professionalism is put in, into organizing such events in the future.

Faasos food ordering experience and review

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I had the option of ordering food from Faasos sometime back. I had just left office and was halfway to my home, when I realized that I was getting hungry and impatient to have some good food. I had about thirty minutes left to cross my limits of staying hungry and needed some food before that. Sure I could have just stopped my car and eaten something before coming home, but with Bangalore traffic, the thought of never reaching home had to keep me going on the road.
I quickly took out my iPhone, where I had the Faasos app loaded, and since I was at a traffic signal where traffic had come to a dead stop, I was jobless and so started browsing the food menu on their app. They have a limited number of items, but well packaged and one can easily find the food type they need via the categories section. For some food types like rice items, they have three different sizes of boxes depending on whether you are ordering for yourself, or family. I quickly picked the item I need, entered my address, chose Cash on Delivery option to avoid going through payment gateways and was greeted with an “in-progress” screen which told me how soon my food could reach me.

In this particular case, the timing was just right. Thirty minutes. So me reaching home and the food reaching home was just at the same time as per calculations. Now in case you are wondering how I was so accurate about me reaching home in this traffic, I have done this for a whole year now and can gauge roughly how long I need to get home. 23701450223_0b84b8b821_o
Once I reached home, the app showed me that there was three minutes left for my food to get delivered, but there was no sign of the delivery guy. I was wondering whether they will even turn up on time, and when the timer stopped at zero, surely there he was with my food right in front of my home. I have no idea how these guys maintain time, but this alone is just enough for me to order through them again. They are highly predictable, and they always have an outlet nearby which makes them reach on time unlike the olden days pizza deliveries which was entirely dependent on traffic conditions!
The food itself was a bit spicy to my liking, but enough to fill you up for the night. The bills were not crazy either and no extra tips either. For the single item I booked, the bill was Rs.150/-. Very reasonable if you ask me to satisfy your hunger pangs. Would I order again from them, surely yes! Would I recommend Faasos to others, surely yes. Go ahead try them once, and I am sure you would have the same opinion as me.

Happy Eating !

Faasos food ordering experience and review

24032682820_3ca9a01b17_o
I had the option of ordering food from Faasos sometime back. I had just left office and was halfway to my home, when I realized that I was getting hungry and impatient to have some good food. I had about thirty minutes left to cross my limits of staying hungry and needed some food before that. Sure I could have just stopped my car and eaten something before coming home, but with Bangalore traffic, the thought of never reaching home had to keep me going on the road.
I quickly took out my iPhone, where I had the Faasos app loaded, and since I was at a traffic signal where traffic had come to a dead stop, I was jobless and so started browsing the food menu on their app. They have a limited number of items, but well packaged and one can easily find the food type they need via the categories section. For some food types like rice items, they have three different sizes of boxes depending on whether you are ordering for yourself, or family. I quickly picked the item I need, entered my address, chose Cash on Delivery option to avoid going through payment gateways and was greeted with an “in-progress” screen which told me how soon my food could reach me.

In this particular case, the timing was just right. Thirty minutes. So me reaching home and the food reaching home was just at the same time as per calculations. Now in case you are wondering how I was so accurate about me reaching home in this traffic, I have done this for a whole year now and can gauge roughly how long I need to get home. 23701450223_0b84b8b821_o
Once I reached home, the app showed me that there was three minutes left for my food to get delivered, but there was no sign of the delivery guy. I was wondering whether they will even turn up on time, and when the timer stopped at zero, surely there he was with my food right in front of my home. I have no idea how these guys maintain time, but this alone is just enough for me to order through them again. They are highly predictable, and they always have an outlet nearby which makes them reach on time unlike the olden days pizza deliveries which was entirely dependent on traffic conditions!
The food itself was a bit spicy to my liking, but enough to fill you up for the night. The bills were not crazy either and no extra tips either. For the single item I booked, the bill was Rs.150/-. Very reasonable if you ask me to satisfy your hunger pangs. Would I order again from them, surely yes! Would I recommend Faasos to others, surely yes. Go ahead try them once, and I am sure you would have the same opinion as me.

Happy Eating !

About this website

The thought of having an identity for yourself is quite perplexing at times! The thought of renewing that identity in different forms as time progresses brings about a nice refreshing change to the mind. Over the last 15 years, my interest over the internet has been completely captivating to say the least. This web journey started off in 1996 with humble ways of getting small time entrepreneurs in India on the world wide web (1)

In the quest for a youngster’s rather silly hopes of reaching dizzy heights using the net, a rather skewed attempt was made in 1998 to jump onto the internet bandwagon with the highly rated Tripod and Yahoo web services during those times. (2) When enlightenment occurred, the lure of the “yourname.com” syndrome caught me as well. But I never wanted my site to be too specific to me ever! So in the period between 2000 and 2002 a valiant but fruitless effort was made to put up a site meant to share my interests with others, the theme being “information sharing” (3)

To get onto the net more purposefully, a rather comprehensive plan was laid out in 2004 for a knowledge sharing site. But the need for conciseness and better focus brought about a change in names for reading the same content. (4) After a thorough run for ten whole years, and the purpose and design clarified, I bring about another refreshing change with a more pleasing layout which I think will keep the drive in me for the coming years. (5)

Just when I thought I had fixed on the gameplan for continuing the journey forward, I realized that people also needed something easy to remember to reach me, something connected to the city I write about, something that made them fond of Bangalore and thus came about the Bengaluru blog! (6)

Somewhere after being in this realm for a while more, I further realized that the website was not easily remembered by many who visited it. I knew the local delicacies of Karnataka, not many people did. I needed an identity which would further simplify the blog to the point of associating the city it was based out of, and have a name that normal people with layman’s thought process could pronounce, write, and remember. It was not an easy choice but I took the plunge and the blog went about a skin and name change yet again. (7)

…. that this site looks and feels pleasant and refreshing to the eyes

…. that this site is as lively in terms of information as its looks

…. and that it is always updated with interesting things to get you back here


For any queries that you might have, you may use the contacts link on the menu above to get in touch.

(1) – http://hallmark.enmail.com was my first attempt in bringing about an insurance company’s presence onto the internet. At a time when web publishing and development was still nascent and there were hardly any standards for pages on the web, this effort brought about a lot of cheer to me to proceed onto better things. Although a rather graphics intensive site, Hallmark succeeded in providing the necessary information in a crisp manner to customers

(2) – http://srikanth.tripod.com was an attempt in bringing about my own presence onto the net. This site lasted only a while, since it was only an effort to learn the nuances of web publishing in those early times.

(3) – http://www.infodais.com literally meant a stage for information sharing. But a terrible time in my life wrecked the patience out of me to continue with this venture and all this site did was to prepare a stage for a moderate growth ahead, both in my web ventures as well as in my personal life.

(4) – what started off as a site that was to voice opinions from the geek community, the site http://geekopinion.com was transformed into a personal page full of my own scribbles, http://scribbles.ws. At the time of putting up this content, the site and domains still exist with the content, and has managed to draw over 3500 unique visitors for some or the other reason.

(5) – After a bit of pondering about myself, I realized that the amount of information I had amassed for one whole decade was possible only because of my time spent with the different gizmos that I had – the PC, the PDA, the laptop, the SmartPhone. I had by now acquired an identity – the GizmoGazer. And this site is a reflection of that identity –http://www.gizmogazer.info.

(6) – The final output of all the previous years worth of efforts is what I thought it would be for the rest of my life – the actual site that has survived, flourished and gone through years of efforts to be refined enough and accepted as a popular Bangalore based website – the Bengaluru blog – http://www.chowchowbath.com! But change was the only constant.

(7) – The blog as you see it now is a blogger based site, with the same interesting articles that you have come to read and like, just in a better version than before and with a simpler name – the Bangalore blog – http://www.thebangaloreblog.com


Logitech M570 – the real Mighty Mouse (One year usage review)

Its been one year. The M570 from Logitech still exists. It still works with the same battery put in a year ago. And it has a story to tell. Of Endurance, of a good product design, and perhaps the way in which all products need to be created. Some things just work. And they slog it out with you, being with you through your toughest times in life, hand in hand, shoulder by shoulder with a never say die attitude.
The M570 is one such mouse in case you are wondering, which I consider as the most important investment I made in my 15 years of industry life. The irony is that I made this investment only now and no earlier. The good news is that I at least made it now and no later. I must thank two of my colleagues who exposed me to this beauty of a product without which I would have never known how useful and game changing it could be in my life.
Coming to the specifics, this is a mouse that does not budge. Contrary to the mice we always knew and used, this one just wont move. The rubber pads below the mouse hold it tight against any surface, and this in my opinion is the first good part of this design. No matter how slippery your hand is, the mouse wont budge.
The next and most important highlight of this mouse is its blue shining tracking wheel or trackball as its called. The guiding light. It moves perfectly (save for a few times when the pointer jumped) and you can use it to move nimbly to point exactly where you want it to be before clicking that left or right mouse button which we have been clicking all our lives. The perfection in moving the pointer – the accuracy of the movement gives it such preciseness that it saves a lot of time in aimless moving the pointer around. Absolute bliss.
The buttons themselves are the same as any other mouse, just the same – except with the trackball they work in tandem to produce precise clicks and usage situations which don’t let your hand feel the pressure at any point in time. The battery is lasting over a year and this is really good for a wireless mouse which otherwise would die in a month or two. This is where I feel the bloody Apple mighty mouse and other shit don’t stand a chance in front of the Logitech M570 any day. And even as I write I don’t even know how much more longer the battery may last. Maybe another year or two, who knows!?
Every good thing will come at a price. So also the M570. It costs about 3200 INR, which by no means is cheap for a mouse. But then we are not talking about any mouse here. We are talking about the best mouse for productivity here. No, not for gaming. That is and will always be a different domain where there maybe much better and bigger mice to deal with those things. For productivity and office work, there can be nothing to beat the M570 as of today. And its a full value for money for the money paid for this device.
Before I conclude, it is simply not that everyone can buy one of these beasts and get comfy with them. Its like taking care of something you like, getting used to it until you start craving for it everyday. Its like beer, not everyone has a fancy to it, but once you like it there is no going back on it. And it is not also that many people cannot use it. You need to unlearn to learn. And you should not get intimidated by its looks or functionality. As long as you have a will to learn how to use it, it takes exactly 2 days to get used to it after which you will scoff at any normal mouse given to you.
There was one day I left this device in my office, and I almost drove back to office for 15km to pick it up before my impending trip abroad. You cannot live without it. Such is the need it creates. Working seamlessly across multi-monitor tabs, it does not show even a hint of slowing down with whatever you want it to do.
So would I recommend you to buy one of these? If you have the money why hell yes. Absolutely. If you do not have the money, even then I would want you to buy one on monthly EMI. Remember the Hero Honda Ad? Its the same here. Buy it, fill it, shut it, remember it. Hail Logitech, hail M570. You are me, and I am you. So when are you starting your mouse hunt? 🙂
 
The cheapest I was able to get this mouse at was at IT Depot online at 3490 INR, with an offer of 5% off on a debit card which made it a bit lesser. It comes with a 3 year logitech warranty which you may never need considering its mightiness.

Logitech M570 – the real Mighty Mouse (One year usage review)

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Its been one year. The M570 from Logitech still exists. It still works with the same battery put in a year ago. And it has a story to tell. Of Endurance, of a good product design, and perhaps the way in which all products need to be created. Some things just work. And they slog it out with you, being with you through your toughest times in life, hand in hand, shoulder by shoulder with a never say die attitude.
The M570 is one such mouse in case you are wondering, which I consider as the most important investment I made in my 15 years of industry life. The irony is that I made this investment only now and no earlier. The good news is that I at least made it now and no later. I must thank two of my colleagues who exposed me to this beauty of a product without which I would have never known how useful and game changing it could be in my life.
Coming to the specifics, this is a mouse that does not budge. Contrary to the mice we always knew and used, this one just wont move. The rubber pads below the mouse hold it tight against any surface, and this in my opinion is the first good part of this design. No matter how slippery your hand is, the mouse wont budge.
The next and most important highlight of this mouse is its blue shining tracking wheel or trackball as its called. The guiding light. It moves perfectly (save for a few times when the pointer jumped) and you can use it to move nimbly to point exactly where you want it to be before clicking that left or right mouse button which we have been clicking all our lives. The perfection in moving the pointer – the accuracy of the movement gives it such preciseness that it saves a lot of time in aimless moving the pointer around. Absolute bliss.
The buttons themselves are the same as any other mouse, just the same – except with the trackball they work in tandem to produce precise clicks and usage situations which don’t let your hand feel the pressure at any point in time. The battery is lasting over a year and this is really good for a wireless mouse which otherwise would die in a month or two. This is where I feel the bloody Apple mighty mouse and other shit don’t stand a chance in front of the Logitech M570 any day. And even as I write I don’t even know how much more longer the battery may last. Maybe another year or two, who knows!?
Every good thing will come at a price. So also the M570. It costs about 3200 INR, which by no means is cheap for a mouse. But then we are not talking about any mouse here. We are talking about the best mouse for productivity here. No, not for gaming. That is and will always be a different domain where there maybe much better and bigger mice to deal with those things. For productivity and office work, there can be nothing to beat the M570 as of today. And its a full value for money for the money paid for this device.
Before I conclude, it is simply not that everyone can buy one of these beasts and get comfy with them. Its like taking care of something you like, getting used to it until you start craving for it everyday. Its like beer, not everyone has a fancy to it, but once you like it there is no going back on it. And it is not also that many people cannot use it. You need to unlearn to learn. And you should not get intimidated by its looks or functionality. As long as you have a will to learn how to use it, it takes exactly 2 days to get used to it after which you will scoff at any normal mouse given to you.
There was one day I left this device in my office, and I almost drove back to office for 15km to pick it up before my impending trip abroad. You cannot live without it. Such is the need it creates. Working seamlessly across multi-monitor tabs, it does not show even a hint of slowing down with whatever you want it to do.
So would I recommend you to buy one of these? If you have the money why hell yes. Absolutely. If you do not have the money, even then I would want you to buy one on monthly EMI. Remember the Hero Honda Ad? Its the same here. Buy it, fill it, shut it, remember it. Hail Logitech, hail M570. You are me, and I am you. So when are you starting your mouse hunt? 🙂
  p, li { white-space: pre-wrap; }
The cheapest I was able to get this mouse at was at IT Depot online at 3490 INR, with an offer of 5% off on a debit card which made it a bit lesser. It comes with a 3 year logitech warranty which you may never need considering its mightiness.

Bose Sound link Color short review

I had the opportunity to get my hands on the Bose Sound Link Color bluetooth speaker. This happened when I was actually wanting to invest on the Harman Aura which in my opinion blew everything else away. But then these two speakers are like comparing apples and oranges and should not be done. Nevertheless in this post I will speak briefly about the Bose.

As the name suggests this speaker comes in different colors and the one I had was a red one for my test. The speaker itself is very portable and easy to handle. It might be slippery at times so its better to take care of it properly. The buttons on the top are neatly placed and are self explanatory. One of the things I liked was that there is a voice guide which says when the bluetooth is ready to pair, when its paired, to which phone its paired, etc. I always feel good when a voice prompt double confirms to me that I am doing things right.

Pairing is as easy as 1-2-3 on the iphone. Just power on speaker, power on bluetooth, find the stuff on your iphone and you are good to connect. Thats all there is to it. The Bose would pair to multiple devices but that is a fixed number.

The rear has a USB power supply port, and an AUX in port which I believe no one may use it these days much as compared to bluetooth. This is as much as the hardware really offers.
The next obvious thing to look at is the sound quality itself. There is really no problem with the sounds. Every sound is separated properly and there is never a distortion even at higher volumes. The base drums kind of sound flat after a point clearly proving that without a woofer, the speakers alone cannot do wonders. The bass is loud at most and not room shattering or deep even. But then the speaker is very portable, runs on charged battery for few hours and these are not there in the Harman Aura. The Aura is an AC powered speaker and thats its drawback. But then its also a more powerful one compared to the soundlink color.
It retails for somewhere close to 10000 on Amazon india. The soundlink II is about 18000, and the Aura is 25000 as of last pricing for Diwali sale.
I further listened to different types of songs including old indian classics, classical music, drums, pop, film songs, and theme songs from Spiderman, MI Rogue nation, etc. At any moment the Bose was composed but it really lacked that room shattering depth which was sorely missed by me. The 5.1 Bose systems, or even the soundbar systems with the woofer delivers this depth but then they are all mighty expensive as well.
So Will I buy the bose soundlink color? – NO. I may buy the Soundlink II or III after testing them, but something tells me that the Harman Aura is way ahead of bose in the sound rendering and it hits a bulls eye on that aspect. Of course by no means the two can be even considered for a comparision, but it is always good to know what the Aura adds for the price and how it really makes a difference. But then when a person is spending 25000 there are also other speakers available at that price, even 5.1s or soundbar options.
Whats your take on this product? Let me know whether you have one, and your opinions on that in the comments section below.

Bose Sound link Color short review

I had the opportunity to get my hands on the Bose Sound Link Color bluetooth speaker. This happened when I was actually wanting to invest on the Harman Aura which in my opinion blew everything else away. But then these two speakers are like comparing apples and oranges and should not be done. Nevertheless in this post I will speak briefly about the Bose.

As the name suggests this speaker comes in different colors and the one I had was a red one for my test. The speaker itself is very portable and easy to handle. It might be slippery at times so its better to take care of it properly. The buttons on the top are neatly placed and are self explanatory. One of the things I liked was that there is a voice guide which says when the bluetooth is ready to pair, when its paired, to which phone its paired, etc. I always feel good when a voice prompt double confirms to me that I am doing things right.

Pairing is as easy as 1-2-3 on the iphone. Just power on speaker, power on bluetooth, find the stuff on your iphone and you are good to connect. Thats all there is to it. The Bose would pair to multiple devices but that is a fixed number.

The rear has a USB power supply port, and an AUX in port which I believe no one may use it these days much as compared to bluetooth. This is as much as the hardware really offers.
The next obvious thing to look at is the sound quality itself. There is really no problem with the sounds. Every sound is separated properly and there is never a distortion even at higher volumes. The base drums kind of sound flat after a point clearly proving that without a woofer, the speakers alone cannot do wonders. The bass is loud at most and not room shattering or deep even. But then the speaker is very portable, runs on charged battery for few hours and these are not there in the Harman Aura. The Aura is an AC powered speaker and thats its drawback. But then its also a more powerful one compared to the soundlink color.
It retails for somewhere close to 10000 on Amazon india. The soundlink II is about 18000, and the Aura is 25000 as of last pricing for Diwali sale.
I further listened to different types of songs including old indian classics, classical music, drums, pop, film songs, and theme songs from Spiderman, MI Rogue nation, etc. At any moment the Bose was composed but it really lacked that room shattering depth which was sorely missed by me. The 5.1 Bose systems, or even the soundbar systems with the woofer delivers this depth but then they are all mighty expensive as well.
So Will I buy the bose soundlink color? – NO. I may buy the Soundlink II or III after testing them, but something tells me that the Harman Aura is way ahead of bose in the sound rendering and it hits a bulls eye on that aspect. Of course by no means the two can be even considered for a comparision, but it is always good to know what the Aura adds for the price and how it really makes a difference. But then when a person is spending 25000 there are also other speakers available at that price, even 5.1s or soundbar options.
Whats your take on this product? Let me know whether you have one, and your opinions on that in the comments section below.