Life's teachings ….

I was doing YOGA yesterday evening on my terrace when it started raining. I continued doing yoga and the skies got really dark and looked omnious. It was at this time I was wondering that we humans are mere mortals and are too little compared to the elements around us. We might have used our intelligence to achieve many heights. But that still doesnt make us immortal would it? 8-)

At one point the skies were so overcast that it prompted me to rush back inside my home, get my new Canon DSLR and take a picture of what looked so inviting. The shopping complexes are just a stone’s throw away from my house and I can see a couple of them from my terrace. I climbed atop the rear parappet wall of my house, putting my life in risk. One wrong move and I would come crashing down three floors and would be dead. All just to capture the rainy moment in this photograph.

It is only then did the irony struck me. LG – yes the famous korean consumer electronics giant stands for LIFE’s GOOD. But a good life comes with a rider, the hoarding below that read “MAX NEW YORK LIFE” which is an insurance company insuring people’s lives! Even Strangerirony is that this is an indian insurance company with new york in their name!

So Life may be good, but you still need insurance is the caption for this photograph! Oh how true :grin: .

Technorati Tags: Life in Bengaluru, LG, Max new york life, Insurance, Consumer electronics, Bangalore, Bengaluru, Blog, Canon rebel xti, Ramdev, Swamiji, Yoga, Divya yog mandir, Koramangala, Shopping complexes, Next showroom, Pizza hut, 6th block, 80 feet road, Sony world signal, Rains, Cyclonic effect, Weather, Water

You digivision launches in Bengaluru

You must be wondering why the number of articles have gone down over the past week. Well, problems with health, kids homecoming and work at office – enough to summarize whats happening?Ok so what do we have new in Bengaluru? How about a few hotels opening up newly in the city? Or the BIAL cock and bull stories? Well in my own best interests I thought of going back to my line of work – set top boxes.

Bengaluru has just seen yet another service start up. You Digivision. Here is their Ad for digital cable TV boxes in Bengaluru.

Firstly a bit of gyaan on cable set top boxes. What is the necessity of these cable set top boxes when we have so many other boxes with dish antennae that can receive signals from the satellite directly? Well these cable boxes are of a different kind. Earlier we used to get Analog signals for all our channels over the cable that we fed directly into our TVs and could tune to any channel we liked and watch it to our satisfaction and hearts content. Unfortunately world over, the well known broadcasters are now moving their service to digital signals which our TV’s (read old outdated idiot boxes) cannot receive/decode and show us what we want on the screen.

The YOU digivision box is a digital cable box (perhaps its criminal to even call it set top box) which will precisely help in decoding these digital signals sent over cable and can show you those cool channels that you always liked to see once again on your TV. This box is capable of decoding digital signals and instructing your TV to show you the decoded signal. A very nice article by Mike on this phenomenon is available here. You must read this to understand more about this technology/box offering.

So then what is You Digivision all about ? Dont we have similar boxes like that already in the market? Did you think Tata Sky, or DishTV? Well those are satellite receivers with set top boxes. I was more referring to Hathway boxes that are referred to as set top boxes! These boxes only decode digital signals sent over cable. In my locality for example, my local cable operator who runs miles and miles of physical cables all over the locality has tied up with Hathway to offer digital signal decoding as well. So does that mean if I fix a YOU DV box instead of the Hathway one, I d still be able to decode all signals and view them on my analog TV ? The simple answer is NO :-) . Why is this? Simply because Hathway would have scrambled the digital channels so that a smart card inserted into their own box is the only one who could decode these channels and any other box within their network will simply fail.

The features advertised above are hardly of any luxury for me today as any other provider gives those as default ones with the box. For that matter this box does not even have a PVR functionality where I can record something to a hard disk! So if a box cant decode the scrambled signal given by my provider, and does not do recordings even, I fail to understand what is so great about this box that I must buy it.

So if any of my readers want to add on something to this story of your own understanding do leave me comments!

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It happens only in India

I had written about bad driving and stressed out lifestyles in my previous blog post. This post is somewhat related to it closely. If you are driving on a road and you see a lorry stopped in the middle of the road with a twig of leaves sticking out of it like as if it were a flowering plant, then what do you make out of it? Should you assme the lorry owner is relaxing on the road? Well, welcome to India.

In India such a symbol means the truck has taken a hit either with another, or has a flat tyre, or perhaps even a flat axle or engine :mgreen: . It also means that this truck which you see has no immediate plans of being towed away from the accident spot and it also does not say anything about how many people it killed in that accident.

Take a break and come back tomorrow, perhaps it wont be there on the street. And the driver of the truck, well he has already been recruited by another truck company to drive and crash a different truck tomorrow. This is the biggest pity in India and Benglurur particularly.

If its a small vehicle its a HIT & RUN case, if its a large one, its a HIT & DRIVER RUNS case. The occupants of such trucks walk away stealthily into the crowds even before someone understands who did what at the scene of crime. And the police have no records of who is driving the truck, the truck companies have no records of who they recruit and there are also no records of the lost lives in these accidents. Everything is conveniently put into a file which says HIT & RUN case – now closed.

So much so that the entire truck drivers association (or union or whatever nonsense you may want to call it) are against the government for asking them to install speed governors in their vehicles. Their grouse is that the vehicle consumes too much fuel if driven at lesser speeds purposely. And if driven at higher speeds, others bear the brunt of their driving and land up at hospital or even worse – HELL.

So the government and the unions are not only putting at risk many a life in the city, but also sometimes their own kith and kin by doing such immoral decisions at their own cost.

Technorati Tags: Life in Bengaluru, Accidents, Trucks, Lorry, Rash driving, Outer ring road, Marathahalli, Unions, India, Bengaluru, Blog, Bangalore, Hit and run, Police, Traffic, Case, Government

Accidents, callous driving and impoliteness – the new face of Bengaluru?

Gone are those days when you thought this city is a pensioner’s paradise. Or for that matter even a Garden City. With the winds of change come necessities for better connectivity, transportation of essentials day in and out to the city and a whole bunch of people from all over the country entering this city daily on one pretext or the other. Today all you have are zipping cars, slugging trucks and buses, whizzing cyclists on the wrong sides of lanes, and struggling two wheelers managing to find their space in this ocean. I am so ashamed to see that I myself have been driving my vehicle faster than what I did say 5 years back. I am not sure why the urge to do so, but I do so. And thats bad. Perhaps its the state of mind after or before office. Perhaps its just plain attitude. Whatever it is, it does sound like an irreversible change this city’s state has made on me.

What is this all pointing to? Well one for sure is IMPOLITENESS. Today we are always of the notion that ONLY the other guy is WRONG. Have you ever thought about whether you can be wrong as well? No, right? Well I do so. And I am happy that I do so. It gives me a chance to correct myself and be more calmer on the roads. I give way for pedestrians even now. I give way for vehicles who are in a tearing hurry. I apologize if I did a manouvre which might have been wrong on that road at that instant; to whoever suffered because of me. I have borne a few scratches on my car, just to let a weary cyclist go home in haste. Are others behaving the same way towards me? The one word answer is – NO. And it hurts that people have become insensitive. To everything around them. I mean what is the hurry in life? Where do we all want to go? Die soon? Whats gone wrong with us that we dont allow children and elders cross the road while we wait in peace for that to finish?

The animal instinct in us is more than the human one. Do you know what happens if you just touch some two wheeler or someone who is walking by, at 80-100 kmph in your car? Well the other person can easily die. A death he never wanted, never imagined will come to him – all because of our urgency. Add to that our rudeness and callousness, and what are we giving the people we hit and run? – Only salt on their wounds.

Sorry for becoming a bit sober. But the life I had was so good and I feel bad it cannot be the same for others being born today. Are gated residential enclaves the solution to this? Well heck, no! Change in our attitude is. The our includes the government too. The business leaders too, the LEAD INDIA’s too.

Technorati Tags: Life in Bengaluru, Bengaluru, Bangalore, Blog, City, Traffic, Lifestyle, Rudeness, Impoliteness, Vehicles, Accidents, Garden city, Paradise, Cars, Two wheelers, Cyclists, Cycles, Death, Lead india, Government

Accidents, callous driving and impoliteness – the new face of Bengaluru?

LED lights on Bengaluru streets!

You must be wondering why my articles are dwindling on this site. Well I ll let you in on a secret. I ve been into many things of late. Lots of useful work at office, 30 minutes of Yoga in the morning and 45 minutes of Yoga in the evening, 15-30 minutes of acupressure during the day, and the usual phone breaks, lunch breaks and the two hour commute into and out of office. Enough to keep myself occupied. But that did not prevent me from enjoying the interesting things that Bengaluru provides. A couple of days back, I had lot of time to kill at a signal light near Sony World, Koramangala. I was always interested half heartedly in the knicknacks that the beggars sold at this signal. Well they aren’t exactly beggars, perhaps street urchins or jobless people would be a better word to use.

The person for the day was trying to entice me to buy an LED desk light. It looked powerful and intuitive too. The top portion had about 8 LEDs of white colour and the power source was from a mouse shaped based (in fact its a mouse lets say!) holding 3 AAA batteries. In between these two was a flexible cord which could be bent in any way desired.

“Esthu?”, i asked (how much).

“120”, came the reply.

Agreed I haven’t really seen something like this for Rs.120 anywhere around Koramangala. But still for a moment I felt its too high.

I looked a bit disinterested when the girl asked me “Kitna dega saab?” (how much will you give sir)

I said “50”.

“Less 20 bucks and give me 100”, she said

I stuck to my stand : “50”

She nodded her head and walked away. For a moment I believed that this light wont be mine. It is useful here to say I had bought the same light at the same junction from another person earlier in the week for the same amount that I quoted. But he was desperately hungry and it was almost the end of the day, past 9pm. So he had no choice but to take the fifty bucks. On the other hand this girl was neither hungry, nor was it the end of the day with scores of potential customers yet to come.

I felt doomed with this item. I let her go. The signal light was still red. She went around and I observed out of my rear view mirror that no one wanted that light except me.

After a while I got a knock on my left window. Rolled it down and she said “70”. I took out a fifty buck currency note and held it in front of her. “If you want to give it, give it, else walk away” I said.

She said 60 bucks atleast. I just gave her the fifty, and took the light. Period. I won the battle for this second light. Although at the bottom of the heart I still know maybe that the light itself costs say 25-30 bucks only. As a product it can consume quite a lot of batteries in a short time, but then the light it gives can put any other branded emergency light to shame.

So my street shopping continues …..

Technorati Tags: Life in Bengaluru, Streets, Sony world, Koramangala, Bengaluru, Bangalore, Blog, Shopping, Led light, Led, Mouse, Stand, Cord, White, Oasis, Traffic, Signal, Red, Emergency light, Urchins, Beggars

Crazy Bengaluru – One early summer morning?

I headed out to my office on a clear summer’s day to get a whiff of fresh air and what I got is this :shock:

The temperature pattern in Bengaluru is becoming more and more unpredictable as each day dawns. Its a storehouse of surprises each day. The fog just lasted for a bit of inner ring road and then it was the usual clear day again ahead. How BIZZAIRE!

Technorati Tags: Automobiles, Winter, Fog, Bengaluru, Blog, Bangalore, Temperature, Cool, Cold, Chill, Sunny, Heat, Sweat, Hot, Sultry, Weather, City

Next opens showroom in Koramangala, Bengaluru

I had written earlier about OASIS opening up shop next to my home about 300 metres away. The fun did not stop there! Koramangala seems to be a place of plenty and more and more to come in future too. It has become a hub of very interesting shops and things to do. At this rate it will be a mini Bengaluru in itself. I have Pizza Hut right next to my home. So if I ve gobbled up a huge pizza and am feeling heavy, I can go over to the new NEXT showroom opposite Pizza hut to do some window shopping of all electricals and electronics!

I wonder what more is in the offing for this locality. However I still have fond memories of Everest School, a school run for the little children, the students among which my own cousin was one of them. It was exactly on the same spot where NEXT now stands that once upon a time there was a little school with little kids being taught interesting things. Many a sports day, a flag hoist was conducted at this very place which has now given way to this swanky building selling home appliances. Of course this was exactly 15 years before when Koramangala was close to nothing in terms of economic progress. I guess the owner of this place too has caught a whiff of the real estate smell. Of course one cant imagine a school being run in a building as small as this anymore! Its now the time of International schools, since the national ones have no meat left in themThis building also houses MAX NEW YORK LIFE, an insurance provider of all sorts. While the guy at the bottom ensures you waste your money, the guy on top ensures you save money to waste :grin:

So thats it for now, yet another showroom in Koramangala to waste time on!

Technorati Tags: Earn the dough, Technology, Koramangala, NEXT, Home appliances, Bengaluru, Bangalore, Blog, Everest School, Max new york life

Magic box – 72 hr box ready in one month- Bengaluru to see more ….

Infrastructure upgrades are something any Bangalorean will appreciate at all times. And the BBMP had started off one such project of installing MAGIC BOXES all over the place on Bellary road leading to the new Devanhalli International Airport. The earnest and direction was finally clear and a Malaysian company provided the technology to create single lane underpasses within 72 hours. This time was only for casting the boxes and making them ready where as the other road activities were supposed to be done in parallel. The excited BBMP started digging up Sankey Road in full swing only to break a huge water pipe laid by their own cousins – the BWSSB – making it a costly mistake since it cut off water supply to North Bangalore for days together! Some mistakes can be corrected but they will take their own time due to the mess and complexity created years back when such plans were not in place.

The BBMP and BWSSB started finger pointing at each other but this time they had to only save their skins with the project progressing. No excuses would be tolerated at the cost of progress was the clear message. So the commissioner took this up personally, camped at the site all night to rectify the problem in the right earnest. Finally the BWSSB and BBMP spat was over and they worked together to still try and realize the goal even after 72 hours. People almost started condemning these authorities for yet another broken promise. But the BBMP was ready to take all brickbats at the cost of progress. In fact the airport completion came as a severe blow to infrastructure planners who were otherwise lethargic. Now they had to pull up their socks and complete their side of the work. To add to their misery neither a train system could be ready nor were there any other alternative roads that led to the airport. This put severe pressure on BBMP to make Bellary road traffic free. And there were no excuses to be taken this time. The public were ready to fly at a rage to ridicule the authorities if they did not work. The LEAD INDIA effect started showing in their thoughts and faces.

magic magic_map magic_over

(All images courtesy the times of india, dated 21- FEB – 2008)

So finally today the MAGIC BOX was finally opened up to the public much to their relief. Though slighty complicated, on using the road once one can understand how to go about this concept of infrastructure. The only thing one cant do now is to take a right turn on sankey road from mekhri circle. Instead one will have to upto BDA junction (windsor manor bridge) and take a U-Turn on a similar magic box which would be installed there to come back to cauvery theatre and take a left towards Sankey Road. Vehicles from Sankey road can go underneath the box and take a right towards MG Road or go over the box and take left to merge with traffic towards Bellary road. So that leaves the people coming from windsor manor bridge who would need to go left at Cauvery junction, take U-turn a little ahead and take left again to go to Bellary road.

One month was pretty quick to solve the problem of signal woes with the MAGIC BOX. hopefully in two more months, without breaking more pipes, the BDA junction, Sanjaynagar junction, and Sahakarnagar junction would have MAGIC BOXES. I only hope Mr.Commissioner then thinks of doing the same MAGIC at the following junctions please!

Old Madras Beninganahalli Bridge junction

KR puram – Banaswadi flyover junction

KR puram railway station

HP junction on ITPB road

Garudacharpalya junction on ITPB road

Bhoruka park junction on ITPB road

Hoodi Circle

Bellandur junction on outer ring road

Intel junction on ORR

HRBR – Babusapalya junction on ORR

Hennur road junction on ORR

Thanisandra junction on ORR

Nagawara junction on ORR

Kasturinagar – ORR junction

Good job BBMP and keep giving us more such MAGIC tricks! 🙂

Technorati Tags: Earn the dough, Technology, Magic box, Old madras road, Kr puram, Bangalore, Bbmp, Bwssb, Water pipe break, North bangalore, Bial, Airport, Devanahalli, HP, ITPB, Garudacharpalya, Hoodi, Intel, Bellandur, HRBR, Hennur, Thanisandra, Nagawara, Kasturinagar, Sankey road, BDA junction, MG road, Bengaluru, Blog, Cauvery theatre, Lead india, Rk misra

aShopCommerce : possibly one of the best shopping cart software around on the web!

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