New Railway Web Site - erail.in

I came across a very nice web site today. It is dedicated to the Indian Railways and is absolutely great. Go over to eRail.in and experience it yourself. I have added a couple of screen shots below.

The site seems to use AJAX heavily and is intuitive. I could quickly figure out how to use the features and kept discovering new things to do. The site is fast and displays a ton os useful information on the same page. I was particularly impressed with the "Get Details" function. It displays a list of all stations where train stops, plus the fare. And you can set the number of adults, the number of children etc! Cool!

Some features have not been implemented yet. I look forward to seeing this evolve. It has been a long time since I have seen something this nice about the Indian Railways. The idiots who run the IT department of the Indian Railways are the biggest morons ever to be unleashed on the Internet.

Growth In Coconut

I broke a coconut on September 15, 2007, and found a strange growth within. Padmaja was very excited to see it. It seems this is very very rare and is considered to be very auspicious. I had never seen such a growth before though Padmaja had.

Ram Setu: Advani questions Center on affidavit (video from IndiaTimes)

A video from the IndiaTimes web site showing a Times Now News about L. K. Advani, the leader of Opposition speaking about the Ram Setu issue and the Lord Ram.

Original video web page. Copyright resides with original copyright owners.

3BHK Flat For Rent In Masab Tank, Hyderabad

A new 3 bedroom, furnished, deluxe flat is available for rent/lease at Masab Tank on the main road, off Road No.1 Banjara Hills, Hyderabad.

Car parking, security, 24hrs water, and emergency power supply. Within 100 meters of major hospitals, supermarkets, and banks. Very quiet and posh surroundings.

Company lease preferred.

Expected rent Rs.18,000pm (negotiable).

For more information, please contact, Capt. Mohapatra at 9391030129

Indian Central Government Says No Proof Of Ram's Existence

The Indian Central Government in New Delhi claims that there is no historical proof of the existence of Lord Ram, the King of Ayodhya and of the hearts of all Hindus the world over. The beloved God of a billion Hindus never was. The shining beacon of Truth & Dharma is a mere hero in a fairy tale. He was not of this earth. He did not walk the land, with his brother and wife, fighting Ravana, He Who makes The Universe Scream, and his demon hordes that threatened the very existence of life on earth.

He did not exist!

He did not show the world how to live a life of Dharma. He did not show how compassion, truth & love conquer all. He did not show how even the Gods suffer from human frailties when they walk the earth among us as men and women. He did not show what it means to stand & fight shoulder to shoulder with the forces of Dharma & Good regardless of the nature of the being fighting alongside him. He did not show that humans alone do not own this world. That Vanars and all other beings also have a place and a right to live a life of Dharma.

He did not exist! 

 

Rise ye, all you Hindus! Rise! This is blasphemy! An attempt to subvert the very faith that our lives are based on. A blow to every Hindu. Rise now and bring them down! Throw out these people that dare to say that our Lord Ram did not exist! Rise now before it is too late!

AMCs come together to oppose entry load waiver

The Economic Times reports that leading AMCs have joined ranks to oppose the SEBI's move to scrap Entry Loads on direct fund investments, i.e., investments that do not go through a broker.

What SEBI is trying to do here is to ensure that when an investor approaches an AMC directly to purchase units or set up an SIP, he or she should not be charged an entry load. Quantum AMC is the only Indian AMC that allows investors to purchase funds directly and does not charge an entry load. Investors can create an account on their web site and transact directly. That amounts to a 2.5% saving every time you purchase mutual fund units, either through a bulk purchase or via the SIP route.

If an investor is capable of making their investment choices then why should they pay an entry load? SEBI's move makes perfect sense. Then why are the AMCs opposing this move? Or is it the brokers who are opposing the move and hence the AMCs are under pressure? I suppose the latter is the case because most AMCs pay out the entire 2.5% charge to the brokers.

The argument is that brokerage houses have spent huge amounts of money to set up investment centers across the country and AMC will have a very difficult time replicating this reach.

What? Does that argument make sense? Not to me!

We are talking about direct investments here. I don't talk to a broker anyway. I do my own research on web sites like Value Research Online and make my own decisions. On my own time. So why am I paying an 2.5% entry load?

Quantum AMC has a solution. You can either do all your transactions online if you have Internet banking facilities from your bank (like ICICI, HDFC, SBI etc). Otherwise you can download their application form, print it, fill it in and post it along with a cheque. Simple. Total cost is about 30 rupees even if you have to use a cyber cafe to access the Internet and print the form. Plus postage.

Do the math people. 2.5% of your money is lost every time you buy an mutual fund. That 2.5% would have earned the same return as the rest of your money.

Rakhi 2007

Rakhi this year fell on August 28. This was Mamli & Bablu's 3rd Rakhi. Rohan Padhi (Gulu), my brother-in-law, visited us for Rakhi. Gayatri, my sister, had sent Rakhis for me and for Bablu (from her two daughters, Meghu & Chikoo).

We celebrated Rakhi in the morning.

Gulu had brought his camcorder and shot a movie of the proceedings.

 

Video Album 2 - Rakhi 2007

(Click image above to see the video on Picasa Web Albums)

Here is the embedded video.

Durgesh Nandini's New Web Site - Powered By Google Apps!

Earlier this year I had registered DurgeshNandini.name on Net4Domains.com. I had not hosted anything on the domain and simply set URL forwarding to my web site, Satpathy.in.

I read about Google Apps a few weeks ago and decided to use the DurgeshNandini.name domain to set up a site using Google Apps. The sign up was straight forward. However Net4Domains does not have tools online to make all the required changes like CNAME changes etc. Some of the changes I could make on the Net4Domains dashboard but for the others I had to raise support tickets. They responded fairly fast, typically within 24 hrs.

I now have personalized email, Docs & Spread Sheets, Calendar etc along with web pages on the new web site. Do check it out.

The Story Of Krishna

Cartoon Network is showing an animated series on the life of Krishna. The first part, The Birth of Krishna, was telecast last year and has been rerun many time since. The second part, Kansha Vaad (Killing of Kansha), was telecast on Tuesday, Sept 4 on the occasion of Janmastami, Krishna's birthday.

The entire family watched the Kansha Vaad and we all enjoyed it immensely. Highly recommended,

Hyderabad boy reunites with family

Original Article on NDTV.com

NDTV Correspondent

Thursday, September 6, 2007 (Hyderabad)

 

A three-year-old boy, who was kidnapped from his home in Hyderabad two days ago, was reunited with his parents in Andhra Pradesh's Khammam town late Wednesday night.

Rohit Reddy was abandoned near a temple by his kidnappers, who panicked after they were chased by a crowd, which recognised the child from pictures on local TV channels.

The boy's parents both software professionals are overjoyed but concerned about his health.

''I thank all the TV channels and police. I will be indebted to them for the rest of my life,'' said Lalisa, boy's mother.

''To help identify my son I told the officer about my son's birthmarks. He then confirmed,'' said Ravinder Reddy, boy's father.

His mother had earlier appealed to the kidnappers through NDTV to make sure that he got his medication, as he was unwell.

According to eyewitnesses the boy was playing near his home when men in a dark green Qualis picked him up.