What Ho!

Dear friend! r

2010-03-12T12:51:00.003+05:30

<DIV>Hi ,my friend,<BR>   How are you?<BR> 
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Dear friend! 5

2010-03-12T12:51:00.001+05:30

ICICI Bank Online Banking - Fund Transfer Changes

2008-02-20T19:27:00.000+05:30

ICICI Bank has made some very big changes to it's Online Fund Transfer service. It seems RBI has discontinued it's ETF service and now only the NETF service is available. This means you can no longer transfer funds to banks and branches that are not yet on the NETF service. For example the SBI branch in Cyber Towers, Madhapur is not on the NEFT service yet.

In addition to the above, ICICI Bank has introduced time restrictions. They will not accept transactions outside these timings:

NEFT Transaction Timing from Monday to Friday: Cut Off time 3:45 PM (IST).
NEFT Transaction Timing on Saturday: Cut Off time 11:45 AM (IST).

ICICI's PruTracker - Analyze Scheme Performance

2008-02-14T12:55:00.000+05:30

ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund is one of India's leading AMCs. They manage a lot of money (AUM) and are innovative in their product offerings. They also have a good track record of technology use. Their web site was one of the first to offer direct purchase of Mutual Fund units as well as portfolio tracking.

Retired! Last Post

2008-01-19T10:17:00.001+05:30

I am retiring this blog. I have my own domain (satpathy.org) and a good hosting package from www.hostmonster.com.

My blog will hence forth be hosted at http://whatho.satpathy.org.

See you there.

How much is your Religion Worth?

2008-01-02T15:44:00.000+05:30

Most Hindus visit their neighborhood temple on a regular basis. Puja is done by the temple priest who uses the offerings brought by the devotee. Things like fruits, a coconut, insence sticks, flowers etc. The puja typically ends by the priest bringing out the aratii with the burning camphor for the devotees who after blessing themselves from the flames, put their offerings in the plate. This money typically goes to the priest and helps suplement their often meagre income.

How much do you give? How much is the priest's services worth to you?

I normally see small denomination coins in the thalli. With the odd 10 rupee note thrown in. I don't remember ever seeing anything higher than that. The hundies of the larger temples typically attract the 100 rupee notes. I don't know if any of the hundi money benefits the poor priests. I think not. It typically goes to the temple committee.

So, what is it worth to you?

Vote for Harry!

2008-01-01T23:53:00.001+05:30

Vote for Harry!

"White Night" and "Proven Guilty" are vying for Amazon.com's Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy Books of 2007, in the "hardcover" and "paperback" categories, respectively! They're up against some stiff competition, so please show your support!

Vote for "White Night" here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=amb_link_5833022_15?ie=UTF8&docId=1000159331&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-6&pf_rd_r=18Y7NDZ74Y8SFSKYXE3H&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=329056901&pf_rd_i=383166011

and "Proven Guilty here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=amb_link_5832942_19?ie=UTF8&docId=1000159381&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=right-3&pf_rd_r=19V5YCAWBQ5RS0X6MTT0&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=324167101&pf_rd_i=383166011

The Temple on New Year's Day

2008-01-01T19:53:00.001+05:30

We visited the local temple today and the did the usual puja. The place was crowded. I was stuck by a thought. Why am I here today? We go the temple fairly regularly but why on the first of January? Then I realised that I do not know the new year day as per the Hindu calendar! That was a sobering thought. I am a practicing Hindu but I lack fundamental knowledge about my religion. A sad state of affairs I must rectify as soon as I can.

Happy New Year..

2008-01-01T00:59:00.001+05:30

Happy new year to all of you. I hope this year will be all that you desire. Live long and prosper.

Mobile Blogging - Opera Mini Issue

2007-12-31T14:57:00.000+05:30

Yesterday I made a post to this blog via the Opera Mini browser on my SonyEricsson P1i. I accessed the Blooger Create Post page and used that to make the post. After typing the first two lines I decided to try uploading an image and clicked the Image toolbar button. The upload image page displayed properly but I was unable to upload an image. Then I canceled that page and returned to the create post page and continued typing. You can see that post here.

The post was successful. However this morning I found an "Draft" in my Blogger Posts page and it turned out to be a post with the first two lines I had typed before navigating to the image upload page.

Strange! I suppose this happened because of the Auto Save feature of Blogger. Not sure though. Will try to reproduce again when I have a minute.

Mobile Blogging - Blogger For SonyEricsson

2007-12-31T14:36:00.001+05:30

I have finally managed to download and install the Blogger software for SonyEricsson and this is the first test post. The text entry area is single line on my phone! Makes it rather difficult to read what I am typing. Anyway let's see how this works.

Mobile Blogging - Opera Mini

2007-12-31T03:04:00.001+05:30

This post is being made from the regular Blogger post editor accessed using Opera Mini.

Can I add images this way?

Clicking the image button on the toolbar does bring up the blogger add image screen but I was unable to do anything with it. The browse button is not clickable. Oh well.

Mobile Blogging - Posting from Gmail Mobile (J2ME)

2007-12-31T02:51:00.001+05:30

This post is being sent as an email from the mobile Gmail client
(J2ME). Let's see how it comes out. I must delete the signature before
sending the email.  Opps! I had to fire up Opera Mini and access the
Gmail settings to remove the signature. Gmail mobile does not seem to
have any way to do this.

--
Sent from Google Mail for mobile | mobile.google.com

Mobile Blogging - Email to Blog

2007-12-30T23:28:00.000+05:30

Text emails to my blog's post-to-blog-email address works like a charm. I added my personal email (non gmail) as an blog author in the permissions page and I am set!

The P1i's built in email software seems to run pragraphs together and this post is meant to test that. Let's see what happens.

The next test will be to use the mobile Gmail client (J2ME) to blog.

By the way, I am using WiFi for email on the P1i. I have WiFi both at home and at work.

The only thing missing from this email-to-blog is post categories. Ah well. Nothing is perfect.

Test of Mobile Blogging from my P1i

2007-12-30T19:08:00.000+05:30

I bought a Sony Ericsson P1i in the beginning of Nov 07. One of the applications I had planned is mobile blogging. So far I havent had the time to try it out. Today I decided to check it out and see what i can do with the Sony Ericsson P1i.

I will post again about the results of the various experiments as soon as I am done.

My New Sony Ericsson P1i

2007-11-15T12:48:00.000+05:30

I traded in my old Nokia 6600 for a Sony Ericsson P1i. I was looking for a good business apps kind of phone for sometime and looked at a lot of options, including Nokia's E61i. Finally decided to splurge on the P1i and I must say I am pleased with my decision.

The P1i comes with a touch screen running at 240x320 resolution and a 1Gb memory card. The phone runs Symbian OS and works like a charm. The killer feature for me is WiFi support. I have a WiFi network at home and the phone works like a charm. We will be shifting to the main Oracle Campus from Raheja MindSpace in a few weeks and then I have will have WiFi at work too :-)

I use MobiPocket Reader on the phone for ebooks as well as RSS feeds from Economic Times and other favorites. The Windows XP version of MobiPocket can seamlessly download RSS feeds, convert to individual PRC files (one for each feed) and synchronize with my P1i over the USB cable. It should also work with BlueTooth & InfraRed but I haven't tried those yet. The USB cable and cradle is convenient and I haven't bothered with BlueTooth yet.

I also synchronize with Outlook for Calendar and Tasks (Oracle CollabSuite 10g). My personal mail (satpathy.in) is also setup on the phone along with the work email. Very easy to use. I don't have to fire up the laptop to check emails in the morning anymore :-)

I haven't tried any games etc on the phone yet. Haven't found anything interesting yet.

Jim Butcher's Dresden Files & Codex Alera

2007-11-15T12:37:00.000+05:30

Jim Butcher's 4th Codex Alera book, Captain's Fury, will be released on Dec 4, 2007. It is available for Pre-order on Amazon. Wonder when it will be available in book shops here in India.

I enjoyed the first 3 books in the series and am really looking forward to installment number 4.

Also on my reading list is the 10th Dresden book, Small Favor. Queen Mab and Dresden make for interesting reading. Small favor is due to be released on April 1, 2008. It too is available for Pre-order on Amazon.

Call For Interview - LMS?

2007-11-14T16:53:00.001+05:30

I received a call from a consultant who found my resume on the web. He was kind enough to tell me that he used Google to search for "CV of LMS administrator" on Google (without the quotes and my resume came up as the last result on the first search result page! That is a position of 9 on Google for this particular search!

I have developed LMS systems. I have developed EAI systems to interact with LMS systems but I have NEVER administered a LMS!

Should I blame the idiotic Indian IT HR consultants who have a well deserved reputation for being idiots or should I blame Google for wasting 2 minutes of my life?

Goa Vacation!

2007-10-17T12:46:00.000+05:30

We are off to Goa today for a much needed vacation. The kids are very very excited and so are we!

New Railway Web Site - erail.in

2007-09-25T19:51:00.000+05:30

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

2007-09-17T10:57:00.000+05:30

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)

2007-09-13T13:57:00.001+05:30

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

2007-09-13T13:00:00.001+05:30

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

2007-09-13T12:13:00.001+05:30

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

2007-09-10T10:29:00.001+05:30

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

2007-09-06T13:35:00.001+05:30

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!

2007-09-06T13:04:00.001+05:30

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

2007-09-06T12:56:00.001+05:30

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

2007-09-06T12:51:00.001+05:30

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.

Free The Left Lane

2007-08-24T17:32:00.000+05:30

Free The Left Lane is an initiative from the engineers at SumTotal, an elearning company, in Madhapur Hyderabad. They have launched a blog and are working with the Hyderabad Traffic Police

Most Hyderabadies are bad drivers. They have no patience, and zero consideration for other road users. The Left Lane is typically blocked because some impatient idiot who actually wants to go straight cruises down the left lane to the head of the traffic and stops in the lane, blocking it till the light turns green.

If I find my self in a situation where I need to turn left and an idiot or idiots are blocking the lane, I keep my turn indicator going and lean on the horn. This typically earns me glares because the idiots blocking the lane think I am at fault!

Zero Tolerance.

Do not tolerate idiots who break traffic rules to gain a few extra seconds. Like the idiots who will change lanes to overtake slower vehicles and end up coming straight at you in the opposite direction. I make it a point to stand my ground and not budge from my lane, even if it costs me time. The last time this happened to me I was driving the motorcycle instead of my car and an idiot in a Zen changed lanes. I refused to budge and came to a stop in front of the car. I was verbally threatened, pushed by the car and had fists shaken in my face. I switched off the bike and refused to budge. Finally the car walla had to back up and get back into his original lane. He hated it but he did not have an option. The people standing around told him that he was in the wrong. No body told me to move.

Follow rules and maintain a zero tolerance policy.

Gold & Dimond Encrusted $40,000 iPod Shuffle

2007-08-21T22:36:00.000+05:30

Want a Gold iPod Shuffle encrusted with Diamonds? It can be yours for just $ 4,000. Yes that is Fourty Thousand US Dollars.

Or maybe the $ 20,000 Gold iPod Shuffle. No Diamonds on this one.

Source: Engadget.

Bomb Scare In Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan's Public School

2007-08-20T15:40:00.000+05:30

August 17, 2007. The scariest day of my life.

My children's school (Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan's Public School, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad) received a bomb threat in the late morning, close to noon. The children were rushed outside into the playground while the police bomb disposal squad took over the premises. My 3 year old son and his class mates from LKG & UKG were sent home by bus at the regular time. My daughter (class 4) was still at school. We finally received the all clear after 1.00 pm and then the children were allowed to go home.

Those were the worst 3 hours I have ever spent. Thank God the threat was a hoax.

Career & Marriage

2007-08-20T15:02:00.000+05:30

I hate pop-up adverts. Period. And that is one of the reasons use FireFox. Anyway to cut a long story short, I saw this pop-up advert from shaadi.com yesterday when I visited India Times.

The adverts promises Career & Marriage. Both. Not mutually exclusive. If you use their portal of course.

Nice. I wonder how they do it? Do they charge you for their service? The Career & Marriage bit that it. And what happens if either your career or marriage falls on bad times? Are you compensated? Do they have counseling?

What do you think?

Mamli & Bablu On Independence Day (August 15, 2007)

2007-08-16T21:28:00.001+05:30

This year both Mamli & Bablu participated in the Independence Day celebrations in our complex (Steel & Mines, Srinagar Colony, Hyderabad). They had practiced a song each and sang them after the flag hoisting. Watch the videos below.

Mamli's Song

Bablu's Song

The Painted Pot

2007-08-16T21:21:00.001+05:30

This is the latest of Padmaja's experiments with painting pots. The pot was first painted orange and then Padmaja went to town with her box of paints.

Click the thumbnail below for photos.

Album 48 - The Painted Pot

A Slide Show of the Pot Photos :-)

Vande Maataram - Another Video (Lata)

2007-08-16T11:05:00.000+05:30

Happy Independence Day

2007-08-16T10:26:00.000+05:30

60 years and counting...

What does this mean to you? Are you proud to be a citizen of India? Or are you ashamed?

I went hunting for Vande Maataram on the web today and found a number of videos on You Tube. The one below is a copy of A R Rehman's video based on Vande Maataram.

A. R. Rehman's song based on Vande Maataram.
Download Vande Maataram from the Government of India web site.

Life's Little Instruction Book

2007-08-16T10:12:00.001+05:30

This little list is not my invention. I copied it from en email sent to a mailing list at work. I loved it and I am sure you will too.

Have a firm handshake.
Look people in the eye.
Sing in the shower.
Own a great stereo system.
If in a fight, hit first and hit hard.
Keep secrets.
Never give up on anybody. Miracles happen everyday.
Always accept an outstretched hand.
Be brave. Even if you're not, pretend to be. No one can tell the difference.
Whistle.
Avoid sarcastic remarks.
Choose your life's mate carefully. From this one decision will come 90 per cent of all your happiness or misery.
Make it a habit to do nice things for people who will never find out.
Lend only those books you never care to see again.
Never deprive someone of hope; it might be all that they have.
When playing games with children, let them win.
Give people a second chance, but not a third.
Be romantic.
Become the most positive and enthusiastic person you know.
Loosen up. Relax. Except for rare life-and-death matters, nothing is as important as it first seems.
Don't allow the phone to interrupt important moments. It's there for your convenience, not the caller's.
Be a good loser.
Be a good winner.
Think twice before burdening a friend with a secret.
When someone hugs you, let them be the first to let go.
Be modest. A lot was accomplished before you were born.
Keep it simple.
Beware of the person who has nothing to lose.
Don't burn bridges. You'll be surprised how many times you have to cross the same river.
Live your life so that your epitaph could read, No Regrets
Be bold and courageous. When you look back on life, you'll regret the things you didn't do more than the one's you did.
Never waste an opportunity to tell someone you love them.
Remember no one makes it alone. Have a grateful heart and be quick to acknowledge those who helped you.
Take charge of your attitude. Don't let someone else choose it for you.
Visit friends and relatives when they are in hospital; you need only stay a few minutes.
Begin each day with some of your favorite music.
Once in a while, take the scenic route.
Send a lot of Valentine cards. Sign them, 'Someone who thinks you're terrific.'
Answer the phone with enthusiasm and energy in your voice.
Keep a note pad and pencil on your bed-side table. Million-dollar ideas sometimes strike at 3 a.m.
Show respect for everyone who works for a living, regardless of how trivial their job.
Send your loved ones flowers. Think of a reason later.
Make someone's day by paying the toll for the person in the car behind you.
Become someone's hero.
Marry only for love.
Count your blessings.
Compliment the meal when you're a guest in someone's home.
Wave at the children on a school bus.
Remember that 80 per cent of the success in any job is based on your ability to deal with people.
Always say thank you. Always.

Good eh? How many of these do you follow?

P.S. Number 50 is my addition.

12 Ways To Stop The Telemarketers (Sure Shots Ways To Ensure You Are Not Called Again!)

2007-08-10T11:08:00.001+05:30

After the telemarketer finishes speaking ask them to marry you
Ask them to call you at work and give them the number of the local ICICI branch manager
Tell them that your agent handles all such things and give the phone to your 3 year old son
Ask them to repeat everything they say, several times...
After they finish speaking ask them to repeat everything sloowwwly so that you can write it all down.
Tell them that you are hard of hearing and ask them to speak louder.. louder ... louder...
Tell them it is your birthday and ask them to sing "Happy Birthday" for you. Three times.
If they start with "How are you today?", immediately say - "I am so happy you asked! I had so much trouble on the pot this morning! The stuff refused to slip out! I strained and I strained..."
As soon as you realize it is a telemarketing call immediately say "Sania, My Love! Why haven't you called for so long! I have missed you so much my dearest!...". If they say they aren't Sania tell them to stop kidding and continue in the same vein. Perfect if the caller is a guy :-)
Listen for 5 secs and then say "Excuse me..." and sing "De Do Mera Panch Rupaya Bara Anna, Marega Bhaiya...". Then ask them to continue. For another 5 secs. Then sing again... Repeat.
Call them "Darling" through out the call
Ask them for their address so that you can take them to dinner tonight followed by....

What Is Green Like? The Best Advertisement I Have Ever "Seen"

2007-08-04T00:48:00.001+05:30

I don't have to say anything to introduce this advertisement. Please see for yourself.

This copy of the advertisement was posted on You Tube by coderedreel on February 13, 2007. Thanks coderedreel for sharing this video.

ICICI Stupidities Continue...

2007-08-03T23:10:00.000+05:30

I had posted yesterday about ICICI Bank's Infinity web site. Our employee mailing list at work was flooded with emails on the same topic throughout the day today.

Anyway, I was happy to find the site working when I logged in from home at 11.00 p.m. tonight. I managed to get a record of the last few transactions for my off line records and cash flow projections. Then my cash flow software alerted my to a EMI payment I have to make to a bank in Bhubaneswar, Orissa. ICICI has a neat little facility that allows you to electronically send money to a host of banks across the country and I use this for my EMI payments. Anyway, I clicked the relevant link and got an ugly JavaScript message box saying "This service is temporarily unavailable".

Okay. Fine. No problem. Something wrong and you guys are working on it. Cool.

But for how long you idiots? What on h^*$^ll does temporarily mean? Tomorrow morning? Monday afternoon?

When will you idiots in the ICICI IT department learn to use your brains? A few more words would have made all the difference!

Idiots!

Advice For A New Professional

2007-08-03T13:07:00.001+05:30

Productivity501 has a great post on Advice For New Professionals. A must read not just for young people starting on their first job but also for professionals who have a number of years of experience under their belt. The advice is US centric but applies equally well to Indian professionals. Just change some of the stuff to an Indian context and there you have it.

A must read.

File Locked or Cannot Remove USB Device? Unlock It!

2007-08-03T12:10:00.001+05:30

Most Windows users must be familiar with this dialog box.

Or with this one...

Most of the time I can figure out which software has locked the file or folder. But sometimes it is not obvious and can get very frustrating. Particularly when I am trying to shutdown and want to eject the portable hard disk or USB thumb drive and Windows just won't let me.

Happened to me yesterday. I was in a hurry to leave and my portable hard disk was attached to the laptop. I shutdown all software running of the hard disk but Windows just would not eject the device. Damn!

I remember cursing Windows while I wished for an application just like Unlocker! Found it on the Freeware Genius blog this morning, quite by accident. Downloaded and installed it right away!

Ah! I am a happy man now.

Spine-Worx - Back, Shoulder & Stress Reliever

2007-08-03T11:57:00.001+05:30

This strange looking device is supposed to gently & quickly (Oxymoron?) guide misaligned vertebra in the middle and lower spine into their correct position, brining relief from back pain, tension & stress. To use it, you recline on the device and it's contours apply pressure where it is required.

Available on Amazon. Price $34.95. Weight - about a kilogram. Will they ship to India?

ICICI Mutual Fund Removes Exit Fee For 3 Funds

2007-08-03T11:37:00.001+05:30

ICICI Mutual Fund has removed exit loads from three of it's funds with effect from August 1, 2007. That is investments made in these funds on or after August 1, 2007 will not pay an exit load on redemption. Other than investments made via SIPs or STPs.

ICICI Prudential Power, Fund Page on Value Research
ICICI Prudential Services Industries Fund, Fund Page on Value Research
ICICI Prudential Equity & Derivatives Fund - Wealth Optimizer Plan, Fund Page on Value Research

Article in Economic Times about this.

The World's Largest Gold Coin On Auction

2007-08-03T07:01:00.000+05:30

One Hundred Kilograms , the size of a large Pizza!

Minted by the the Royal Canadian Mint, this gold coin has $1 million of Gold bullion, with Maple leaf on one side & Gueen Elizabeth II on the other. The coin is on auction at TeleTrade.

Current bid (7.08 am IST, July 3, 2007) - $1,000,000 ....

PortableApps - My Software Travels With Me!

2007-08-02T11:40:00.001+05:30

I recently discovered PortableApps, an amazing new way of packaging and running software applications. PortableApps allows you to put your favorite applications on removable media like a USB flash drive or a portable hard disk. You can run your programs directly from the removable media on any Windows PC and not leave anything behind when you disconnect and move on.

And to top it all, PortableApps is Free! 100% Free. And it works like a charm.

Okay here is how this thing works - You download the PortableApps Suite, and install it into the root folder of your removable media. There are a number of different options available. if you have a large disk then you could use the full suite or use the Lite version which comes with a smaller set of pre-installed applications.

Available Choices:

PortableApps Suite (Standard Edition): ClamWin Portable (antivirus), Mozilla Firefox - Portable Edition (web browser), Gaim Portable (instant messaging), OpenOffice.org Portable (office suite), Sudoku Portable (puzzle game), Mozilla Sunbird - Portable Edition (calendar/task manager) and Mozilla Thunderbird - Portable Edition (email client) and runs comfortably from a 512MB drive.

PortableApps Suite (Lite Edition): Uses AbiWord Portable (word processor) instead of OpenOffice.org Portable and runs comfortably from a 256MB drive.

PortableApps Suite (Base Edition): If you'd like to pick and choose exactly which apps to include, you can try Portable Apps Suite (Base Edition). This is a stripped down package with just the PortableApps Menu, PortableApps Backup utility and custom folders, icons and autorun. It's less than 1MB installed, so it's a great option for smaller drives.

I downloaded the Standard Edition and installed it on my portable Transcend hard disk (80 Gb in a Transcend IDE to USB casing). PortableApps installed without problems and created the following directory structure:

E:\>dir
Volume in drive E is Walkie2
Volume Serial Number is 80EE-5425

Directory of E:\

31/07/2007 09:34 PM    <DIR>                Documents
01/08/2007 11:34 AM    <DIR>               PortableApps
19/11/2006 06:30 AM                  52,476 StartPortableApps.exe
31/07/2007 03:14 PM    <DIR>            xampp
               1 File(s)         52,476 bytes
               7 Dir(s) 14,979,813,376 bytes free

E:\>

I then browsed through the rest of the PortableApps web site and downloaded other applications that I wanted (GIMP, XAMP, VLC Media Player, Audacity, Notepad++ etc). Mow I have a fully configured PortableApps setup, with FireFox browser (with multiple proxy switching support), Thunderbird for work and personal emails, Gaim for work instant messenger & Yahoo, XAMP (Apache, MySQL, PHP, Tomcat, Perl), Java 1.5 runtime, etc.

Plugin & Play!

This of course feeds my need to have all my emails, bookmarks, contacts etc at my fingertips. And my favorite color schemes, FireFox Enhancements, Plugins, RSS Feeds, etc. With this I will not have to keep synchronizing my work laptop with the home PC! And of course when I have access to neither I will still have my complete setup! Like when I visit Dad and have to use his PC.

PortableApps has a vibrant developer community and I see that they are adding new applications every now and then. They also have an excellent discussion group.

I am writing this post using FireFox Portable running off the external hard disk.

PortableApps menu running on my PC. Note Thunderbird Portable & Gaim Portable in the system tray.

My portable hard disk.

ICICI's Online Banking, Infinity - Service Unavailable!

2007-08-01T15:53:00.000+05:30

ICICI Bank offers online banking facilities free of cost to it's customers. Their banking portal is called Infinity and is pretty good.

However it does have it's off days and today is one of those. I am not sure what is wrong today but I ended up with a blank screen with only "Service Unavailable" on it. No apologies or regrets. No we will be back in a while. Just two words.

Lack of good manners? Laziness? Or just the default web server setting? If it is the last, then I am scared about my money.

[Update - 9.41 p.m.] - Service still down. I was able to access the site for a little while at about 4.00 p.m. but have not been able to connect since.

Create Slide Shows With Picasa Web Albums

2007-07-30T16:16:00.001+05:30

Blogger Templates has a great online tool to help generate HTML code for Picasa Web Album based Slide Shows. I am reproducing it here for my convenience. I have made a few small changes for posting here.

Installing a Picasa Slide Show In Blogger Or Other Web Page

Disclaimer:

This code is from Blogger Templates. Please visit their Picasa Slide Show Post to see the original. No copyright violation is intended.

[Update] - A link to this post has been added to the side bar.

Picasa Web Album Slide Show

2007-07-30T15:17:00.001+05:30

A slide show of our trip to Srisailam in early June 2007.

Create you own Picasa Album Slide Shows here.

100 Open Source Downloads

2007-07-30T13:31:00.001+05:30

A categorized list of 100 Open Source software. I love lists and I found this one particularly useful. I quickly realized that I use a number of software on this list. Audacity, AC3Filter, MP3Gain, LAME, jEdit, DOSBox, PDFCreator, Vuze (Azureus), eMule, FreeMind to name a few.

This list underlines the growing vitality of Open Source software and underlines the fact that they are slowly but steadily creeping into our computers.

Long Live Open Source!

Java Logging with JDBC

2007-07-30T12:47:00.000+05:30

I hate debuggers! Not that they don't do the job they are meant for but I have always found them to be a big waste of time in the initial stages of debugging a code issue. I prefer to use a logger mechanism and then jump into the debugger for detailed runtime data only if I cannot track down the problem theoretically using my logs.

Anyway, I work in an environment where all development is done remotely and I don't have much control over the servers that actually run my code. I do have access to the database for the different environments and can create tables etc. I normally use Log4J for my logging needs but adding that manually to my development environment is a pain. So I finally turned to Java's logging API and found that it fell way below my Log4J based expectations. Firstly it did not give me much control over the logging configuration. Secondly, there was no JDBC based logging mechanism available. Well I decided to roll my own.

Features:

JDBC support for logging
Custom logging configuration (including the JDBC support configuration). Can be used for creating any custom configuration and not just the JDBC support.
Message caching. This implementation caches messages up to a configured threshold. All cached messages are logged to the database as soon as the threshold is reached.
Open source. Use, modify, distribute (as long as you retain the copyright notice below). Suggestions, bug reports welcome.

Pending Features (Stuff I would like to add but haven't yet):

Configurable Asynchronous logging: So that we don't block the main thread making the logging calls.
Performance Tunning: The current release is not optimized and has numerous areas which can benefit from some performance tunning.

I am releasing the source code to my JDBC support for Java's logging APIs. You can download the source code here. You may use this code for any purpose, as long as you leave the copyright notice attached. Use this code at your own risk.

See the readme.txt file in the zip archive for details of how to use the code. The JavaDoc is also a good place to look for further details. The source code is of course the best source for implementation and usage details.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright (C) 2006 Gautam Satpathy (gautam@satpathy.in)
You may use this code for any purpose, as long as you leave the copyright notice
attached. Use this code at your own risk.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Web2PDF - Convert Web Pages to PDF

2007-07-29T21:22:00.001+05:30

Web2PDF is nifty service that is a snap to setup and provides a easy way to convert HTML web pages into PDF documents. And best of all it is free!

With Web2PDF you can add a "Save page as PDF" button to your web page and allow users to convert you page into a PDF document with one click. It is easy to setup. First of all you have to sign up for an account. After completing that you need to specify some standard settings like Portrait or Landscape modes, your web page's URL etc. You can run an immediate test to see the result of your settings. Once you are satisfied, generate the required JavaScript and paste it into your web page wherever you want the "Save page as PDF" button to appear.

I have added one to this blog. Works fine. Do give it a try.

I have to figure out a few things though - How to change the formats (CSS) used during the conversion process. Not sure if they can be changed at all. For example I would not like the generated PDF to have a black background with white text. Quite the opposite really.

Pictobrowser - Changing Background Color

2007-07-28T16:18:00.001+05:30

I figured out how to change the background color for the Pictobrowser!

Code for my Pictobrowser.

<embed
name="PictoBrowser" align="middle"
src="http://www.db798.com/pictobrowser.swf"
width="500" height="580"
type="application/x-shockwave-flash"
flashvars="ids=72157600558349014&names=Mamli And Holi 2004&userName=gautamsatpathy&userId=76312656@N00&titles=on&source=sets"
loop="true"
quality="best"
scale="noscale"
bgcolor="#000000">
</embed>

Note the bgcolor attribute in the HTML code generated for your Pictobrowser. Just change the color value to whatever you want. The default value generated by Pictobrowser is White (#FFFFFF). I prefer Black (#000000).

Technically you can do a lot of cool stuff with the Pictobrowser generated HTML code. You can put it in a DIV etc. I have not tried changing the dimensions or other values yet. Will post again if I learn anything new.

Pictobrowser - A Really Cool Piece Of Software!

2007-07-28T15:39:00.000+05:30

The previous post about a Flickr photo slide show is based on Pictobrowser, the creation of Carlos J. Gómez de Llarena (Creative direction, interaction design) & Diego Bauducco (Concept, graphic & interaction design, development).

What they have created is not only a great tool to display pictures but also a brand new distribution model. Each web site using Pictobrowser is a source of HTML code for new users to embed Pictobrowser in their web sites & blogs. Do read about it on the Pictobrowser web site.

Okay. Now let us see how we can use this thing.

Setup Instructions:

The first thing is a Flickr account. Get one if you don't already have one. You can use your Yahoo account.
Upload your photos to Flickr.
Mark your photos as "Public"
Create some Sets, and / or Groups. The Sets / groups must be public for Pictobrowser to be able to retrieve them.
Click the Info link at the bottom of a Pictobrowser like the one below. (See Screen shot below)
This will display the "Get Your Pictobrowser" page. Enter you Flickr User ID on this screen and click the Submit button. (See Screen Shot below)
Pictobrowser will use the User ID to access Flickr. It will display a blank screen with Sets, tags & groups as clickable buttons on the top. (See Screen Shot below)
Click the Sets button (or Tags or groups). Whatever. Pictobrowser will access Flickr and pull a list of you public Sets (or Tags or groups. Whatever. (See Screen Shot below)
Click the Set you want to use. Pictobrowser will display a new screen with the required HTML code. Copy & paste it into your blog post screen in HTML Code view. (See Screen Shot below). You can also use this screen to see a preview of your new Pictobrowser.

Screen Shots:

Click Info (circled in Red above) link at bottom of Pictobrowser. Go back to Setup Instructions.

Enter your Flickr User ID. Go back to Setup Instructions.

Pictobrowser accesses Flickr. Select Sets. Go back to Setup Instructions.

Pictobrowser pulls list of public sets from your Flickr account. Select the one you want to use. Go back to Setup Instructions.

Go grab the HTML code! Go back to Setup Instructions.

Pictobrowser In Action

Flickr Slide Show On Blogger!

2007-07-28T12:54:00.001+05:30

I saw this neat Flickr Slide Show app on Blogger Templates, a great place to find Blogger related information, tips & tricks etc.

This post is a test to see how things work. I will post instructions on the usage in a subsequent post.

Reading A Book - How To Find The Time?

2007-07-23T13:50:00.001+05:30

I read for pleasure. The information content is incidental as far as I am concerned. That is to say I don't go looking for books that will teach me something. Rather I read books that I want to read because they are fun to read. I would rather curl up with a pot boiler than read Jack Welch.

That is not to say I do not learn anything from the books I read. I do. In addition to the pleasure factor, every book has something to give. Some piece of information, a thought or two or simply a different way of looking at things.

The problem is that there are only so many hours in a day. Weekends are for householdy things. Groceries, the broken clock, insurance premium payments, etc etc. And of course to catch up on sleep

Anyway, I read a number of blogs regularly and one of them, Life Hack, has this post titled "How To Automatically Read A Book Per Week Without Taking Any Additional Time Out Of Your Day". The title caught my attention and I eagerly started reading. Agreed with the author for the first few paragraphs. And then I started getting irritated.

The author talks about Audio Books as the solution. Nice, techy solution. But will it work? Say in an Indian context? Let us look at an example:

My wife, Padmaja, is a professional with two kids and a husband. I mention the husband part because she claims she has a lazy bum of a husband. She commutes to work on a scooter. A drive of about 8 Km's which takes about 30 minutes each way. Her day starts at 6.00 am when she has to cook breakfast & lunch for everybody. Then she kicks my butt out of bed at about 6.30 and goes to wake up our daughter, Mamli. She then spends about 45 mins with Mamli reviewing homework or preparation for any tests etc. In the meantime I do my morning stuff (teeth, tea, emails, shave, shower etc) before waking the boy, Bablu. Then we rush through the rest of the morning ritual of getting the kids to school (they commute by school bus) and getting ready for work. Padmaja returns from work at about 6.30 p.m. The rest of the evening is usually taken up by homework and dinner. The kids go to bed at about 9.00 p.m. and we have dinner right after. Bed by 10.30 - 11.30. We rarely watch TV. The post dinner hour is reserved for husband - wife discussions. Plans, moans, etc.

So how does Padmaja find / make the time to read a book? Will audio books work for her? If not, why?

Audio books are expensive. Paperbacks are relatively inexpensive in comparison.
They take time to setup on a player like the iPod. Paperback books do not need any "setup". They are ready to go out-of-the-box.
It is easy to put down a book and then pick it up again after a while. You can quickly scan the previous lines and pick up from where you left off. Try that with an Audio book!
Unlike for Audio books you don't need a computer to buy and read a regular paper based book. Padmaja hates the home PC anyway. Claims she spends enough time staring at a computer screen at work.
You can read a book on the pot, leave it in the bathroom till you come back without worrying about damaging a 10,000 rupee gadget. Same with the bed. I am usually very careful where I put down the iPod. The kids are always jumping on the bed and I don't want one of them landing on my precious.
Driving in Hyderabad, India, while listening to an audio book is a recipe for disaster. Very very bad idea. Listening to music on a portable player if fine as long as you are not trying to understand each and every word of the lyrics.

So on and so forth...

So how does Padmaja find / make time for a book or two?

Get the lazy bum of a husband to share some of the house work. Let him grumble and scowl but make him do it anyway. A kiss or two (or more) at the end of the day would work nicely to reduce the grumbling and increase the householdy contributions
Read in bed. She is normally too tired.
Read on the pot.
Read in the kitchen. I feel safe making this suggestion because I know Padmaja is a fantastic cook and the end result even with a book in the picture will be excellent. My rotund self is living testimony to this fact!
Read during coffee breaks. Carrying a paperback in her handbag is not difficult. Of course she would rather spend it speaking with other people! Ecch!

Our lives leave very little time for the things that make life worth living. And to me a good book is one of those things. I am willing to sacrifice other things like sleep to be able to read a book.

Maybe Yama Raj will put me in charge of Patal's Library.

Tattoos For Geeks

2007-07-23T10:58:00.000+05:30

Most Indians I know don't use Tattoos. Oh maybe the odd kid here and there trying to show how cool he or she is. But in general Tattoos is seen as a western thing that is not cool.

I saw this advert for Geek Tattoos on the web recently and thought I would share it here. I would love to have the guts to wear one of these. The "Born To Code" one is particularly cool!

I dare say the wife will kick my butt out of the house though the kids might love the stuff. On themselves. Not sure if they will like Daddy walking around with one of these...

List of Blog Ping Servers

2007-07-22T20:17:00.001+05:30

Here is a list of Blog Ping Servers:

http://api.moreover.com/ping
http://api.my.yahoo.com/RPC2
http://bblog.com/ping.php
http://blog.goo.ne.jp/XMLRPC
http://blogsearch.google.com/ping/RPC2
http://bulkfeeds.net/rpc
http://mod-pubsub.org/kn_apps/blogchatt
http://ping.bitacoras.com
http://ping.bloggers.jp/rpc
http://ping.exblog.jp/xmlrpc
http://ping.feedburner.com/
http://ping.syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php
http://ping.weblogalot.com/rpc.php
http://pinger.blogflux.com/rpc/
http://pingqueue.com/rpc/
http://rpc.blogbuzzmachine.com/RPC2
http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/
http://rpc.britblog.com/
http://rpc.icerocket.com:10080/
http://rpc.newsgator.com/
http://rpc.pingomatic.com/
http://rpc.tailrank.com/feedburner/RPC2
http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping
http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2
http://services.newsgator.com/ngws/xmlrpcping.aspx
http://topicexchange.com/RPC2
http://www.a2b.cc/setloc/bp.a2b
http://www.blogdigger.com/RPC2
http://www.focuslook.com/ping.php?url=http://www.yourblog.com
http://www.holycowdude.com/rpc/ping/
https://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZFinance.woa/wa/pingPodcast

Taking Advantage of Horny Males (Wasps)!

2007-07-22T18:13:00.001+05:30

The perpetually horny male! (And why not females?) Well, a new species of Orchids have been discovered in Southern Australia. These grow flowers that look like female Wasps! You get the idea, right?

And why target the male? Why not a flower that looks like the male wasp instead?

Will The Mammoths Walk Earth Again?

2007-07-22T18:04:00.001+05:30

A Russian Hunter recently discovery the 40,000 years old remains of a Mammoth Baby in Arctic Russia. This is a monumental find and the scientists might be able to play God with the dead Mammoth's DNA if they can extract the sequence intact.

Will we see the Mammoths walk Earth once again? Should the scientists be allowed to play God?

What does such research and experimentation mean to Man's future? Will we see soon DNA banks that cater to the super rich by freezing their DNA sequences for possible resurrection at a later date? Do you want to live twice? Or thrice? Or be immortal? Springing from the ashes like Dumbledore's Phoenix?

Harry Potter Fans - How Are You Doing?

2007-07-21T12:35:00.000+05:30

Reached the Deathly Hallows yet? Some what of a let down so far. I have not read the ending but I am disappointed so far. Harry has reached the tale of the deathly hallows and has questions. What next? He will survive. That seems sure. But with the help of the hallows? Seems anti-climatic!

Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows - Complete Leaked Book (PDF)

2007-07-20T21:22:00.000+05:30

And here is the complete book. This is the one that was transcribed from the photographs of the leaked book.

Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows - Complete Book (PDF)

Enjoy! And do buy the original book from the stores.

[Update] - Removed the link. The book is available on the P2P network.

GonVisor - Free Comic Viewer & CBZ/CBR Creator

2007-07-20T13:57:00.001+05:30

Good old Google pointed me at GonVisor. A neat little tool to create CBZ & CBR files. It is also a Comic Viewer and seems to have a few additional features that CDisplay lacks.

The best part is of course the ability to create CBZ & CBR files. I haven't found anything better so far.

And it is Free!

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Leaked! Book Images Posted!

2007-07-20T00:06:00.000+05:30

The rumors seem to be true. The torrents I mentioned in a previous post is about 60% done and I took a peek at the files. And guess what? They look real!

Potter Mania! First 10 Chapters Leaked!

2007-07-19T23:36:00.001+05:30

The net is going crazy! Lots of leak rumors, blog posts and even news items on NBC etc. Lots of reports of leaked files on the BitTorrent network. Some say that the a group of Potter fans are transcribing a leaked (photographed pages apparently) copy into text and are posting it on the net. The first 10 chapters are supposedly available.

Well, I was curious enough to go looking for it. And I found this, supposedly the first 10 chapters of this so called leaked book. Might just be another example of Fan Fiction. I am transferring the file to my phone right after this post. Then maybe I will last till the book stores open the weekend!

Go ahead and download the file. At the very least it will keep you entertained till day after tomorrow. And if it is the real thing, then you can skip over to Chapter 11 and start from there !

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows - First 10 Chapters (Text Format)
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows - First 10 Chapters (PDF Format)
The original files downloaded from BitTorrent (converted from RAR to ZIP)

[Update] - I found three other torrents that are supposed to contain the leaked book. Two of them are a bunch of images. The third contains a PDF.

[Update] - I have removed the links to the files above. Just in case this thing is for real! I don't want the publishers after my ass.

Indian Govt. Blocking Blog Sites

2007-07-19T10:02:00.000+05:30

The Indian Govt decided to block certain blogs that spread hate for India in an attempt to fight back against terrorism. They ended up blocking all sites on Blogspot.com and other blog sites. For example, my photo blog, Mo-Chitra, is blocked. I can of course still access it from work because our gateways are in Japan & Singapore. It is only from home that I am unable to access my blog.

I ran a tracert to mo-chitra.blogspot.com and got the following output:

d:\>tracert -w 20000 mo-chitra.blogspot.com

Tracing route to blogspot.blogger.com [66.102.15.101] over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 13 ms 8 ms 8 ms 172.30.69.1
2 25 ms 10 ms 12 ms 203.109.92.1
3 18 ms 26 ms 22 ms 125.16.0.73
4 24 ms 23 ms 24 ms 59.145.0.226
5 43 ms 34 ms 25 ms 202.56.223.109
6 59.145.11.73 reports: Destination host unreachable.

Trace complete.

Querying the IP Whois tool for the last two IPs shows that they belong to Bharati Tele.

inetnum: 202.56.223.0 - 202.56.223.255
netname: BTNL
descr: Bharti Telenet Ltd.
descr: Bhopal
descr: India
country: IN
inetnum: 59.144.0.0 - 59.145.255.255
netname: BHARTI-IN
descr: BHARTI INFOTEL LTD.
descr: ISP Division , Long Distance Group - Telesonic
descr: 234 , Okhala Phase III
descr: NEW DELHI
descr: INDIA
country: IN

So Bharati is blocking access to blogspot.com... Mr. Mital, I assume you are not a fool. With this assumption, I hope that you will instruct the idiots in your IT department to work a little harder and not block legitimate web sites. It takes a few seconds to block an entire domain. It takes a lot longer to block specific web sites. Somebody in your organization is cheating you of the salary you pay him.

I managed to access my blog inspite of your blocking access by the simple device of using TorPark. Only a fool tries to stop the Ganga from flowing to the sea. Are you one of them Sonia, Manmohan and Mittal?

Mamli's Star - Class 3D, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan's Public School, Jubilee Hills

2007-07-18T10:42:00.000+05:30

Mamli is now in class 4. Last year she did rather well. She won a number of prizes and managed to beat the the person she was most afraid would do better than her!

I took these photos with my mobile phone and have been meaning to post them here for some time now. Well here goes...

Well done Mamli. No pressure but we do hope to see the same again this year!

Purloined Banner Image From Puri Online

2007-07-18T10:35:00.000+05:30

I love this banner image on the Puri Online web site. I took the liberty of grabbing a copy. Sorry Bulu. The image is so beautiful!

Shree Shree Jaganath Ratha Yatra 2007 - Photo Gallery

2007-07-18T10:30:00.001+05:30

Puri Online has a photo gallery of this year's Ratha Yatra.

Also a video gallery with videos of the Snana, Hati Besha & The Yatra.

Great work Bulu & team!

Public Interest - HDFC Credit Cards - Excess Cash Back Charges

2007-07-18T10:22:00.001+05:30

The following email was sent to an internal mailing list in my organization. I think it is worth reproducing it here.

If you are holding an HDFC Value plus credit card and have in past few months seen something like an excess cashback billed to your card , please get in touch with HDFC customer care people asap .

I too had experienced the same in 2 of my past months card statements .Infact my roommate and some of my friends were also charged for the same thing .We talked to thee HDFC people and finally after putting in some efforts were successful to get our money back.

To add to that I had personally asked them to send me an apology letter for the same , which , though I got is in a very sugar coated language,but nevertheless I got my money back..I told them that I have a number of friends who were confronted with the same issue , so they gave me a POC for this issue whereby if anybody among you has come across the similar problem ,you can talk to this POC and he'll get your problem resolved .

The POC is : Sai Rupendra.. (U can call HDFC customer care and ask the person taking the call to directly connect you to Sai Rupendera).

So folks , please utilise the services of this person to claim back your hard earned money from HDFC .

Do examine your credit card statements carefully. You should not allow yourself to be charged for something that you did not spend!

Bablu's Experiments With MS Paintbrush

2007-07-17T09:55:00.000+05:30

Bablu loves to play with the computer. When he is not playing games, he is drawing pictures with MS Paintbrush. I showed him how to save his paintings and he hasn't looked back since then. These are a few samples of his work

Shri Shri Jaganath's Ratha Yatra

2007-07-16T09:32:00.001+05:30

Today is the Ratha Jatra of Shri Shri Jaganath, the lord of the Universe. The Ratha Jatra is an annual pilgrimage that Jaganath along with his elder brother Balabhadra & younger sister Subadhra undertake to the adobe of their aunt. Special Rathas are built every year by a guild of carpenters & blacksmiths. The Rathas are swept by the King of Puri with a golden broom before the Jatra commences.

Jaganath's wife Lakshmi is left behind by the siblings and she closes the temple doors on them, to be opened only when they return.

See the live telecast on major TV channels today. You can also see a live web cast of the Ratha Jatra on PuriOnline.

See this article for information about the Ratha Jatra and meet the head carpenters.

Jaganath Swami

Nayana Patha Gami

Bhava Tume!

Madhumita Satpathy's Marriage

2007-07-16T09:15:00.001+05:30

Madhumita is my cousin and the youngest daughter in the Satpathy family (my generation). She married Sidharth Hotha on Thursday, July 12, 2007 at Rourkela, Orissa.

I attended her wedding along with my parents, grand parents and a host of other family members. This trip to Rourkela was rather arduous. I left Hyderabad on Tuesday afternoon by Faluknama Express and arrived at Bhubaneswar on Wednesday morning at about 11.20 am. Took the late night bus to Rourkela the same day. Attended the marriage and then caught the train back to Bhubaneswar the same night. Finally took Konark Express back to Hyderabad on Friday afternoon, arriving at 11.30 am on Saturday morning. Phew!

This marriage was overshadowed by the death of my youngest uncle (father's youngest brother). As a result none of the Satpathy family (of the same Gotra) could participate in the marriage itself. The bride was given away by her maternal uncle, Dr. Bharatendu Swain (Apollo Hospitals, Hyderabad). My aunt (father's sister) did most of the work.

Anyway, I am back in Hyderabad now. Catching up on emails and have the boss breathing down my back...

ICICIDirect Stupidities, Or Oh No Not Again!

2007-07-09T18:20:00.000+05:30

ICICIDirect! Those morons have done it again! Did I say Morons? My apologies. To the morons of this world. I didn't mean to insult you guys by saying that ICICIDirect is at your intellectual level.

I tried logging into the ICICIDirect web site at about 6.20 pm today (IST). The login page came up fine. I entered my stuff and hit the enter key. And guess what? I got a very polite page saying that the blasted &*(66%^*&*^&) web site was down for "For Some Technical Reason".

What happens to my login information? I entered my credentials and had the site bomb in my face! Why can't the blasted "Site Down" notice be pasted before the login page?
Notice the "Contact Site Admin" notice? How do I contact the site Admin? Email? Phone? A kick on the Bum? Bloody Idiots!

Resurrection! The Home PC Is Alive Again :-)

2007-07-08T14:32:00.001+05:30

Raghu (RR Peripherals) came over this morning to change the motherboard. It took about 30 mins for the entire process. I realized that I need a new SMPS. My current one is 300 Watts and the new motherboard needs 400 Watts. Anyway, it works for the time being and should be able to take the current load but I will change it as soon as I return from Rourkela (Munu's marriage) next weekend.

I had to spend another hour reinstalling all the key drivers (network, audio, video etc). Otherwise everything works like a charm. And the new 1Gb RAM makes it feel smoother than before (I had 512 Mb then).

Bablu came running to me half an hour ago asking if the "Computer Is Okay Now?". I grinned at him and said Yes. At this he ran back into their bedroom and triumphantly informed his elder sister - "I Told You So!". It seems he recognized the startup sounds that the PC makes on starting (Windows XP Pro) but could not convince his sis.

The New 7 Wonders

2007-07-08T09:01:00.001+05:30

The results are out!

And the Taj Mahal is one of the new 7 wonders.

This is the first ever global voting exercise.

Of course the Taj Mahal is still attributed to the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan. I hope the time will come when the Hindus will get back their lost, desecrated temples in India and elsewhere (Mecca etc).

My Home PC Died, Long Live The Home PC

2007-07-07T18:20:00.001+05:30

My home PC died yesterday night. It was a peaceful passing. The motherboard folded up, most probably because of CPU overheating. The CPU cooler has been giving me problems for a while now. I have to regularly clean out the heat sink vanes.

Luckily I had setup a wireless router last month. So I still have my Internet connection (on the laptop). But the home surveillance system is out of commission along with the web & FTP servers.

Raghu of RR Peripherals sold me the PC a couple of years ago. I contacted him this morning and he helped me identify the problem. He also directed me to a supplier for a new motherboard, Intel P4 chip and 1 Gb of RAM. He has promised to replace the motherboard etc tomorrow morning. I should be back in business by lunch tomorrow.

Free Smiley Icons!

2007-07-06T16:40:00.001+05:30

I have hosted these Smiley Icons on my personal web site (www.satpathy.in). You can use them anywhere without any restrictions as long as you adhere to the following:

Direct linking only. Do not copy the files.
Add a link to my home page (www.satpathy.in) to your web site or blog. Something like - "Smiley icons from Gautam Satpathy"

Enjoy!

	http://www.satpathy.in/smileys/smiley-cool.png
	http://www.satpathy.in/smileys/smiley-cry.png
	http://www.satpathy.in/smileys/smiley-embarassed.png
	http://www.satpathy.in/smileys/smiley-foot-in-mouth.png
	http://www.satpathy.in/smileys/smiley-frown.png
	http://www.satpathy.in/smileys/smiley-innocent.png
	http://www.satpathy.in/smileys/smiley-kiss.png
	http://www.satpathy.in/smileys/smiley-laughing.png
	http://www.satpathy.in/smileys/smiley-money-mouth.png
	http://www.satpathy.in/smileys/smiley-sealed.png
	http://www.satpathy.in/smileys/smiley-smile.png
	http://www.satpathy.in/smileys/smiley-surprised.png
	http://www.satpathy.in/smileys/smiley-tongue-out.png
	http://www.satpathy.in/smileys/smiley-undecided.png
	http://www.satpathy.in/smileys/smiley-wink.png
	http://www.satpathy.in/smileys/smiley-yell.png

Building A Mutual Fund Portfolio - 2

2007-07-06T13:34:00.001+05:30

In this post I will provide links to some of the best web sites for Indian Mutual Fund information.

Value Research

Value Research is an independent provider of investment information. It was started by Dhirendra Kumar and is your best source of reliable information about Indian Mutual Funds. If you are serious about investing in Mutual Funds then you should take a look at these guys. They have a superb print magazine called Mutual Fund Insight. You can read a sample issue online. MFI is an investment that is worth it's weight in gold.

All About Mutual Fund Investing
What To Look for in a Fund?
Value Research's Fund Rating Methodology
Ask Value Research Archives - An archive of questions and replies from Value Research Pundits.
Wealth Strategy - Value Research Archives

PersonalFn

PersonalFn is a personal finance and investment web site from the Quantum Group. They have another interesting web site called Equity Master.

Mutual Fund Tutorial Archives
Money Simplified - A PersonalFn Publication
The PersonalFn Mutual Fund Glossary

Money Control

Money Control is a financial web site from the TV18 folks. Tons of useful stuff and tons of irritating adverts.

Mutual Funds on Money Control, also called Easy MF (http://www.easymf.com/)

Money Control has a ton of tools and articles. Do spend a little time on their web site. I use FireFox with the AdBlock Plus plugin to nuke the advertisements on their web site. As a result their pages load faster and I don't have to deal with irritating adverts flashing all over the page. Heaven! I love FireFox!

AMCs

Links to the AMC web sites. Good for Fund information etc. Do check what Value Research says about a fund before you buy.

Phew! 33 AMCs currently in India!

Building A Mutual Fund Portfolio - 1

2007-07-05T17:00:00.001+05:30

Much has been written about building a mutual fund portfolio. You can try Money Control, Rediff, Value Research, PersonalFn etc for tons of good articles on the subject. However, there is a common problem with all these articles. They give you a ton of funda but don't really tell you how to go about building a portfolio.

This post is the first of a series of posts I will do on the subject. In these we will look at the various factors involved and we will actually build a portfolio(s).

To start, we will assume the following:

Age: 35 years
Married with two kids.
Investable surplus of Rs. 12,000/- per month
Other issues like Insurance, Real Estate, PPF, Tax Planning etc already taken care of.

Investing for:

Retirement
Children's College, Higher Education & Marriage
Floating Fund for periodic large expenses (car, vacation etc)

Lets look at each investment target:

Retirement

Assuming a retirement age of 60, we have 25 years to go. This is a very long time! So we can have a pure equity (diversified) portfolio. More on this later.

Children's College & Higher Education

Assuming two children with say a difference of 5 years between them, we are looking at a time range of 10 & 15 years (say). Again a long enough time frame for a pure equity (diversified) portfolio. More on this later.

Floating Fund for Periodic Large Expenses

This one is trickier. Let us break it down a bit. Let us assume we will use this portfolio to build up a corpus over a fixed period and then empty it, starting again for the next block. Let us assume we will use blocks of 3 years each. Now 3 years is a short time frame but still adequately long enough to have a significant equity exposure. But we are definitely not talking about a 100% equity exposure here. Also, this would typically be our least priority among the three portfolios we want to setup.

Given the above we can settle for a 60 - 40 or even a 70 - 30 equity - debt distribution. This is easier said than done! We will have to do some homework for this one!

____________________________

Now lets us look at some concepts:

Risk

I have not spoken of "Risk" so far. Risk is a relative term. It varies from person to person. And risk is a perception rather than an quantifiable entity. That is, we cannot say something like "my risk appetite is 25%" or "my risk appetite is low / medium / high" because it does not make sense. What is low risk? No such thing exists!

So what are we talking about here? Risk to me is about calculation. Note that one of our key assumptions is about the quantum of money that is available for investment every month. If you are squeezing your finances to come up with this amount, then you are taking risk. If this amount is coming from your income after your regular expenses (household, tax saving, insurance, loan payments, financial buffer etc), then your risk is low. Low mind. There is still the risk of losing the money you are investing. But that does not put your family and lifestyle at immediate financial risk. Rather the risk is spread out over a longer period and hence more manageable.

Return

Okay. Now for the interesting part. And the dangerous part. One of the first things we need to understand when designing a portfolio is what kind of return we can generate. The euphoria of the last few years has people dreaming of "doubling their money in a little while". This is only a pipe dream. Pleasant to dwell on but a chimera nevertheless. It is very important that we understand the kind of returns we can expect from our portfolios.

Historically the BSE SENSEX has returned about 18% per year. This is an average value of course. There have been bad years and good years. However this 18% figure is good estimate of the kind of returns we could expect. But then "past performance is no guarantee..." etc etc. So for our purpose let us assume a return of 15% per annum.

Targets

Ah!. How much? Big question. No straight answers. All I will say at this time is that we need to have a target before we can proceed. For the time being let us throw some numbers out:

Retirement - 1 crore
Children's Fund - 15 lacs each, or 30 lacs together. Note different time frames! 5 year time difference. So a better target is 13 lacs for the first child and 17 lacs for the second.
Floating Fund - 2 lacs

Do these numbers make sense? Not at this time. They are just numbers. But we will go with them for the time being. Later I will revisit the topic of setting targets and show you how to do a good job of setting reasonable targets.

Last Words

So far I have only laid out some assumptions and touched upon three items, namely Risk, Return & Targets. I have made some statements about portfolio structure but have not elaborated further. I will come back to each of these topics later.

In the next post we will look at stitching these things together.

EMI Calculations

2007-07-05T14:05:00.000+05:30

Simplifying Personal Finance, one of my favorite blogs, has a very good post about calculating EMI. There is a follow up post about using MS Excel for the same calculation.

I have created a simple Excel sheet for this purpose. Just enter the loan details and the EMI figure will be calculated for you.

iPhone In The Nude

2007-07-02T23:36:00.001+05:30

AnandTech seems to be the first to take an iPhone apart. Go see for yourself before the Apple legal folks get to it.

Spiraling Electricity Bills @ Hyderabad, A.P., India

2007-07-01T15:37:00.001+05:30

For the past year or so I have seen my monthly electricity bill rise from about Rs. 300/- to about Rs. 1700/-. This increase has happened without a corresponding increase in the number of electrical appliances in the house. In fact, I have replaced all incandescent bulbs with CFL bulbs and the old fridge has been replaced with a new one. No other change in appliances & consumption patterns.

And yet my bill has increased by a factor of 5!

I was somehow not surprised when I read about other people at work having similar bill increases. It seems to be very common to have had one's bill doubled or tripled.

In my quest for answers I visited the local APTRANSCO sub station at Srinagar Colony, Hyderabad. There I met an official called Venkatesh. This person asked me about the number and nature of appliances I use at home and then finally directed me to another APTRANSCO employee called Jagadeesh. I called the number I was given and Jagadeesh came to take a look at the electric meter in our apartment complex. He pronounced it okay and told me that I should have an electrician take a look at the wiring in my flat. He also told me that he knew a good person and would bring him over.

Well, this electrician did come over today (July 1, 2007). Along with Jagadeesh. They poked around with the meter for a while. When I asked them to look at the wiring they had a whispered conversation among themselves and then informed me that they had a solution to my electrical woes:

"We will replace the meter with a older, rotary type meter, one with a plastic body. No body from TRANSCO will come to inspect. You should not tell anybody about this. The new meter will work 60 - 40. That is, it will suppress 40% of whatever bill you have. If somebody inquires, then just claim that this is the meter that has always been present. Cost Rs. 3000/-. Plus baksheesh for now, say about Rs. 200/-"

By now I had figured out that I was being conned. I ended up paying 150/- to these APTRANSCO employees to get rid of them, with the promise that I would call them tomorrow about the change of meter.

I have no intention of hacking my meter or changing it illegally. Now I am looking for ways to measure my electrical consumption independently of the APTRANSCO meter installed in my flat. Any ideas?

Sniglets - A

2007-06-30T22:47:00.001+05:30

ABANDABAG
(uh ban' da bag) n. The suitcase that keeps going around and around the luggage carousel.

ABRACADAVITY
(a bra ka dav' it ee) n. The unexplainable phenomenon of having a toothache disappear the moment you walk into the dentist's office.

ABSORBIMAX
The point at which a sponge starts spreading around liquid instead of soaking it up.

ABZOT
(ab' zaht) n. The device in a currency changer that determines whether a bill is too wrinkled or not.

A.C. ARIA
(ay cee ahr' ee' a) n. The dull hum of fluorescent lights.

ACELLOYELLOS
(a sel' oh yel' oz) n. People who speed through caution lights.

ACCIDUE
(ax' ih dew) n. Small pile of broken glass, chrome, and other debris that remains at the scene several months after an accident.

ACCOMOMAMMADATION
(a kom' o mam' uh day' shun) n. The inconspicuous manner in which a woman adjusts a fallen bra strap.

ACCORDIONATED
(ah kor' de on ay tid) adj. Being able to drive and refold a road map at the same time.

ADAM 69
(ad' um six tee nyn') n. Two cop cars parked in opposite directions exchanging information.

ADHOKUM
(ad' hok um) n. In commercials, the belief that because the actor is wearing a white lab coat, he must be an expert.

AEROBICROACHER
(ayr oh' bi kroach ur) n. A person who gradually gravitates toward another's space while exercising.

AEROBUCKS
(air oh' bux) n. The money you paid to join a health club that you stopped going to after the first month.

AEROMA
(ayr oh' ma) n. The odor emanating from an exercise room after an aerobics workout.

AEROPALMICS
(ayr o palm' iks) n. The study of wind resistance conducted by holding a cupped hand out the car window.

AETS
(ehtz) n. Greek symbols on water fountain handles.

AFFEINIC
(a feen' ik) n. The panic which overcomes you when you realize your coffee cup is empty, and the meeting just started.

AGE OF CLAUSABILITY
(ayj' uv klaw' za bil' ih tee) n. The point at which we stop believing in Santa.

AGONOSIS
(ag uh no' sis) n. The syndrome of tuning into "Wide World of Sports" every Saturday just to watch the skier rack himself.

AGREGENDA
(ag ruh jen' duh) n. Events you write in your appointment book but forget to attend, or just dread going to.

AIRCAPPED
(ayr' capt) v. To be temporarily crippled when the airline passenger in front of you drives his seat back into your knees.

AIRDIRT
(ayr' dirt) n. A hanging plant that's been ignored for three weeks or more.

AIREPT
(ayr' ept) n. Fear of wiping out an entire shelf of souvenirs with one's luggage in an airport gift shop.

AIREY CAREY
(air' ee kare' ee) n. The guilt felt after using the electric hand dryer in a public restroom because it keeps running long after your hands are dry.

AIR LASER
(ayr' lay zur) n. The stream of high-velocity air above your airplane seat that can be adjusted to: (a) sting your face, (b) sting your ear, (c) sting your hair.

AIR LOIN
(ayr' loyn) n. Unidentifiable serving of meat given as dinner on airplane flights.

AIRPLAUSE
(ayr plawz') n. Gratuitous ovation awarded a pilot on completion of a safe landing.

AIRPUNT
(ayr' punt) n. Any of a series of kicks that advances one's baggage toward the airport counter.

AIRSUPIAL
(ayr soop' ee al) n. On an airplane, the pouch in front of you that holds the airsickness bag and in-flight magazine.

ALCATRASH
(alk uh' trash) n. The garbage floating in the San Francisco Bay.

ALEXASPERATION
(al ex ass' pir ay shun) n. Forgetting to give the final "Jeopardy" answer in the form of a question.

ALFABETORATE
When looking up words in the dictionary, silently reciting the entire alphabet to find the letter you need.

ALFALFABET
(al fal' fuh bet) n. Backward letters used only on clubhouse doors.

ALFRED HITCHCOOKING
(al' fred hich' cooh king) v. Continuously stabbing at a block of frozen vegetables to make them cook faster.

ALKASLUDGE
(al' kuh sludj) n. The white powdery residue that remains in a glass after you drink one of those fizzing antacid medications.

ALL-TEMPA-CHOICE
(all temp' uh choice) n. Trying to decide whether to put a stranger's wet clothes in the dryer or to leave them in the washer in an empty laundromat.

ALPHAFLUB
(al' fuh flub) n. Any mismatched letter on a movie marquee (i.e., Fetal Attraction, Running Sacred).

ALPOGOALIE
(al po go' lee) n. Any dog smart enough to use its paw to pin down a dog dish.

ALPOLECTIC FIT
(al' po lek' tic fiht') n. Convulsive state of a dog upon seeing you arrive home in the afternoon.

ALPONIUM
(al po' nee um) n. (chemical symbol: Ap) Initial blast of odor upon opening a can of dog food.

ALPOPUCK
(al' po puk) n. Any empty dish pushed around the kitchen floor by a dog trying to get the last morsel.

ALPOSAPIEN
(al poe say' pee an) n. Dog that looks more human than canine.

ALTEATRAZ
(al tee' traz) n. The small leaves that manage to escape from tea bags.

ALTICHEWD
(al' ti chewd) n. The point during a flight when ninety percent of the passengers are yawning and contorting their jaws in hopes of regaining normal hearing.

ALTIPULP
(al' tih pulp) n. The few remaining magazines (Poultry Digest, Ultra Triathlete, etc.) you come across when you go to the rack for reading material while in flight.

ALUMINERD
(a loom' ih nurd) n. One who attempts to smash a beer or soda can with his foot, but who doesn't quite center the blow-thus sending it flying across the room.

AMAZINGRAZIN
(uh may' zin gray zin) n. The ability to cut a piece of cake with a little plastic fork on a flimsy paper plate while holding a big drink, a cute little napkin, and a cup of nuts.

AMBIPORTALOUS
(am bih port' ahl us) adj. Possessing the uncanny knack for approaching a set of double doors and always pushing the locked one.

AMBIVIGLANCE
(am biv' ih glance) n. The half-smile and semi-wave you give someone you think you know, but aren't really sure.

AMPLIFICATION
(am pli' fi cay' shun) n. The act of having the checker embarrass you in front of the entire supermarket by checking the price of a personal item over the loudspeaker (i.e., "Sam, how much is the Ex-Lax?")

ANACEPTION
(an a sep' shun) n. The body's ability to actually affect television reception by moving about the room.

ANAFONDICS
(an a fon' diks) n. Exercising to a workout album at 16 RPM.

ANAGATHA
Any mysterious item that appears on your desk.

ANANANANY
(an a na' na nee) n. The Inability to stop spelling the word "banana" once you've started.

ANCESTORY
(an ses' tor ee) n. Grandparent's theory that no matter how rotten your life is, they had it worse when they were your age.

ANCHORITY
(an chor' ih tee) n. A group's final, hard-fought decision on what toppings to order on a pizza.

ANDRE AGGASSEAT
(ahn' dray ag' ah seet) n. The really tall chair the tennis umpire sits in to get a bird's-eye view of the court.

ANTALIXIC
(ant a lik' sic) n. One who passes over licorice jellybeans.

ANTENNAEEEING
(an ten' ah ee' ing) n. When the hair on your arm touches the hair on someone else's arm.

ANTICIPARCELLATE
(an ti si par' sel ate) v. Waiting until the mailman is several houses down the street before picking up the mail, so as not to appear to anxious.

ANTICKED
(an' teeked) n. The feeling you get when you see something you used to own but threw away-which now goes for $90 at a flea market.

ANTSPANTSERGETIC
(ants pants ter jet' ik) n. A city jogger who feels compelled to stand in place and run furiously when he comes to a stop light.

ANXIETEE
(angs eye' it tee) n. A golfer's nervousness when teeing off on the first hole.

APPCRAMLICATION
(ap kram li kay' shun) v. Squeezing vital statistics (such as name and address) into the miniscule space provided on a form.

APPLAFLAMMAPHOBIA
(ap la flam uh fo' bee uh) n. Fear that upon departing for vacation, you've left an appliance on that will burn the house to the ground.

AQUABLOCKS
(ah' kwa blox) n. Ice cubes that aren't quite "done" but that you use anyway because you don't have time for them to fully solidify.

AQUACOUSTICS
(ak wa koo' stiks) n. Sound waves in the bathroom that enable anyone to sing on key.

AQUADEXTROUS
(ak wa deks' trus) adj. Possessing the ability to turn the bathtub faucet on and off with your toes.

AQUAGORY
(ahk' wa gore ee) n. The horror stories you hear from mothers who tell you not to swim after you've eaten.

AQUAIT
(ah' kwayt) n. The time allotted at the drinking fountain for the warm or "old" water to flow before you can drink the cold or "new" water.

AQUALIBRIUM
(ak wa lib' re um) n. The point where the stream of drinking fountain water is at its perfect height, thus relieving the drinker from (a) having to suck the nozzle, or (b) squirting himself in the eye.

AQUAMORTIS
(ak wa mor' tis) v. Continuing to water a plant weeks after it has died.

AQUELLO
(ah kwel' oh) n. The brilliant yellow that distinguishes all waterproof materials.

ARACHNIDIOT
(ar ak ni' di ot) n. A person, who, having wandered into an "invisible" spider web begins gyrating and flailing about wildly.

ARG (AUDIO RETINAL GYRATION)
(ay ahr gee) v. To move the head in a circular fashion while attempting to read a rotating record label.

ARENASNEAK
Embarrassment experienced after moving to a more expensive seat at the theatre or a sporting event, and getting caught.

ARPING
(ar' ping) v. The act of rotating one's head in an effort to read a record label.

ARROGAMATICS
(aer oh' guh mat' iks) n. Bevy of celebrities who don their own "personal scent" and then name it something overblown and frivolous.

ARROWNEOUS
(ayr ow' nee us) adj. The quality of one who drives against the arrow in a parking lot.

ASCOT DU JOUR
(ass' kot da jhur') n. The businessman who tucks his designer tie between the buttons on his shirt during lunch, thus preventing soilage.

ASHTRACTION
(ash track' shun) n. The point at which you stop paying attention to what a person is saying and start wandering just how much longer the ash at the end of his cigarette is going to grow before it falls into his lap.

ASPHILATION
(as fil' ay shun) n. The feeling of suspense experienced when viewing a cigarette with a long ash that's ready to fall off.

ASPIRBAYERPERPAIRPERFECTION
(as pur bayr' pur payr' pur fek' shun) n. The ability to always extract exactly two headache tablets from the bottle.

ASPITRON
(ah' spit ron) n. The tiny brain in an aspirin that tells it exactly what part of the afflicted body to go to.

ASTEREXASPER
(as tuhr eggs as' pur) n. An asterisk with no corresponding footnote.

ATACHAHHHHH CASE
(ah ta chahhhh' kays) n. A spilled briefcase.

ATE T & T
(ate tee' un tee') n. The phone-booth phenomenon that occurs when the one page you need in the phone book is missing.

ATHELESOTERICS
(ath uh less oh ter' iks) n. The obscure sports no one really participates in except during the Olympics-skiing and shooting, synchronized swimming, and the luge.

ATTACHMINTS
(at tatch' mintz) n. Little heart-shaped Valentine candies that say "I Love You," "Be Mine," and "I'm Yours."

ATTRINYL
(a try' nil) n. (chemical symbol: At) A black, bulletproof, totally inflexible type of plastic, used primarily in covers of pay phone directories.

AUDIOSIS
(odd ee oh' sis) v. Hearing a sound you don't notice until it stops, e.g., the furnace or refrigerator shutting off.

AULD LANG DANG
(old lang dang') v. To be with the wrong person when the clock strikes midnight on New Year's Eve.

AULDLANXIETY
(old lang zi' et ee) n. Experience of waking up on New Year's Day and wondering how much of a fool you made of yourself.

AUTOAUTHORATION
(ot' to auth' or ay' shun) n. Any exasperating attempt made through a car window to ask the driver in the next lane if you can get in front of him.

AUTOBLIVIAN
The unfamiliar twenty-mile stretch you drive hoping to see a recognizable building to confirm you're not really lost.

AUTOBONDING
(aw' toh' bond ing) v. While on the road, the compulsion to wave at the person next to you because they're driving the exact same model car.

AUTOCHONDRIAC
(aht' oh kon' dree ak) n. The knowledge that at any moment you'll have to take your car in for a major repair, even though you just got it back from the mechanic.

AUTOCRYPTIC
(ah' toe krip' tik) n. Personalized license plates that require careful scrutiny to decipher. (These are particularly distracting to the driver behind the vehicle displaying them.

AUTOLAUNCHE
(ah' to launch) n. When everything falls out of the glove compartment as you open it.

AUTONESIA
(ah toe nee' zha) v. To forget where you parked your car.

AUTOPIA
(ah tow' pee uh) n. The secret and hopefully safe place valet parkers take your car-and where you would have parked on your own had you known where it was.

AUTORATING
(aw' to ray' ting) v. Talking to your car on a cold, wintry day, begging it to start.

AUTOVENGE
The satisfaction of seeing the driver weaved in and out of traffic arrive behind you at the next light.

AVANT GARB
(ah' vant garb') n. The formerly fashionable, but now useless, clothing that is hard to part with (i.e., bell-bottoms, love beads, disco shoes).

AVISTIFIED
(ay viss' ti fyed) n. Bewilderment experienced when the valet parker asks you for a description of your car, and you can't answer because it's a rental.

AVIWASTE
(ay' vih waste) n. The white lines remaining in the sky long after an airplane has disappeared.

AWSLICE
(aww' slice) n. The first slice of a wedding cake. The one which ruins the design and causes everyone to sigh.

AZUGOS
(as' you goes) n. Items to be carried upstairs by the next ascending person.

Sniglets!

2007-06-30T22:45:00.001+05:30

I love Sniglets. I met my first Sniglet when I was in school. It was the following:

ANANANANY
(an a na' na nee) n. The Inability to stop spelling the word "banana" once you've started.

I fell in love! From that day I have collected Sniglets.

You ave guessed right. A Sniglet is a word that does not appear in the dictionary but should.

I will start posting from my collection on a regular basis. Do check back.

Blogger - Archive Calendar

2007-06-30T12:55:00.001+05:30

Thanks to Phydeaux3 I have added a new Archive Calendar to the sidebar of this blog. Complete instruction's on Phydeaux3's blog.

Phydeaux3, you rock!

New Personal Finance / Investing Series

2007-06-30T12:44:00.001+05:30

I am planning to write about personal finance & investing in India. The focus will be on Indian Mutual Funds, Insurance and other topics of interest.

Stay tuned.

Google Gadgets On My Blog!

2007-06-30T10:58:00.001+05:30

I have managed to change my blog template yet again :-)

This round of experiments were in trying to add Google Gadgets to the blog's sidebar. I have added a Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Index tracker and a gadget showing the weather here in Hyderabad.

To add a Google Gadget you need to do the following:

Find a gadget on the Google Gadget showcase.
Click the "Add to your webpage" button under the gadget.
This takes you to the gadget configuration page. Change whatever parameters you wish to personalize and click the "Get the code" button.
Copy the HTML code generated into a text editor.
Open your Blogger Template for editing in the "Page Elements" tab.
Before you proceed any further make sure you have a backup of your template by using the "Download Full Template" feature.
Add a new Page element of type HTML / JavaScript. Paste the HTML code obtained in step 4 into the new element.
Modify position of the new page element and save your changes.
Refresh the blog to see your new Google Gadget!

Enjoy!

Islamic Atrocities Against Innocent Hindus - 14 Year Old Child Burnt Alive

2007-06-30T10:15:00.001+05:30

Samrat Mondal, a 14 year old class 8 student lives with his family in a village in the 24 Parganas (South) district of West Bengal. On the evening of May 24, 2007, he was cornered by a gang of 20 muslims lead by a local muslim criminal and burnt alive.

While other muslims stood by and laughed.

Samrat is a Hindu. His family fled muslim atrocities in Bangladesh and now live in India, a Hindu majority nation and the birthplace of Hinduism.

The police have not done anything. Yet. And somehow I don't think they will take any action. The Communist parties of West Bengal are all pro muslim. As is the Congress that runs the central government in New Delhi.

So what has India given Samrat and his family? A nation that they fled to. A Nation that they hoped would protect and nurture them.

Samrat is the latest victim of the divide and rule politics that our politicians learnt from the british. He will bear these scars for life.

I request everybody who reads this to write about it. Don't let the world forget Samrat. It is the least we Indians can do for him.

Battery Operated Laptop Light

2007-06-21T12:11:00.000+05:30

Sometimes I need to work late and I prefer to curl up in bed with the laptop rather than sit in the study. For one, the bedroom is much cooler and infinitely more comfortable. The only problem is lighting. It is too dark to see the keyboard and the screen glare hurts the eye.

I solved these problems recently! Found this neat little battery powered light with a flexible cord that can be clamped to the side of the screen such that the light shines on the keyboard. It is bright enough to illuminate the keyboard without effecting the screen.

The little thingy takes 3 button cells which are typically Rs 2/- each. I have been using the light for well over 3 weeks now without having to replace the original batteries. That is about 2 hrs daily for about 15 days. I bought the light at Begum Bazar in Hyderabad.

Check out some action shots on my photo blog (taken with a Nokia 6600 camera phone).

(Posted via Thinga Web)

Radio City 106.4 FM - Hyderabad

2007-06-20T12:10:00.000+05:30

Sandip wrote about Radio City 106.4 FM in Hyderabad. After reading his post I Googled for Radio City using a number of different search patters but only found news articles about the launch of the channel!

These guys don't have a web site???

(Posted via Thinga Web)

Query About Flats For Sale

2007-06-19T11:53:00.001+05:30

This email was sent to a local mailing list (Hyderabad, India):

Subj: Any Info regarding Flats for Sale in Nizampet Road - Urgent

Hi All,

I am willing to buy one flat in Nizampet Road. If anybody knows any infor regarding the same. Preferably, any of our colleagues have taken any flat in the constructing apartment.

Please share the details - It is bit urgent

--
Thanks & Regards

<Name Suppressed>

What can I say? Somebody please help this poor chap find a flat in the "constructing apartment". Do help if you can. He is willing to buy a flat. No force required!

:-)

Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows - Fan Fiction

2007-06-19T11:10:00.001+05:30

Last week I found two copies of Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows on the net. One of them had (Leaked) as part of the file name. Knowing the kind of security Rowling and her publishers have around each new release, I was fairly sure that these were examples of Fan Fiction that have appeared on the net every now and then. I was curious enough to download both and transfer them to my mobile phone (Symbian OS with Handy Book reader).

The first one turned out to be an incomplete copy. The last 2 - 3 chapters are missing. I didn't realize this till I reached the end because I never read the end first :-) Anyway, I enjoyed reading the book, whatever was there of it.

I started the second book yesterday and it is better than the first one. Still not up to Rowling's standards but very good nevertheless.

I have uploaded copies of the two books to my web site.

Neither of the copies has any author information (obviously since they are trying to pass it off as a leaked copy).

This is the first time I am trying Fan Fiction and I must say I am enjoying myself. The style is close enough to the original to leave the reader guessing. At the same time there are differences from Rowling's style that give the game away.

In parting I must say that whoever wrote these has done their homework. There are a few mistakes that Potter fans will immediately find but the level of detail shows how much effort has gone into these productions.

Lets see what Rowling has for us. I, like most Potter fans, am getting rather tired of looking at the calendar everyday :-)

Fast File Copy in Windows

2007-06-18T15:18:00.001+05:30

Stumbled across this neat little software called TeraCopy that integrates with Windows Explorer and manages file copy between folder / drives. It is a 500 Kb download that works like a charm. It uses an internal, dynamic buffer to speed up file copies. Have to install it at home!

Google Moms

2007-06-18T13:56:00.001+05:30

I came across this Google page today. It is dedicated to Google Moms.

Cute...

Windows Live Writer - From Work

2007-06-18T13:47:00.001+05:30

I am writing this from work. Lets see how well Live Writer works from behind the firewall.

Update:

It works! Great.

Windows Live Writer

2007-06-16T14:03:00.001+05:30

I downloaded and installed Windows Live Writer last night. This is the first post using Live Writer. Lets see how this works.

I have tried using other offline Blog post editors, without much success. Most of them have nice features but almost all of them cannot handle a proxy server. As a result I cannot use them at work. Sad.

If this works for me then I will move to Live Writer completely. Have to figure out all the features though. Particularly how images are handled as I do a far amount of photo blogging.

Oriental Bank Of Commerce - Web Site Down, Again!

2007-05-30T11:08:00.000+05:30

The web site of Oriental Bank Of Commerce is down again! Some time ago they had exceeded their band width and their service provider had shut down the site. This morning I am receiving a 502 error!

When will these stupid banks realize that their web site is as important as their branches?

Another Self Styled Personal Finance Guru & His Crap!

2007-05-29T23:34:00.000+05:30

Yet another crappy Rediff.com article "Unable to decide which mutual fund to invest in?". This one is the transcript of a chat session with a so called personal finance guru (T Srikanth Bhagavat).

You have to read the damn thing to understand what I am talking about here. Go do it! There are no better ways to waste your time.