I was in Bangalore the other day, there I saw a different type of Aldrop used to lock the main gate in one of the house - don't ask me why I noticed it!.

Normally the Aldrops (which are bolt latches with a provision for putting a padlock) will be vertical and you lift the handle and move it sideways (mostly right hand side to open) with the padlock in vertical orientation. This one that I saw was oriented differently - you lifted the latch up and down vertically with the padlock in horizontal (lying down) position. Thinking hard with my little brain I couldn't figure out the advantage of this model - please post in the comments if you know the advantage.

While writing this post I had to find out the name of this device, I was wondering whether to call it Gate Latch or Bolt Latch or Gate Bolt. After few searches I found an item in Amazon with the name "Aldrop", then after few more searches confirmed that this is how it is called in India.

I had a good laugh now by watching this video clip of a recent CSI episode that carried a dialog "create a GUI Interface in Visual Basic to track the IP address". I love "Visual Basic" and it was good to hear it getting prime time media attention!

If you are from India (or Asia) and you happen to visit USA, in the first few days itself you are likely to notice the amount of food (and other stuffs) that is wasted here in this country. For example, today I was in a nearby Safeway (Grocery store) and I couldn't find a small (100 Grams) pack of Potato Chips. Most of the time, it is because it is cheaper to buy in bulk, much more than what you need and throw the rest. This is encouraged by sellers, you only get everything in really big packs - whether it is socks, handkerchiefs, envelopes, pens or Coffee or Popcorn. In my many visits over last one decade to this nice country this is one thing I wish they can do without. The good thing is that in recent years there is a very slow but sure awareness growing about this, especially due to environmental concerns.

Having said the above, it is also in this country that you see many grass root movements to encourage reuse, donations, etc. It does exist, but it has to expand to general population in large. I was impressed to see few years back Used Clothes Donation Bins (like the ones you see below) in many apartment complexes and malls. They normally place these strategically near to garbage dumps so that even at the last minute before throwing people are reminded to donate and make a difference to the life of a poor. If you are India - you can donate to a near by orphanage like Udhavum Karangal and the likes, all of them accept wholeheartedly any donations.

When posting this, I remembered my grandfather's saying "Don't buy anything just because it is being sold cheap" (or) in other words "buy only what you need when you need it"

Yahoo! has released an exclusive Women portal called Shine. You might be wondering why I am writing about a Women site!. It is to highlight a small innovation they have done in the site. Most of the times you use a newly released application or a website you may not be aware of all the features. As a result you will end up using only 20% of the features. To overcome this, Yahoo! in Shine has come up with a good idea of showing "help balloons" the first time. The balloons auto-scroll to various sections below and introduce you (this negates the complexity associated of scrolling to novice users). To top it, they don't show it (by remembering with a cookie I suppose) the next time and irritate you. Check out the screen shots and judge for yourselves.

Yahoo! seems to be working overtime to complete as much as they can before the (almost) inevitable takeover from Microsoft. This week they released the first meaningful (and hence useful) map service for India. Earlier none of the three (Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!) had any useful data on India for maps. I read in blogosphere that Google was active in data collection by sponsoring with mapping instruments and paying volunteers for plotting Indian cities. That's about it. Now Yahoo! Maps for India seems to have beaten the other two by significant points. Go check it out.

I was impressed by Yahoo! maps features like Auto Fare, Walk the Route and above all "Vernacular" languages. I got a beautiful and correct directions in "Tamil" from our Habibullah Road office to Lakshmi Colony office in Chennai.

The first motorized vehicle I learned driving (after learning Bicycle) was my father's Bajaj Scooter with Gear. This was a Vespa style scooter with engine on one side and gears on the left hand steering bar. The trick to learn in riding one of these is that you should keep only your left feet on ground whenever you are stopping as the right feet is needed all the time near the brake (the brake is near right feet). This should have been 15 years before and I was driving it for just few years before I moved to other vehicles. This is one of the most dangerous two wheelers on the planet, as even in medium speeds it is impossible to control it from skidding especially because of the engine (and hence the weight) on one side.

So why I am writing about this here?. I became nostalgic about this today, when I rode my Uncle's scooter (it was the same Bajaj Chetak model that my father had) for a short distance from my home to a restaurant to have my breakfast. I was left marvelling at how our human brain works - for almost 10 years I have never rode a geared scooter (for that matter hardly I drive a two wheeler nowadays) and when I got on to one today it was easy. Instantly I remembered how to operate one and I was up and running. If only computers and software applications worked like this (human being) we all would be better off...

My wife keeps complaining that I am not creative in my gifts to her. So for our wedding anniversary last November I wanted to gift her something out of the world. What more can be more befitting than few "Acres" of land in Moon as a gift.

Few weeks back I read in Ananda Vikatan magazine about sites in the Internet for you to buy lands in the moon. So I went to one of the sites LunarRepublic referred in the article. The site is supposed to be run by a Society based in USA which aims to promote moon exploration and space science. The society is not owned or sponsored by any government so its legality is definitely in doubt. According to a UN resolution, no nation or individual has rights over moon so technically speaking your claim over land in moon may not be valid in future. All said, I found the idea interesting and the idea certainly novel for a gift, so I went ahead and bought two "Acres" of land in Moon in an area called as Bay Of Rainbows (Sinus Iridium) at Rs.2940 (~ USD 32/Acre) in my wife's name.  Today I got the certificate from USA brought from there by my co-worker coming to India.

I am going to give this to my wife in the evening and I am keeping my fingers crossed as to whether she will feel happy for this gift (or) I am going to get it royally from her for wasting Rs.2940 on something close to being a rip off

Registered claim of land in moon

Satellite image of the land I bought in moon

Anyways, the certificate (shown above) and the satellite image make me feel I got my worth for the money I paid!

Update: When I gave it to my wife, it was more of an anti-climax. The response from her was neutral & cold. I wish I had used the money on some "worldly" items.

As of last week (Pongal week) this blog completed its four years and into its fifth year - unbelievable to see me having patience to do the posts. What is even more surprising for me is the number of pageviews I am getting for the blog. Though the time spent and bounce rates are below average, I am glad that for a personal log getting 6800 pageviews per month.

Every Indian Engineer was made to feel proud yesterday. The event was unveiling of Tata Motors dream project the world's first Rs.1 Lakh (USD 2500) car - Tata Nano. When first talked about 4 years by Mr.Ratan Tata noone believed it to be possible that too by an Indian company. Thanks to the ingenuity and hard work of Indian Engineers it was made possible and demonstrated yesterday. From being an under-dog in the world's automobile scene, India overnight has graduated itself to the premium club of the GMs & Toyotas. With this Tata's have made themselves more than qualified to be the future owners of Jaquar & Land Rover.

I found it heartening to see the congratulatory message from Anand Mahindra, managing director for Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors’ primary competitor “I think it’s a moment of history and I’m delighted an Indian company is leading the way”

I came across this PDF from Microsoft Auto that talks about how a new Microsoft technology developed in partnership with Auto majors will help drivers manage and make voice requests to make a call, select and listen to music and more. Interestingly the technology is supposed to work with all major mobile devices (including Non Windows Phones), Zune, IPod and more. I hope it lives to the promise.

Finally, as always the availability is currently limited to USA.

For 17 years or so, Bill Gates has done the keynote at CES and this year is claimed to be his last year. At the show yesterday they had shown a funny (imaginative) video of last day of Bill Gates at work in Microsoft. You can have a Good Laugh, check it out. 

Bill Gates Last Day CES Clip

Over the few years our team size in Vishwak has grown from less than 50 to over 150 now. This means as the Chairman of the organization I don't get to meet every team member individually, have a chat with them and get to know them better. So few months we experimented with a program titled "Coffee with Venkat", obviously inspired by the TV talk show by a similar name. This is a bi-monthly event normally held on the first & Third Saturday's of a month. A few randomly selected team members spend an hour over coffee to have an informal chat with me. Only one condition - no work related topics. I have done over half-a-dozen of this programs so far, and mostly the topics they choose to talk are around their aspirations, ambitions, school/college days and future plans. Every time after the program I feel extremely energized and inspired. I highly recommend this to every business or organization heads. 

This is a complete time pass post with no serious value , anyway here it is.

My mother keeps telling us all the time to close with lids non-empty bowls. Last night in our bathroom we had left a bowl with Ginger Oil left overnight without covering. In the morning when brushing I saw something suspicious - a cockroach dead and it was almost indistinguishable from the herbs in the oil, we could easily have mistakenly used it.

Today I saw in The Hindu/Business Line newspaper an advertisement from Emirates Airlines about their new route from India to Toronto. It talked about Toronto having the world's longest Road - Yonge Street at 1900Kms. I was surprised on this for two reasons - 1) I thought the longest road will be in Russia just like the longest train track which is the Trans-Sibera rail which runs for 10,000Kms, 2) How come a city have 1900kms of one road, no city can have a diameter of more than a hundred kilometres, so this road had to be running across the country and I thought the longest road will be US I101 which runs from Canada to Mexico - some of the stretches of this which I have been to in San Diego county happen to be beautiful pacific coastline drives.   

When I searched in Wikipedia I learned that Yonge street was called as the longest road way back in 1998 when people wrongly attributed it to be the same as Highway 11. Currently as per Guiness Book of Records the world longest road is Pan-America Highway. Pan-Am Hwy is a network of roads nearly 48,000 kilometres in total length. Except for an 87 kilometre rainforest gap, the road links 15 countries in mainland of South and North Americas.

I am here in LA with my team for the Digital Hollywood 2007 Fall event happening at Hollywood & Highlands (which is where the Oscar Awards famous Kodak theatre is). As we went up and down the floors between the conference floor and the exhibit floor I noticed this big piano complete with sitting stool hanging in air above 5 floors. What a creative use for a old piano!. Click on the photos above for a larger view.

Just like every other year, we had a wonderful Golu (Display of Dolls and Idols) festival celebrated in our house this year. Instead of keeping it in Steps fashion this time we had a linear display.

Navarathri Golu 2007

This month (Sep '07) has been double lucky for Indian Sports. Last week Indian Cricket team won the world cup for Twenty:20 championship in South Africa. Today Viswanathan Anand has become the new World Chess Champion. The authorities should use this opportunity to give a sustained improvement to Indian Sports.

After the debacle of Indian team in ODI world cup, the media wanted desperately some win, they have got this big bonanza and making the best use of it. Too much hype is going around, which has the risk of making the team over confidence in subsequent matches.

One of my good friends is a doctor. Few years back when we were chatting he was talking about how Opposing Fingers (a.k.a Thumb) are very important to us humans. He went on to give a lecture on how Thumb as the only finger opposing the other 4 fingers helped apes/human ancestors in using Tools for hunting and eventually to invent Fire/Wheel, etc. I hardly gave this any thought, until few days back. Reason?.

An Infection few days back in my right hand thumb possibly through a cut or piercing I am not sure how. My thumb is swollen and entire right hand is numb and painful. My Doctor has assured I should be fine in next few days, but till then it is painful. This episode made me remember my friends comment and what little I can do with my right hand without using my thumb. For example, I can drive my car with my left hand, but how do I turn the ignition key without using Right Thumb?.

Uninteresting update (22/Aug/2007): After 3 painful surgeries to cut the infection(s), drain the puss and several tiring dressings - my thumb is healing. It should take another week or so for the thumb to be fully functional.

For the last 3 weeks, every Wednesday I had to go through this ordeal of a Dentist Appointment. Thank God, with yesterday I am done. I don't know what it is with Dentist (like any other Doctor they are also in a Noble profession), but majority of the people - Kids and Grown-ups dislike going to a Dentist. In the 3 hours of time that I was staring at the roof with my mouth wide open while the doctor filled my cavities I came up with this thought-provoking list of why we might be disliking Dentists (List is in no particular order):

• The pain while surgeon is operating, especially the drilling
• The thought of keep your mouth opened for long period
• The discomfort of so many instruments inside your mouth
• The fear that the dentist will pull off your teeth
• The idea that you will be told not to eat sweets/ice cream hence forth
• You are awake and the fact you have lost control over your body
• You can't cry or shout for help

In India, everyone likes to think the rich culture and close-knit families gives people the psychological cover to handle modern day stresses. This is believed to shield Indian (and Asians) societies from growing menaces of Gun shooting in schools, Sexual Harassment of kids, etc. which have now become repeated occurrences in the western world. Critics have said that, in this connected world no society can completely protect itself from these menaces - and in India though Sexual harassment of kids happen they go unreported due to community fears and pressures.

Recently (about a week or so back) I learned the news of a shocking incident that happened in a Chennai School, which was covered up and went unreported in any main stream media. The school is one of the popular private English schools in the city and I came to know about it through few of the parents who have their kids studying in the school and who were called for a meeting on this. The incident was about a school support staff (watchman or someone) had taken few girls (studying 4th or 5th standard) into a room, locked it and tried to misbehave with them sexually. Reportedly he didn't succeed much as the kids shouted and they were rescued subsequently. What was shocking was the attempt the school made to cover the incident up, they didn't handover the culprit to police and the school board's reluctance to even dismiss the culprit (he was eventually fired after pressure from parents).

As a parent this is a shocking news. Parents have been recommended by experts to teach school going girl children and make them aware to the extend possible (of course you can't make a 8 year old aware of sexual advances) of not going when strangers / adult males call them unwarranted.

Update 9/July/2007: After I posted this story yesterday I was pointed to the Deccan Chronicle (Chennai Edition) 8/July/2007 issue which has carried this same news.

In every Indian Marriage (especially Tamil Marriages) in the evening there is an event called "Reception" where you have friends and relatives gathering and wishing the newly wed. In the event you have something named appropriately as "Loud Music" which is a performance by a local orchestra singing popular film songs, wishing the newly wed and to entertain the audience - so that there is festivity in the air.

A decade or so back, it used to be primarily classical / carnatic music that will be played which makes it enjoyable especialy by the elders, but nowadays it is only Film Music and "Kutthu" songs. With the advent of portable electronics and powerful speakers, the orchestra sets the sound volume to its maximum. On top of it, imagine these playing in indoors in a closed atmosphere - you have a perfect recipe for a headache. With nuclear families and with people having less time to meet friends/relatives face to face, marriages are the only occassion to meet and catch up on happenings. But songs at these sounds levels ensures no one hears anything, even the person next to him. The whole atmosphere becomes no more enjoyable, but leaves you irritated. 

I think the only reason the orchestra's do this is so that they can get away with any person pretending to be a singer - because at these levels the instruments shadow completely the human voice.  In my mariage (2001), we were lucky to have one of the popular carnatic singers Mrs.Nithyashree singing - and we enjoy hearing the CD even today. I am not saying everyone should have only classical music, but all I am saying is whatever music you have please have it set to low-medium decibel levels.

In Western countries this may not be a news item, but in a country like India where infrastructure works are known to take years due to Democratic party politics, Bureaucracy, Lack of planning, Corruption this is indeed news item worth being blogged. I was pleasantly surprised to hear this news. Last week in Srirangam (my mother's home town) Southern Railways have in 5 Hours (yes you read it correct) have completed a sewage work by removing and fixing the tracks. This rail line is a busy one and it was commendable they finished the work with minimum disruption to traffic.

"The work started at around 10 a.m. Around 150 labourers were engaged in the exercise. A total of 24 pre-cast concrete box segments, each weighing 18 metric tonnes, were placed one by one after removing the earth up to 3.8 m below the formation to a total length of about 40 metres"

Today is Father's Day, I was travelling last one week so couldn't buy a gift for my Dad. So today morning I went to this online e-greeting card site that gives a variety of customizable, printable ecards and then printed a wonderful card with my parents photo. I gave this to my "Dad".

After that, I was filling up several copies (Mr.Sam Pitroda was right 100% we still have this outdated process) of address and personal details in my son's LKG Diary and doing labels for his books. When I did the labels, I remembered my school days and my Dad getting me pre-printed labels with my name in them. How lucky I am to get a Dad like that!

(Pre-Printed Labels for my school books)

Thanks Dad, you have been the greatest dad - giving me the believe in my abilities, freedom to fly, I promise to do the same to my son.

I bought a new car - Honda City GXi early April this year. We all know Honda to be the best car makers' in the worldwide, Yes, the car is fabulous to drive but their service is pathetic & cold.

After the first month, when I left it for the first service, in the bright sunlight of Chennai I noticed for the first time a colour variance (can you believe this in a Honda car) of one of the rear-doors from rest of the vehicle. On complaining this to the dealer (Sundaram Motor, Chennai) they accused me of painting it with a 3rd party - how attrocious. Later when I complaint on how they can accuse like this, the manager in Sundaram said that is their normal procedure to grill down customer before accepting a warranty problem - what a great customer service.

Coming back to the story, after several faxes to Sundaram, Honda (which no one bothered or acknowledged) they accepted the manufacturing defect. Then after repeated complaints to Honda One2One I got my car back nearly after three weeks of being in service. It took them 3 weeks to do it, since they wanted to find what went wrong in their supply chain up to Japan keeping my car in their service. They re-painted (have you ever heard about a new Honda Car getting painted) that side of doors and gave it back to me. Sundaram or Honda never called me once during the whole episode - not even a courtesy "Sorry". Even after I repeatedly demanded to One2One that I needed an explanation from Honda on why this happened, no one called me back. It seems they have a policy in One2One that customer can only talk to them, they will reply only through dealers - and they call the program One2One.

Sundaram after all my screaming promised to give one year of extended warranty free (Rs.8500 value) in 2 days - even after 3 weeks now, no sign of it. 

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