Exploring thyself...

Stepper Motor based Robocar’s design and control through Parallel Port for precise mobility

2017-06-25T23:44:00.000+05:30

Karna, Amit. (2017). Stepper Motor based Robocar’s design and control through Parallel Port for precise mobility. 10.13140/RG.2.2.10779.67360.

Abstract—Motion Control, in electronic terms, means to accurately control the movement of an object. This paper proposes simple mathematical model so as to achieve precise angle turns, accurate forward and backward movements, etc. for do-it-yourself (DIY) robots. In this paper, the process of creating hardware objects from object oriented software descriptions is discussed. Hardware components have been encapsulated as an object and the software interacts with the mobile robot through the standard parallel port (SPP). The various theoretical and practical experiments did lead to achieve higher degree of accuracy in mobile robots by simplifying the problem in software with an aptly selected hardware.

Keywords – mobile robot, stepper motor, parallel port, DIY

Link to Paper

Download old PPT with similarity to this paper

जटिल इलेक्ट्रॉनिक्स से समाबिष्ट प्रोडक्ट

2017-04-28T00:13:00.000+05:30

Link

Managed hybrid power supply system for telecom equipment

2016-11-23T10:21:00.000+05:30

D. Sarmah, A. K. Karna and B. Sridharan, "Managed hybrid power supply system for telecom equipment," 2016 IEEE International Conference on Renewable Energy Research and Applications (ICRERA), Birmingham, 2016, pp. 595-598.
doi: 10.1109/ICRERA.2016.7884404
keywords: {hybrid power systems;maximum power point trackers;power generation scheduling;HTTP browser;MPPT algorithm;SNMP;carbon emission;diesel generator;grid electricity;grid power scheduled outage;hybrid power supply system;hypertext transfer protocol;maximum power point tracking;operational expenditure;renewable energy;simple network management protocol;solar panel;solar power availability;telecom equipment;Charge controller;MPPT;SMPS;SNMP;Solar;managed power supply},
URL: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=7884404&isnumber=7884346

Gyansetu — A boon to the rural mass

2016-10-22T10:14:00.000+05:30

D. Sarmah, B. Sridharan and A. K. Karna, "Gyansetu — A boon to the rural mass," 2016 International Conference on Information and Communication Technology Convergence (ICTC), Jeju, 2016, pp. 406-410.
doi: 10.1109/ICTC.2016.7763507
keywords: {Internet;graphical user interfaces;handicapped aids;human factors;information retrieval;interactive systems;linguistics;natural language interfaces;Gyansetu;Internet;audio announcement;computer illiteracy;differently abled users;digitally untrained users;image-driven framework;information access;interactive GUI;knowledge bridge;multilingual support;rural mass;Computers;Graphical user interfaces;Hardware;Internet;Navigation;Servers;Software;GUI;Gyansetu;ICT;NOFN;platform;rural mass;specialized hardware},
URL: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=7763507&isnumber=7763035

A note on relationship - "Be respectful of differences without being different"

2015-10-22T16:07:00.001+05:30

Quite many things has changed from the decades of our parents to ours and so will to be our heirs. Things which were true and culture one time becomes myth and absurd at later times. No thoughts come, new life styles, clear realities and many more. Well what I have written below would match to few and be not everyone, after all, its a learning and suggestions with experience. Few things are my own experience while others are as I understood seeing around.

People living in urban and sub-urban areas thought and day-to-day tasks are total mismatch with the rural. The values of the families in the same geographical location too never match. Leave apart, within a family, the thought process of the sub-family to sub-family match rarely. Yes, we are all human beings with a unique DNA and are supposed to have our own individuality. Yes, we inherit from our parents, our social being, culture and things like that.

I've always heard the two lines most often:

1. Girls life totally change post marriage

2. Boys loose their freedom post marriage

Remember, both guy and girl have voluntarily chosen each other. Well, these two statements are true in their own senses but it can be understood by person who actually experience it. Guys often makes jokes of wives being their monkey-man and handling them. women often make complaints of their in-laws. These are the two other statements which are derivatives of the above two statements. If you ask me how can it be derivative, I don't have direct answer to it.

It's the duty of the guy to support emotionally, protect and defend his wife. At the same time, he should maintain a balance between his responsibility, words and action towards his family as well. Now, this is not an easy job. You have been brought up by your parents and you owe everything to them. You have had maintained relationship with your friends and relatives, talking to them, meeting them, sharing events, etc etc. You loved adventure, being careless, being irresponsible, shouting at family, etc. All these were normal and tolerable until you got married.

Well, all these things change post marriage. You have someone to love you. Someone special and the only person who will stand next to you until your life. Now, your time gets divided. She comes to you leaving her home, her birth memories, her parents, her siblings, her relatives, her place, everything. It's a new life for her and the connection is thru her husband to one and all. It's the husband and her in-laws duty to make her comfortable to the new life with new peoples. Now, the emotions and well beings of the wife depend totally on the husband's behavior and support first and foremost. Both husband and wife would have shared their differences before marriage and everything seemed okay and acceptable. But, after marriage when you actually face all these differences it's very delicate thing to maintain the balance and keep respect for differences while without being different (though you are changed now). Similarly, the in-laws should stop comparing and see the good sides and accept them rather than making their lives in discontent.

Our orthodox society make her say and feel that her home where she was grown up, where she learnt everything, where everyone loves and cares for her has to forget her home and start telling the husband's home as her own. And this sudden change is expected to happen instantly! Now the new family where people start pointing to her for the differences she has, for the things she doesn't know or doesn't know properly. If there's someone in the new family to appreciate her for the new good culture and things that has been brought the life would be easy. But it's rare. Moreover, the husband who if takes side of wife when the wife is right, still his words are taken otherwise by his family. After marriage, he can't even talk loud to his parents or siblings as its thought that he has been trained by his wife even though he is repeating the same words. Yes, he find something new and worthwhile which he want to bring about to change in his own family, but... yes you understood it!

And now when the wife says, she want to her home for a while, the guy becomes upset as how can she call her birth home as home. This is where the husband goes wrong. Or is it really, the husband has gone wrong? The husband always supports his wife and his in-laws in the best ever ways he can. He likes many things about the in-laws but yes there are few things which he doesn't like but he never utters it. On the other side, the wife who tried her best to adjust to the new family has always been questioned with words. Worst part is, her parents are questioned for the differences she has by her in-laws. This is the most hurting thing for her. No child can hear anything against her parents and that's a fact.

Now the husband who has witnessed all these things, understand there are changes that he would to bring about in this family. There are some of the mistreat happening for his wife within his family but he is helpless. Despite of all these, it hurt him when his wife complains of his parents. After all no one can hear against his parents. He has always his parents set an example of how a family is reared. The wife is a sensible person and never utters to the in-laws but she does and evens she should tell to her husband. Now the problem comes, the husband wishes that the wife would come, make sacrifices and try her best to bring about the best changes into everyone. But, she fails and can't enforce for obvious reasons. The husband should understand that when she complains, she doesn't do all of sudden but its after her many efforts which has gone in vain. The husband should understand she is not a complain box but support her as now is the time she expects emotional support from the only pillar of her life. She wants him to defend her but not in a way that would make the relationships within the family ugly. All she wants is acceptance. All she should understand is his husband accepts her the way she is, but conditions apply.

These conditions apply has never been written anywhere is never known to the both partners. Both husband should respect their differences and not hurt self or nor get sad inside and one's emotion affects greatly the others. Stay in touch with your parents and siblings and do the best whatsoever you can do unconditionally. Husband, just understand how painful would it be to get permission to meet her own birth family. Wife, just understand how painful would it be to question his own parents who are his ideals. Maintain your social lives individually and in groups and social life heals you. Yoga, exercise, and keep self in the place of your partner and giving a thought might help. Wife should feel graced to find a caring and helping hand in the husband and appreciate in-laws who push for your career. Never ever escalate your differences and hardships to your parents in relation to differences.

Tech fails are incredibly costly

2015-09-19T06:03:00.001+05:30

Yes, failures are incredibly costly, but the tips will help make sure you avoid them.

1. If you're coming late to the party, you'd better bring something good.
When makers arrive late to the game in saturated markets, they'd better bring a game-changer with them.

2. Mind your aesthetic.
Supermodels aren't valued for their insides. To customers, the way technology looks is just as important as how it works. Spend just as much time on the outside as you do on the inside.

3. Know your brand.
Once a brand is identified in a customer's mind, it's hard to re-associate it with producing something different than its primary product. Don't branch out into unfamiliar territory unless the market asks you to.

4. Listen to what customers want.
Make sure your product enhances lives.

Shirdi & Nasik Tour

2015-08-30T17:40:00.001+05:30

We had stayed at the hotel "Sujal Heritage" near Sun & Sand hotel on Rui road. The hotel has a shuttle vehicle (car) to Shirdi Sai baba temple. The restaurant at the hostel is well maintained and food they serve is at reasonable and good taste plus quality. Staffs are helpful.

DON'Ts:
The hotel have a tie up with a shop where you can put your mobile, camera in lockers and shoes & slippers too. In turn, the shop keeper may ask you to buy worship stuffs from there. You are not forced for the same and better not to take from there as they would say the shop belongs to temple and they will provide you bill but they will charge you exorbitantly.

Do's:
Eat at the hotel itself as its moderate priced as the dhabas there also charge you so much for useless food and service. I ate all my meals at hotel. You could try a day at temple's bhojnalaya which is at subsidised rate.

Almost all the hotels keeps the shuttle facility. You can even walk to the temple which is say 5 minutes by walk. There are slippers stand and lockers for camera and mobile at the temple premises, you just have to ask police men.

You can keep a day for Nasik trip and another day for Aurangabad trip. We preferred to book by local transport office who provide packages for tour in a bus which is economical. we had taken Nasik tour package for rs 1500 and they picked us from hotel around 9am and dropped us back around 8pm.

You could also visit to Shani singnapur temple - do buy oil from shirdi itself if you want to offer to Shani dev as at singnapur its heftly priced. you can take shared autos for Shani temple to-fro combined they will charge around 150rs.

Cell phone tips

2014-09-27T23:43:00.001+05:30

HOW TO FACTORY RESET SAMSUNG ANDROID MOBILE?
==============================================
STEP A:
1. Take backup of your data (photos, sms, etc) and sync notes, contacts, etc.
2. Turn your phone off.
3. Sometimes, its better to remove battery for 3-5 minutes and then put it back.

STEP B:
4. With the phone off, press and hold the "Volume Up" + "Home" + "Power" keys all together. You'll see the Android recovery screen.
5. Scroll to "Wipe Data/Factory Reset" using the Volume Up or Down keys. Select with the Power key.
6. Scroll down to 'Yes, Delete User Data" and select it.
7. Back on the first screen, scroll down to "Wipe Cache Partition" and select it. Your factory reset is now complete.
8. Go to Reboot System Now to restart the phone.

STEP C:
9. For the first time, let the andriod to settle with all fresh recovery. Wait for approx 10 minutes.
10. Sign in to your android account and sync back your data, and install/restore apps.

How to: Windows fixes

2014-09-27T20:22:00.003+05:30

HOW TO DISABLE WINDOWS UPDATES ?
======================================
1. open control panel.
2. Go to windows update.
3. Click on “Install updates automatically(Recommended)”.
4. Select “never check for updates(Not recommended)”

HOW TO FIX "WINDOWS NOT GENUINE" ?
======================================
STEP A: Disable windows update ?

STEP B:
1. Open control panel.
2. Go to windows update section.
3. Click on view installed updates.
4. After loading all installed updates, check for update “KB971033? and uninstall.
5. Restart your PC.

HOW TO DISABLE Use Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS)?
======================================
Sometimes you see that you are not downloading anything and not browsing internet but your connection utilization up to maximum.

1. Open Task Manager (windows key+R, then type “taskmgr”)
2. Click on "Services" tab
3. Click "Open Services" button at the bottom
4. Look for the “Background Intelligent Transfer Service”
5. Now right click on that choose properties
6. See "startup type", choose ‘disabled’, Apply then OK.

Cheat codes for Mobile

2014-03-01T18:03:00.003+05:30

We often have multiple SIM cards and often forget the SIM number after having not used for months and end up throwing that SIM and take a new SIM. Here, is the dial codes for finding your SIM number.

Train journeys are indeed a New Life!

2014-02-28T18:05:00.000+05:30

It's a collection of everything if your journey is long...

You get to know different people -

people dealing with different entrepreneurs selling food items, other cheap items, books, beggars;
people with irritating nature, helping people,
people hiding and smoking, people throwing garbage here and there,
people talking loudly on phone, playing cards, groups of students singing and chit-chatting,
old persons giving you free advice, quiet people, people sleeping always,
people cursing that of all the train why only your train is stopped to pass all others by, people worried about missing the connecting train and getting delayed,
people carrying lots of luggage, people boarding train with wait listed or no ticket and fighting for place to seat, people sleeping on the floors,
children playing and crying,
people getting down at every stations, people seating at the gate,
people cracking jokes, trying to make associations with others,
people over cautious of looks and comfort,
people forgetting or unaware of their kids following them down to the station, people missing trains, people running to catch train,
etc. etc..

You get to see the changes like cities, towns, villages; forests; trains noise when crossing huge rivers; passing under the tunnels; foul smell of the drainage; beautiful sky, flying birds; weather change - hot summer, cold winter, and rains; flooded lands, agriculture land with green crops, barren lands; hills, rocks, red soil, black soil; cars competing with train on the sideways road track; traffic clogged due to passing train, people and bikes in hurry and crossing the railway track with high risk; etc. etc.

Back then...

60 hours of journey on single train - It was some 7-8 years back... The train from Warangal was going smoothly until it had reached Vizag and then it kept stopping for many hours before taking some alternate route as the track was blocked to accident of carriage train.

Caught, Missed and again Caught the train - It was some 4 years back. Alongwith with me were my bhavi ji and her kids and luggage not to forget. We were late but still managed to catch Satyagrah which just left from Raxaul and stopped a 100meters after the station. All of us had boarded the luggage or ladies coach (don't remember) in the small time that we had and the first coach we reached walking through the tracks. It has a stoppage of 5 minutes at Sugauli and we planned to move to out 3AC coach there. When the train stopped at Sugauli, we got down with kids and luggages and started moving to 3AC. We approached to 3AC crossing general and sleeper coach within 2-3 minutes. Then to my surprise, the train gave a horn and started. I didn't know that if the train is late, it need not wait scheduled stoppage time. I managed to keep luggage and one of the 2 kids on the coach thinking that bhavi ji would manage to board the train with the other kid. I was wrong!!

The train had already taken momentum and I had like few 100s of milliseconds to take decision. Bhavi ji gave me confidence that she can stay back at the station with the kid and take care of herself. This was the time I was thinking why didn't we board sleeper instead and was cursing the people at station who only kept shouting and none came forward to help. The TTE of the AC coach had witnessed all the events. Even the passengers inside the didn't pull the chain. With all these things running in my mind, I ran and leaped onto the sleeper coach and move straight to find the chain and pulled it. The chain had come into my hand... alas it was not working!! Another shock.

I moved thru the sleeper coach and reached the AC coach just to find that the shutter was down and there was no walking floor between the Sleeper and AC. With courage and fearing what would be condition of my nephew, I stepped onto the iron lock link between both the coaches and started banging onto the AC shutter. But, no one opened the shutter. All the Murphy's law were being applied one after another. After useless effort, I came to the gate of sleeper and hanging thru the door, I was able to communicate with the pantry fellow in that coach and he said my nephew was crying but he would take care of him. I spoke at the highest of my pitch to keep my nephew from crying but he would not listen - proabably coz he was afraid or he cudn't make out coz of the trains noise. I requested the TTE to ask for stopping the train but he suggested he would stop at the next station as it was easy for me to catch next return train. Half an hour had passed and we were separated at three different places. Finally next station came and I jumped from the slowed down train which was still moving and got onto the AC coach and consoled my nephew lifting him in my lap. I was relaxed!!

I shouted at the TTE why he had not helped and he gave me some excuse which I didn't hear obviously. He then told me that Sapt Kranti starts after sometime from Raxaul but reaches Gorakhpur before Satyagrah and assured me that he would not give away the seats until Gorakhpur. The next thing came in my mind was how to reach Sugauli and how were my bhavi and my still younger nephew ? Just then, I got a call from some unknown number and it was bhaviji. Some gentleman had lent his mobile to make a call to me and I assured her that Raunak was with me and that I was going to reach Sugauli ASAP. To my luck there was another local train about to leave for Sugauli and hence I dropped plan of taxi and boarded that local train. In another half an hour I was at Sugaulli and all of us were united. In sometime, even Saptkranti arrived at Sugauli which we boarded. I had informed at home all the incident before and later as well and they were too relaxed.

In some 4-5 hours, we were at Gorakhpur and we had reached before Satyagrah. We waited to Satyagrah which reached in no time and we boarded our 3AC coach finally and called up at home again. It was then I realized the Murphy law was still proving correct, only that the course of action of Murphy Law was for good after half the story.

It was a breath taking experience which I would never forget. I could remember almost all the incident of that day as fresh as it happened yesterday.

18 hours journey train was delayed by 10 hours to reach destination in 28 hours - Yes, anything can happen with Indian train and specially when it is bound for Bihar. This journey was from Delhi to Jasidih via Patna and return from Jasidih to Delhi in the last week of December last year i.e. 2013. In this incident, no only I missed my onward journey train but even the return journey train which was of 22 hours was also delayed by 8 hours. Thanks to my speculation or suspect of Bihar bound train, I hadn't booked my flight in advance from Delhi to Bangalore. But because of all these delays, I had missed the marriage of my dear friend Prabin.

This time...

I have been on train for the past 6 days literally... starting 22nd and ending on 27th with break of 30 hours break in between attending marriage of my dear cousin Manoj It was awesome being there!!!

Passed time reading "The New Life" by Orhan Pamuk, winner of Nobel Prize in Literature 2006....

the characters in the novel keep travelling for months, expect that their mode was bus. I had bought this novel some 8 months back but could not read more than 20 pages at a stretch and had finished only 50 pages. In this journey, I completed the whole 300 pages with a day to spare.

The last day of the return journey i.e.27th Feb; my bro was to get down at Warangal at 1.35AM just to find out that train was running 3 hours late. In my awakening sleepy eyes since 1AM, I realized the train had come to complete halt at some small station around Sirpur Kaghaznagar for quite sometime. The train had stopped for more than 3 hours due to some technical fault in some another AC coach and all the passengers had been moved to sleeper coach. My bro finally got down at Warangal around 7AM and I reached Bangalore around 11.50PM to reach my room only at 1.20AM on 28th of Feb.

Well, seat upgrade is not welcome always... surprised?

Last December, I was travelling back from Delhi to Bangalore by Air India and my economy ticket was upgraded to Business class. It was a different experience with spacious seat, rest for leg and head too. Special snacks with options!!

It so happened that I was returning from Patna alongwith my brother Arvind and we had booked sleeper class - 2 separate tickets as our destinations were different. Our seats were in the same S1 coach though. As soon as we boarded the train, my seat had been allocated to someone else and there was # symbol against that seat number. Still we boarded S1 and waited until TTE came who told me that my seat was upgraded to 3AC (the only passenger in whole train). I asked him if the fellow at seat number 12 can be sent to 3AC (my upgraded seat) which he said can't be done as the tickets may be checked multiple times throughout the journey by the different TTE and ID card is must. That was the time, I knew seat upgrade is not welcome always. I had no option left. I spent time with my bro during the day and used to goto B1 which was 11 coached away in the night. First night, I had to wait at S9 coach as the pantry had shut the door at around 10.30PM itself.

Lots of new things I came to know and a new experience!

Google Chrome - How to install third-party extensions?

2014-02-15T15:39:00.001+05:30

Download the extension to your PC (do not try to install it):
Right-click on the Install button and select "Save link as"
In the window that opens, select the folder where the extension (.crx) will be saved and click on the "Save".
Under Google Chrome, click on "Customized and Control Google Chrome" > "Tools" > "Extensions".
Finally, drag the .crx file to the extensions page, to install it.

How to hide file/folder in linux ?

2014-02-15T15:38:00.000+05:30

Method 1:
Make a file named .hidden in the same directory where our to-be-hidden file/directory lies. In our case, we want to hide /home/friend/Desktop. So we make a file named .hidden (don't miss the dot in front of hidden) in /home/friend. Next we add the name of the file/directory to be hidden into the .hidden file, one name in each line. Since we wanted to hide only the Desktop directory, we add a single line: Desktop into it. This was the solution to my friends problem as he needed to hide a file without renaming it. However, if you have the freedom to rename the file, then below two methods will be easier than this one.

Method 2:
Just rename the file/directory and prefix the name with a ' . ' (a dot). Files starting with a ' . ' are considered to be hidden files by linux.

Method 3:
Rename the file/directory and add a ' ~ ' to the end. eg: if the file name was secretfile.mk the new name will be secretfile.mk~. Linux considers files ending in ~ as backup files and hence hides them.

Note: In some machines you need to refresh the GNOME file browser to see the effect.

Do not use above methods to protect confidential data, as the hidden files can be easily seen using View -> Show Hidden Files (Ctrl + H) in Nautilus and ls -a in a terminal.

Novels list that i have read.

2013-01-22T23:13:00.000+05:30

Amish:

Shiva Trilogy

The immortals of Meluha
The secret of Nagas
The oath of Vayuputras

Paulo Coelho's:

The Devil and Miss Prym
The Alchemist
Eleven Minutes
Brida

Chetan Bhagat's:

Five Point Someone
Two States
Three Mistakes of My Life

Sidney Sheldon's:

Tell Me Your Dreams

Stephen Hawking's:

A Brief History of Time

Laxmi Prasad Devkota's:

Muna Madan

My artifacts

2013-01-22T23:07:00.000+05:30

My Robotics Projects:
Thu, Mar 15, 2007: Roborace @ TZ'07, NITW
Fri, Dec 22, 2006: MAV Prototype-2 @ AE, IISc (Attachment: Video)
Sat, Feb 18, 2006: Frontier - The Robocar!

My Minor Projects:
Sun, Apr 23, 2011: Making own search plugin for mozilla firefox
Fri, Dec 23, 2005: Invigilator
Mon, Feb 09, 2004: Telephone Directory using QBasic

My Articles / Papers:
Tue, Feb 23, 2010: Forgot linux root password
Sun, May 18, 2008: Installing Fedora Core into 2nd partition
Sat, May 17, 2008: Auto mount FAT32 drive in Fedora Core
Mon, Mar 10, 2008: Hosting your site for free
Tue, Jul 3, 2007: Proxy Server, Anonimity on Internet
Mon, Dec 11, 2006: LAN wire color coding
Tue, Apr 04, 2006: Paper ppt at Engineer'06 @ NIT Surathkal
Tue, Jan 31, 2006: Paper ppt at CASST'07
Sat, Mar 31, 2001: Exploring nature
Wed, Feb 28, 2001: Slow time at high speed
My Documents... Download link

Tour / Trips:
Sun, Feb 28, 2010: Trip to Hoggenekal Falls
Sun, Jan 24, 2010: Bike trip to Innovative Film City
Sat, Jan 25, 2009: Kodaikanal trip
Sun, Sep 5, 2008: Mysore Trip - arranged by CDOT

Education:
Thu, Apr 28, 2011: 10+2 (class XI-XII) studies in India
Mon, May 31, 2010: For admission through DASA in NITs
Sun, Nov 8, 2009: Chartered Accountancy
Embassies in Nepal
Competitions, Scholarships
Telematics links in India
Free eBooks

Links:
Audio: New national anthem for Nepal
Know your traffic violations [Bangalore]
Listen to BBC Nepali news
Website Links

MISC:
Novels list that i have read
Few Must Watch Hindi Movies

Places visited

2012-07-27T22:09:00.000+05:30

:: Nepal ::

Kathmandu

Pasupatinath Temple, Hanuman Dhoka, Kirtipur Boudhgumba, Kasthamandap, Swambhu Temple, Balaju Botanical Gardens, Zoo, Sundarijal

Gaur

Barahwa Bridge, Bagmati, Bramha Devi Temple

Brigunj

Ghanta Ghar, Dry Port, Ghariarwa Lake

Gonahi, Shivnagar (Shiv Temple), Gamhariya, Junglesahiya, Kankakpur
Biratnagar, Bhadrapur (Koshi), Inaruwa, Itahari (Jhora, Forest), Janakpur (Ram Janaki Temple and Bivah Mandap, Lake)
Nepalgunj, Surkhet, Palpa

:: India ::

Andra Pradesh

Vijayawada
Machhlipatnam Beach
Warangal

Thousand Pillar Temple, Warangal Fort

Tirupati

Balaji Temple

Hampi
Chittor - Talakona, Kanipakam
Hyderabad

Charminar, Golkonda Fort, Qutub sahi Tomb, Salarjung Museum, Birla Temple and Planterium, Lumbini Park, Necklace Road, NTR Gardens, Runway9; Mount Opera, Ocean Park, Restaurants: Babarchi & Paradise)

Bihar

Ranti, Balath, Patna, Raxual, Bairgania

Goa

Beaches: Kalangute, Anjuna, Palolem, Colva;
Old Goa, Church, Big Foot

Gujrat

Surat
Bhuj

Mt. Kaladunger, White Runn of Kutch, Mandavi Beach, Swamy Narayan Temple, Vijay Villas Palace

Jammu

Jammu
Katra: Vaisnodevi

Karnataka

Bangalore:

Nandi Hills, HAL Museum, Iskcon Temple, Lal Bagh, WhiteField, Innovative Film City, Chinnaswamy Stadium, Vidhan Souda; Malls: Forum, Garuda, Central, Oasis, Total, Big Bazaar, Pyramid Valley (World's largest mediational pyramid), Wonderla

Mysore:

Zoo, Tomb of Tipu Sultan, Palace, Chamundi Hills, Chamundeswari Temple, Nandi, Brindavan Gardens

Coorg - The Scotland of India

On the way from Bangalore --> Shravanabelagola, Halebidu, Bellur
Medikere, Talacauvery,
Dubbare Elephant Training Camp
Kushalnagar - Golden temple (Buddhist Monastry)

Maharastra

Pune, Lonavala, (Amby Valley)

Rajasthan

Udaipur

Palace

Ajmer

Dargah

Jaipur

Chowki Dhani, Raj Mandir Theatre

Chittorgarh Fort

Tamil Nadu

Chennai (Marina Beach)
Ooty (Ooty Botanical Gardens)
Kodaikanal

Kodal Lake, Bryant park, Pillar Rocks - Forest, Green Valley View (Suicide Point), Silent valley - cliff view

Kanyakumari

Sunrise View Point, Sunset View Point, Thiruvalluvar Statue, Vivekanand Memorial, Alagar Koil, Koodal Azhagar Temple

Madurai

Meenakshi temple, Gandhi Museum, Thirumalai Nayak Mahal

Rameshwaram

Agnitheertham, Annai Indira Gandhi Road Bridge, Sri Ramanathaswamy Temple

Hoggenekal Falls

A rare flower photography

2012-07-16T00:15:00.000+05:30

A rare flower that grows from the LEAF of the plant -- just ONCE in a year -- and too in the NIGHT with the flower life span of few hours only!!

Taken on 16-Jul-2012 @ 00.15AM

Finally succeeded making nice "Fulka"

2012-07-13T20:30:00.000+05:30

Affordable Tracking System

2012-05-04T01:12:00.000+05:30

Ever thought why WiFi has found maximum usage in recent years? With 3G and LTE network available, the trend is vastly moving towards usage of smart phones and tablets. Gone are the days when the basic essential needs were food, cloth and residence. The fourth essential thing has become probably most needed thing with increasing affordability. This is connectivity. But still a large proportion of population lives in rural India and their earning do not allow them the privilege of connectivity.

Passive RFID tag is the most potential tool which can be a cost effective solution with investment from the nation. Much needed application and direct need would be tracking of kids, pets, old aged and physically/mentally challenged people. Each of these person or pet would carry this passive RFID tag which does not need power which lower cost and greater life durability. The nation would have installed RFID receivers all over the village / city and each of these receivers would be equipped with GPS and mobile GPRS or Ethernet connectivity. As and when any RFID tag holder passes through, the unique code would be indentified and the current location would be updated onto the nationalized data center.

Let us consider a scenario of high tech city with clusters of RFID receivers all over the city; no parents would be worried about location of their kin. Similarly, in a village where RFID receivers are not installed, a police patrol vehicle equipped with RFID receiver would keep making rounds around the village will once collect all the data and update the nationalized data server at one go. A lost child or a pet or a person with health problem uses this RFID tag to get in touch with their family or owner and vice-versa by knowing the latest location. These are few of the application of such a connected world with low cost and affordability for each person who either lives in metro or in a village.

Installments of such receivers are a challenge cost wise. Yet even there are only few of them located at main points like police station, main entrance road of the village, hospitals, schools, etc; the data collected can be used to know the last location of the RFID tag holder. Yet another implementation is tracking the mobile phones. These days mobile phones are available for lower cost as low as Rs 700 which is lucrative to rural India. Even child and old aged person are having personal mobile phones. At the same time, terrorist have become very active through mobile devices. Every terrorist attacks were later investigated to have used mobile phones using multiple SIMs which can’t be traced easily except for the last location. Hence a nationalized data center for tracing the mobile phone where-about and maintain the history of their locations is much needed. It is time that security system is boosted.

A solution to this is equipping all the BTS with GPS unit and development of technology that can read the power of the mobile phone devices relative location to BTS. It might require adding some parameter to RACH (Random Access Channel or RACH is a point-to-point logical channel in the uplink direction. It is sent by the mobile as a request for making a call or as a response to a paging to the mobile. It consists of the identity of the mobile and location area details as available in SIM) information to read the power radio dissipated to lock with BTS. This power fundamentally changes with the distance from the BTS. The BTS would then transmit the mobile power information along with its GPS location. The centralized mobile tracking server would then refer to the past location of the mobile phone from the data server and with current data would calculate the approximate absolute location of the mobile device. This updated location of the mobile would be then pushed to the centralized national data server.

The access to this data would be given to the needy to tracking their kin or relative suffering from critical health problem. The investigation bureau should have direct access to this data and they can track any suspicious number or person. This will indeed boost the national security.

Traffic management in the metros

2012-04-27T01:22:00.000+05:30

Traffic management in the metros is the biggest challenge that affects every man on the move. The accidents number at the junctions are more fatal and the number has increased much more with more powerful engines being affordable to people. The traffic police department has made quite an investment in installing traffic signals the major junctions. Yet, they are forced to employ thousands of traffic polices even at the junctions which are equipped with traffic light signal. There are two reasons to this:

The technology is not yet mature and traffic police have to manually operate at the busy hour.
High number of traffic rules violations by commuters.

This model needs installation of high resolution video camera with 360 degree viewing angle along with a computation device with 3G or WiFi connectivity. A conceptual view is given below:

The camera takes continuous video in 360 degree range. Neural network algorithm is developed for decision taking. The camera would be installed which would capture the data round the clock for at least 24 hours and the neural network with image processing learns and identifies the empty road. Now, with this knowledge the algorithm would be able to find the amount of vehicles present on each road at the given time and calculates amount of time to be allocated for each side of traffic at the junction. An intelligent scheduler algorithm then operates the traffic lights. The scheduler would allocate dynamic timings for each side unlike fixed time in the traditional traffic signal controllers.

All these data would be continuously pumped onto the centralized traffic management server. Each of such nodes would have unique identity and the server computes the best suitable path using path finder algorithm such as graph theory to reach from point A to point B at the given time.

If the junction is very busy round the clock day and night and IR camera may be used instead and neural network algorithm and image processing would need to be modified accordingly. There would be no any other change in the scheduler algorithm or the path finder algorithm.

In order to monitor traffic rules violations, the camera stream may be also relayed to the centralized traffic monitoring center. In case of accidents occurrence, the videos recorded would be quite helpful in tracing the victim and violators. The computation device at the traffic signals may also be equipped with doppler sensors.

Commuters can subscribe to this portal paying some nominal charges monthly or send an SMS to this portal and they would get updates of traffic routes instantly on their smart phones at emails or SMS as per their preferences. This would be the revenue generation model. There would also be no need to employ traffic polices at the junction under the harsh weather conditions and pollution. This would save the health hazards of traffic polices and at the same time save traffic management cost for the department as well. On the other hand, life would be quite easier for professionals who generally waste a considerable amount time travelling.

Door peep hole

2012-04-22T22:30:00.000+05:30

GUJARAT TO JAMMU IN 11 DAYS: THE PLAN

2012-02-25T18:00:00.000+05:30

de l'expérience

60 Days of "METICULOUS" planning
1 secret best kept
1 Big fat Gujrati wedding
Mesmerising Kutchh
Exotic Udaipur
Mata Di's Grace
6356+ Kilometers

Itinerary: What We Planned

Fri, February 10th, 2012
SG 228 Spicejet Bangalore @ 22.10 to Pune @ 23.25
Pune to Surat via train @ 2.00AM

Sat, February 11th, 2012
Attend Chintan's marriage, Local sight-seeing....

Sun, February 12th, 2012
Leave to Ahmedabad.
Akshardham and Sarita Udyan Visit
Board train to Bhuj (T.No 19115 BDTS-Bhuj Xpress)

Mon, February 13th, 2012
Arrival in Bhuj, Visit Rann of Kutch, and back to bhuj for the night

Tue, February 14th, 2012
Early start to the day, Soak into some more of the white Desert
Board train to Abu road (T.No 14322 Bareilly Xpress)

Wed, February 15th, 2012
Get down at Abu Road. Start to Udaipur, courtesy Rajasthan State Road
After Reaching Udaipur, we have two options---->
Plan A: For Sandeep
Book a Room in TAJ Lake Palace (In the evening, start walking to Delhi, to catch our flight 5 days later, or sit on the stairs of the nearest temple)
Plan B: For the rest of us
check into some budget hotel, save our money so that we can further continue the trip.

Thu, February 16th, 2012
Soak in some more of the exotic udaipur, travel to ajmer in the night.

Fri, February 17th, 2012
Visit Pushkar Lake, Dargah Sharif, Soniji ki Nasiya ( a jain temple) and other places of interest in Ajmer City
Board train to Jammu (T.No. 12413 AII-JAT Xpress) in the afternoon.

Sat, February 18th, 2012
Get down at Jammu, Refresh and start to Katra
Reach Katra, and start our 13KM hike for maata darshan

Sun, February 19th, 2012
Local sightseeing in and around Jammu, especially have dinner at THE REVOLVING HOTEL.

Mon, February 20th, 2012
Return to Bangalore on an Indigo Flight... (This day, i would have flew on every airline in india..)
6E551 Jammu to Delhi
6E125 Delhi to Bangalore

Continue reading for what happened....

Part-I:
http://amitalks.blogspot.in/2012/07/eleven-days-to-remember-1-of-3.html

Part-II:
http://amitalks.blogspot.in/2012/07/gujrat-to-jammu-in-11-days-part-ii.html

GUJARAT TO JAMMU IN 11 DAYS: PART I

2012-02-25T17:00:00.000+05:30

PART I: Khusboo Gujarat Ki

The Plan:
http://amitalks.blogspot.in/2012/07/gujarat-to-jammu-in-11-days-plan.html

Part-II:
http://amitalks.blogspot.in/2012/07/gujrat-to-jammu-in-11-days-part-ii.html

:: Fingers crossed for the tour ::

Fri, February 10th, 2012 : Bangalore to Pune

Gautam had already left for Mumbai the earlier day. For some unknown reasons, Vishnu was caught up with work until 5.45 PM. We rushed to catch the BIA-8, Sandeep joined us from Silkboard. After having snacks we got our luggage checked in and boarded SG 228 Spicejet from Bangalore @ 22.10 to reach Pune @ 23.25. We took pre-paid taxi to the Pune Railway station. Pune was as we expected, lots of students roaming on the streets around midnight and after. I had dinner at some random hotel near to station. The train left at 2am for Surat. Gautam also boarded the same train around 5am from nearby Mumbai station.

: Chintan weds Dinki ::

Sat, February 11th, 2012 : Pune to Surat

We reached Surat in the morning, the groom himself came to receive us in his Innova. Chintan then got us cocoa, an amazing beverage. That was the welcome drink of Gujrat. Preparations for the wedding had already started and we happened to be on time for Chintu's Haldi... We were treated with a variety of sweets every time we ate in Surat. People in Gujarat can kill by making you eat sweets.Dieting main bhi GAJAR KA HALWA khate hain...

It was time to get ready for the marriage. We got to wear the "Turban" as the baraat was leaving for the marriage hall. Started with bursting the crackers, then fultoo dance. Got Chintu off from his white chariot to dance with us. The marriage was at THE GRAND BHAGWATI, a huge function hall where atleast 2000 people were there. We stayed back until the entire ceremony was completed, had dinner with the newly weds, and then reached back to crash @ 3 AM.

Sun, February 12th, 2012 : Surat to Bhuj Via Ahmedabad

We were tired from the masti we had the previous night and so dropped the visit to Ahmedabad. We were woken up with a nice breakfast that included a dish called "LOCHA". This variety is available only in Surat, and people throng in huge lines to take it. It was really nice of chintan's dad, to get this for us as he had to stand in the line at 6AM in the morning, this after the marriage. After having breakfast, uncle took us on a visit of their factory. It was an educational visit with uncle explaining us all the steps in the fabrication of cotton cloth for sarees. Sandeep was to go on his MAMA visit, so we came back for lunch. Again, lunch was so overloaded with sweets that we were hardly able to walk afterwards.

Around 4 PM, we left for Ahmedabad by a local train, as our train to Bhuj starts from Ahmedabad. It was a heavily crowded train which we managed to board and threw the luggages here and there with least care. We were sweating due to the crowd as well as the temperature. After 2 hours the crowd thinned and we got seats to cool ourselves. On reaching Ahmedabad, had dinner at Comesum ,and we started playing cards to kill some time. We then boarded the train 00:00 hours to Bhuj (T.No 19115 BDTS-Bhuj Xpress).

Mon, February 13th, 2012 : Bhuj

:: View point from Kaladunger ::

At the check point, we had to take permit (Rs 100 per head plus Rs 50 for vehicle) to enter Rann of Kutcht. They scan your ID card as well. From the checkpoint, we went on towards Kaladungar hill which is the top most view point in Greater Runn. The hill has three magnetic regions where Hiren (our Cab driver) demonstrated the effects of magnetic pull. Our Indica was pulled uphill on its own from 0 kmph upto 30 kmph and even 60 kmph where the magnetic region was longer and road was less steep. On reaching this view point, we could see the greater white runn and it is said that Pakistan can be viewed from here but the fog didn't give us a clear View

view.

:: Sham-e-Sharhad ::

Then, we came back to the checkpoint and moved on towards the white runn desert. On the way, there is a resort Shame-e-Sarhad at Hodka where you can buy handicrafts or go for stay in the tent as well.

As we approached the white salt bed, the desert converted into marsh land and the land was dressed in white everywhere. Our cab got stuck in the marsh land. Another tourist group helped us to pull out the Indica from the marsh land. It took almost 1.5 hrs. Had it been Sunny Deol there, woh apne dhayi kilo ke haath se car ko aise hi dakkha de ke nikal deta... LOL!!

Soon after we were out of trouble, we centered the salt bed which was still wet with sea water. We were literally walking on a thick bed of salt where we stayed for 2 hours until the sunset. It was quite an experience!!! It is said that on a full moon night, the desert looks like the moon itself, crystal clear and white.We could not experience that as we had to return back to our hotel.

We reached the hotel around 9 PM. After having dinner at Royal Park, we went for a stroll to the Fort nearby. We were very tired for the day so retired for the day forgetting it was valentine day

Tue, February 14th, 2012 : Bhuj to Abu Road

We visited various places viz. Swamy Narayan Temple, Vijay Villas Palace, and Mandavi beach. "Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam" movie was shot in the Vijay Villas palace. The auto-rickshaws in this region had a look as if made from Royal Enfield - very different. On the way back from Mandavi beach, we saw the place where huge boats / wooden cruises are made.

:: Swamy Narayan Temple ::

:: Vijay Villas Palace ::

:: Camel Ride @ Mandavi Beach ::

:: Some action for the camera ::

We were so engrossed in the beauty of Bhuj, that we almost missed our train to Abu Road. We barely reached the station, just 5 minutes before the departure at 4.15pm. We took the Bareilly Express (T.N. 14322) to Abu Road.

READ FURTHER FOR THE ROYAL RAJASTHAN EXPERIENCE....coming soon!!!

GUJRAT TO JAMMU IN 11 DAYS: PART II

2012-02-25T16:00:00.000+05:30

GUJRAT TO JAMMU IN 11 DAYS: PART II

The Plan:
http://amitalks.blogspot.in/2012/07/gujarat-to-jammu-in-11-days-plan.html

Part-I:
http://amitalks.blogspot.in/2012/07/eleven-days-to-remember-1-of-3.html

Wed, February 15th, 2012: Abu Road to Udaipur via Rajasthan State Road Transport

The train dropped us at Abu Road @ 00.30 hrs. It was a chilly night with gusts of wind here and there. The initial plan was to take a cab from Abu to udaipur. But as we spoke with the cab wallahs, we figured out that it was not just worth it. Also, the local station master told about safety issues of the road from Abu to Udaipur and hence decided to go by first bus in the morning.

It was going to be a long night for us as the first bus to udaipur starts at 7AM. We kept sipping tea and sleeping on the bench. The only drama for the night came from a pervert who tried to harass a Foreign tourist. As often the case, he was thrashed and kicked out.

The bus was a local one and charged Rs 120. The highway was quite majestic but the local bus kept entering the villages and crawling to drop us at Udaipur only at 11AM.

Exotic Udaipur

Planning:

It was a legendary planning done for Udaipur. Vishnu had made plan and given options to choose from around 2 and half months back.

Plan A: check in to TAJ LAKE PALACE (In the evening we can start walking to Delhi, to catch our flight 5 days later)
Plan B: check into some budget hotel, save our money so that we can further continue the trip.

Sandeep never bothered to check it, probably he trusted too much on our plan or he was busy with his frequent official tour to Delhi... What ever!!

During one tea break some 1 month back, he asked what we finally did for the Udaipur trip plan. Vishnu told him that we have already spoken to TAJ and with booked a suite for 4 members (myself, Vishnu, Goatie and Sandeepa) for one day at cost of 25 grand. The TAJ also agreed upon to book against a DD which we had sent to them via post.

You should have seen his face. He was shocked and started swearing at us as usual.

I told him that it was a mutual decision taken which you didn't give your opinion for. It was a one time opportunity (though self sponsored... so be it). We showed him the dreams of staying like a king in the TAJ which was situated in the centre of the lake. All our colleagues too started pushing Sandeep to agree for it. We told him whether he chooses to join us or not, he has to pay, as the money was already paid. It would be a EXPERIENCE TO REMEMBER!! Finally, we were able to convince him.

Sandeep researched about TAJ and next day told us that they would provide boat to reach to the hotel and they have spa which will be on the boat and that we should try even this. He said he would ditch our Udaipur city tour and stay there for all 24 hours for the paisa vasool!!

Background:

We never knew or even inquired about the TAJ and instead had booked in CPWD quarter. All our colleagues knew about the prank. I am surprised, "how Sandeep could not figure it out in those many days". In order to cope up with the extra expense, he choose to return back from Udaipur and that too by train... Poor Sandeep!!

Hum bhi to kaminey hai hi... we didn't reveal the truth, instead planned to hire a cab at Udaipur and ask him to take to the TAJ and just as we reach there giving all the "dreams come true feeling" to Sandeep, take us to the CPWD quarter without stopping there.

Execution:

When we reached Udaipur, it was kind of sunny and we were already late... thanks to the state local bus. We had already hired a cab in Udaipur who was waiting for us. Unfortunately, the CPWD quarters and TAJ hotel are on opposite sides of the city plus we were hungry too and just half a day left for local tour.

Finally, it was revealed.... Sandeep's dreams were shattered and that was the time he didn't stop swearing at all. I went to take shower and I could hear him non-stop!!

It was late afternoon when we started after ablution and lunch. The driver took us to places like:

Fateh Sagar Lake (Maharana Pratap Smarak @ Motimarg) [Entry fee: Rs 30]
Saheli Ki Badi [Entry Fee: Rs 5]
Pichola Lake where we went for boating [Boating for Rs 100]
Ropeway to Mata ki Mandir (near Pichola Lake) [Ropeway for Rs 70]

While boating over Fateh Sagar Lake, Sandeep took many snaps with the TAJ and the boat Spa!

We were quite tired as we were sleep deprived and asked the driver to take us to "Royal Vintage Car Museum". Ah!! the museum.... The erstwhile Maharaja had collection of all Rolls-Royce starting from the 1st generation. The guide there explained us about the different models, and asked us why there was a color change in their logo. When the two founders were alive, the logo used to be "RED" in color. When they deceased, the color was changed to "BLACK"

Thu, February 16th, 2012

The forenoon was dedicated to the Udaipur City Palace. It took us almost 4 hours to navigate through the palace, that too when we skipped a lot of places in between.

In the afternoon, we headed towards Jaisamand Lake, Asia's largest artificial lake. It was a huge lake, and the travel there took almost 2 hrs. On the banks of the lake, there was a deserted palace, which was built for the Queen. After that, we returned back to our guest house, though not before enjoying Dal-Bhati-Churma for one more time!

In the evening, we were back to Udaipur and went to Bharatiya Lok Kala Mandir where we witnessed the puppet show and folk dance.

Udaipur city had a lot of South Indian restaurants much to the liking of Vishnu. So we decide to have Dosa for dinner. Vishnu and me took the train to Ajmer, Sandeep left for Mumbai on train!

Fri, February 17th, 2012: Ajmer - Pushkar

As planned, we reached Ajmer quite early in the morning, so took the dormitory and crashed for a couple of hours. We woke up at 8 and after ablution headed into the city for some vist. We kept our luggage in the cloak room took a bus to Pushkar where the only temple of Lord Bramha had been built. On the way to pushkar, there was a temple of Lord Vishnu, built in the style seen in South India. The Pushkar lake was quite different and the pigeons on the steps of the lake were good subject to try out some Photos.

We returned from Pushkar and headed to the famous Ajmer Dargah and a Jain Teerthankar Temple. Had lunch in the railway station and got into the train @ 2 PM for our next destination.

Sat, February 18th, 2012: Jammu

We reached Jammu around 10AM and checked into the CPWD quarter. After having lunch, we left for local tour. The triveni water was very very cold. The Jyotirlinga's model was another place to visit on the bank of the Triveni (river). We went to the revolving hotel to have lunch @ 4PM in the evening. We then had gone to the park and the aquarium. After lunch, we went into the market to buy sweaters and gloves, then went back to room. We got a bit adventurous, and so took the bus. The last bus point was some 1KM before our guest house, and so we had dinner in a local dhaba. By the time, we reached our guest house we were very tired.

Sun, February 19th, 2012: Katra - Vaishnodevi

We started our trip early @ 5AM. We got a local bus to Katra where we made the entry for Maa Vaisnodevi darshan. We bought a walking stick to assist us on the inclined road. We had put on thick multiple cloths to keep us warm. As we started moving up, one by one the layer of clothes started coming off. Even though it was cold, we were sweating. There are two routes after you reach Adhkwari. One that is just a plain road with occasional steep slope. The other route was completely stairs. We decide to take the longer route like others, as we would have company and could enjoy the Scenic beauty better. We reached Vaisnodevi in 3 hours and went for devi darshan.

Later, we had Rajma-Chawal and then we started our ascend to the Bhairon Nath which is further top hill. On the way, I saw the snow for the first time and played in the snow for a while. This distance was 1/3rd of the the distance we just covered but it was very steep and we took another 3.5 hours to reach the top. We were quite tired. We went for the darshan and then later started out descend. The descend was more risky - firstly because of the snowfall that had happened few days back and secondly because of the negative slope. Unlike what is thought, descending is quite tough.

Finally, we reached Katra and took return bus to Jammu where we retired in our CPWD quarter.

Mon, February 20th, 2012 (Mahashivratri holiday)

Got up late in the morning and had aloo paratha, which had been the breakfast across all the CPWD quarters we stayed. We went for local sight seeing in an auto-rickshaw and came back to our quarter in the noon. We did the packing to leave for the airport which was near to our quarter.

We boarded the Indigo Flight 6E551 from Jammu(14:25) to Delhi(15:20) and the connecting flight 6E125 from Delhi (17:45) to Bangalore (20:30).

A tour to remember....

It was a well planned and executed tour to cover so many places in just 11 days.

Craters at Moon!

2011-11-15T00:24:00.000+05:30