Ginger Chai

Have you met Tech Raman yet?

Lakshmi Rajan — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 04:02:45 +0000

Begining new year, I have been quietly working on a new pet project and now I feel is the time to announce it to our readers here. Meet Tech Raman, well the official name as per records would be TechRaman.com The new site will focus on technology, latest gadgets, reviews, infographics, social media, tech news and the future trends. Why the name Tech Raman? Well, most of you would have read and heard the stories of the famous 16th century court-poet of Vijayanagara empire, Tenali Raman. He was known for his simplicity, quick wit and wisdom. During childhood, I have read volumes of his stories and needless to say fascinated by him. So when I decided to start a technology site, I wanted to present it in a “simplified tech speak” , so Tech Raman is here to tech wit you like his inspiration who lived many centuries ago. Long time readers of Ginger Chai would know we constantly strive to improvise, so would be with Tech Raman, the journey has just began and we are aware it is a long road ahead. So do patronize, guide and walk the journey with us the same way you have been supporting [...] Related posts:

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Amazon shouts Junglee and makes a backdoor entry into Indian market

Lakshmi Rajan — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 09:09:32 +0000

Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer enters the Indian market as Junglee.com with a different business model in place quiet different from the original Amazon. The giant has to take this route since government is yet to open full FDI in multi brand retail. For sometime now, there was a buzz that Amazon is aiming for the Indian e-commerce pie, a third largest Internet market behind only to US and China and growing fast recently. According to the press release Junglee Launches in India – a New Online Shopping Service by Amazon Enabling Customers to Discover Products and Make Purchasing Decisions Customers can shop more than 1.2 crore products and more than 14,000 brands from Indian and global retailers, including Amazon.com, in one convenient place Junglee in a real sense is not an online retailer in itself, it just give leads to the buyer to various products and brands that retails in various online and offline retailers and list their price. A transactional site that fascilitate sales to the registered vendors with the platform. The leads takes you to the vendors own site and contact details rather than selling the products through Junglee’s platform. Effectively, it enables you to compare [...] Related posts:

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A life of choices

Sonal Gupta — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 03:02:57 +0000

“Our choices make us who we are.” We hear this many times, sometimes from our elders when while sipping a cup of tea they tell us their experiences, or from a friend who found out that pursuing a career in IIT was not her best decision or maybe even from the 5 year old kid next door who repents not choosing the chocolate ice cream instead of the chocolate cake his mouth is covered with. So what do we do then? We lend a supporting hand and say how sorry we feel for them. But we never take out the time to actually sit and realize its significance in our own life. We choose not to think about our decisions until we ourselves face the problem. The choices we make define us as a person. The people are not good or bad it’s the choices they make which are good or bad. A police man is well respected in the society but if he chooses to accept bribes from culprits he becomes a man that the society looks down upon in disgust. Rohit hadn’t studied for his biology exam today. He wasn’t worried. “I have my ways,” he thought slyly. [...] Related posts:

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The not-so-common Salt and its uses

Vidya Sury — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 03:34:07 +0000

Salt is an important item on your kitchen shelf, right? Did you know that it has almost fourteen thousand uses besides adding flavor to food? No? Neither did I, until I did the research. I already knew that salt repels bacteria – this is why it is used as a preservative on most food. A 10 per cent salt solution (brine) prevents the growth of disease-causing bacteria. Now you know why back in the times when they did not have refrigerators, they rubbed salt on everything. You also know that salt water gargling soothes a sore throat. Figures, right? So, without further ado, let’s look at some interesting ways to use salt: You can clean brass, silver and copper with a paste of salt and vinegar. Rub the mix on the metal with a soft cloth, rinse it off and buff it dry Clean your drain by pouring half a cup of salt and half a cup of hot water into it once in a while to get rid of stinks and grease build up. White marks on your furniture? No problem. Mix a teaspoon of salt and olive oil into a dry paste. Rub on white marks with cloth [...] Related posts:

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Renault Pulse – Review

Sanjiv Vakharia — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 09:47:21 +0000

Identical twins. That’s what one may call Nissan Micra and the latest Renault on Indian road, Renault Pulse. Brushing aside few half-hearted minor cosmetic changes, there is hardly any worthwhile differentiation between both the cars who share the same platform. For those who might wonder how this is possible? It is due to the fact both the companies have cross-share holdings ad share the platforms. I don’t quiet understand what could have been the basis on which Renault decided to bring out a car that has no identity of its own and almost a mirror reflection of Micra. Let me make the pictures speak about the twin cars. So can you spot the differences? Well, the “radical makeover” (pun intended) of Pulse could be seen best in the front. The grille, the head lamp gets a small a bit of “correction” and then a couple of bold lines make the front of Micra into Pulse and ofcourse not to forget the Renault logo. Though the large front grille tries to give an masculine look to stay clear off Micra’s “cute” looks. Now let’s look at the rear… Not much of a change here except a slightly modified tail light, a [...] Related posts:

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Agneepath – review

Lakshmi Rajan — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 11:34:16 +0000

Remaking a classic is always a tricky job and it becomes equally risky when you remake a cult movie made memorable by superstar Amitabh Bachchan. Comparisons are inevitable and it is like a noose around the neck. To begin with and to its credit, Agneepath is not a thorough remake of the cult movie but an adaptation of the classic, inspired and still treading its own path. Yes, we have the same famed name Vijay Dinanath chaouhan, the wound and revenge in the protoganist’s heart is the same, we have the Dr. Harivansh Rai Bachchan’s classic poetry but the treatment is vastly different, the characterisation varies, many characters you liked have been chopped off (remember Krishnan iyer MA made famous by Mithun da), even some cult dialogues done away not to take the risk of comparison with the iconic Big B and all this gives this Agneepath a refreshing change but not without its own pitfalls. This Agneepath belongs to Sanjay dutt’s Kancha Cheena, who has given easily one of his best performance of his career. As menancing it could be, dressed in a black attire and Gita in one hand and uttering religious lines but with a satanic heart [...] Related posts:

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A Stamped Love Story – Part 2

Anney Thomas — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 04:33:30 +0000

If you have missed the part 1 of the story, please read the begining of the stamped love story here Thunder woke me up from my daydreaming. I made another cup of tea and opened the letter without damaging the stamp. China was a nice addition to my collection. “Dear Jenny, Am back! As promised, the stamp from China is delivered. I wonder why you still chose the snail mail over face book. Anyway, China is too crowded for my taste and one can get lost in the crowd. I had an accident yesterday. The cat is out of the bag. The whole family knows about you. Alana, the little magpie would not keep her mouth zipped and I am being subjected to 20 questions from everyone, including Mom. Her mind is as sharp as it was when she was 30.” He was still the same. His letter brought life to words. He would never understand that ink and paper had a strange way of arousing emotions. Facebook would mean that he could track me electronically. The letter was routed to me ….no one would know. ” The secret is out…. am not gay!” I laughed at his [...] Related posts:

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The Reluctant Detective by Kiran Manral – review

Divya — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 04:55:00 +0000

You are 30 plus something, you are a suburban housewife in one of the busiest city of India – Mumbai, you have a hyper active kid who keeps bouncing off the walls as if he has springs attached to his shoes, you are a person who has a knack of sticking her nose in the manner ‘what-come-may-I-will-get-to-the-details” no matter what in everybody’s day to day affairs, then if you get inspired by Kanan Mehra’s a.ka. Kay’s story; you are very well on the way of becoming a detective!!! Jokes apart but if you are looking for some fun loving, rib ticking book with a wry humor which also makes you connect with the daily lives of a common man, ‘The Reluctant Detective’ (TRD) is the one you should spend on. It is a story of Kay who lives in Mumbai, has a 5 year old kid who keeps her on toes, who is overweight like couple of us, struggles as a jogger to knock of those extra pounds, worships her maids who come to clean her house and cook; doesn’t it remind us of as one of the amongst us? She has a habit of poking her nose everywhere including [...] Related posts:

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The Second Lady by Irving Wallace – review

Divya — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 04:54:12 +0000

Does the likes of CIA, KGB, Federal cop finds favour with you as a reader? If yes, then ‘The Second Lady’ satiates your desire to read political fiction with lots of turns & twists thrown in. Billie Bradford is the First Lady of United States of America; beautiful, intelligent and enchanting and married to Andrew Bradford. As she is preparing and throwing herself in the preparations for the next upcoming President’s election and conferences, there is another First Lady who is also getting ready for replacing the original First Lady. This lady is the Second Lady, who steals the thunder from Billie and she is the one who sleeps with the President, just long enough to know the state secrets and about the steal the power from West. She is Vera from Russia, a theatre artist and who is plain lucky to have the same features of Billie rather to put it correctly a lookalike body double. The Russian counterparts spend enough time to train and mould Vera into Billie, almost 3 years. The preparation of lookalike is so precise that they even did the touching to her teeth and vagina so that no one can make out if the [...] Related posts:

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I look around if it is a dream

Pritisha borthakur — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 04:32:46 +0000

I look around if it is a dream With the grey I see not the green. Vision forced to look back inside Barely anything is left outside. And this the fire that called their desire, When the supreme seemed to be written, By the demon who was there, hidden. He then exposed it on his plates, He cried he has opened the gates, Mad as he was, he missed their madness, And there he was, burning with the fire His work lost, with no one to admire. And this the fire that called their desire, He went wherever nature led, for the words worth, To bless them with a new birth, Where each would understand the other, And men would carry it further. The ‘I’ failed to feed; fire died away. Then asked what he could not refuse, He took the honor and forgot his muse. The storm was over but a flame Ignited, it was then that they came. Vision forced to look back inside Barely anything was left outside. And this the flame that led to his fame With the sun the blazing star found he was famous And swore to publish his mind while he feels the [...] Related posts:

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