Suresh C

Apply for Ration Card Online

noreply@blogger.com (Suresh) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 03:30:00 +0000

If you are a resident of Karnataka state, having a ration card is mandatory. Government of Karnataka has enabled a website to facilitate application for Ration Card. Here are simple steps to apply for ration card online.

1. Click on http://web1.kar.nic.in/rconline/ to apply. If this link is not working, go to http://ahara.kar.nic.in/ and in the middle of the page, click on a scrolling text for New application.

2. Once you are in this page, do read the pre-requisites. Ensure you have all the data required.

3. In the same page, select your language. Either Kannada or English. Once you select the language, it will run you through multiple pages to fill up the details.

4. If you have all the information required, it will not take more than 30mins to fill up the form.

5. At the end, Submit the form. You'll get an option to take the print out of the form with receipt number.

6. Also, an acknowledgement number will be sent to your mobile number filled in the form.

Note: You can find out the status of your application by visiting this link: http://web1.kar.nic.in/fcslpg1/main.aspx. Enter your acknowledgement number and date of receipt to get the status.

You can find more details at http://india.gov.in/howdo/service_detail.php?formid=271

Hyderabad Shared Auto and Bachelors!

noreply@blogger.com (Suresh) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 09:48:00 +0000

Shared auto is perhaps one of the widely used transportations in Hyderabad.

During my 4 years stay in Hyderabad, shared auto is the most used for commute. I stayed in Madhapur, near Hitech city. Whether it was for Cyber Towers or Ameerpet, shared auto was the preferred option. These autos are plenty in numbers and you are assured of a seat. Hence, people preferred it over city bus.

These autos are 3 seater, but these were plying with minimum 5 passengers and the count increases to even 10! You have to see for yourself to believe! Normally, 3 passengers sit in the back and 2 alongside the driver. Yes, 3 people share one seat! I was taking these autos to commute between Madhapur and Ameerpet.

Sometimes, I was getting a seat next to a girl. As I have observed over a period of time, there were three kinds of girls. For first type of girl, bachelors like me were untouchables! Yes, this girl ensures that none of her body parts touch the hapless male who is sitting next to her. She sits as if she may jump out of auto anytime! Second type of girl is comfortable to sit next to a bachelor. She does not mind when two shoulders rub against each other while auto takes turn. There will be extra pressure on our legs to ensure that we do not fall further on girl during unexpected turns. Third type of girl is over comfortable. She almost falls on us poor guys! It’s not only shoulders but also thighs rub against each other! To confess, it was my turn to feel discomfort!

When a group of bachelors wait for a shared auto, and if there is a vacant seat next to a girl, there would be a competition among bachelors to get that seat! The one who gets the seat, flags as if it was an achievement! The competition increases more if the girl looks pretty modern (most probably a student from nearby fashion school!). Other unlucky bachelors envy this lucky man and sometimes this alone becomes a point of discussion.

I have also observed another behavior among girls. Sometimes, I was getting a seat next to a girl and there would be another vacant seat on the other side. When another girl wants to get into auto, she requests me to get down so that she would sit in the middle and I would sit next to her in the corner. There were girls who would just get into the auto and I'm sitting between two girls. Perhaps, this situation was the most tiring as I had to ensure that I do not fall on either side. If I lean by even 1 degree, some girls would stare at me and a kind of look which says "dare you not...".

One day I was heading Ameerpet and I was the only passenger in auto. Near Yousufguda, my auto was stopped by a mother and her daughter. Her daughter was about to get in, mother stopped her, she got in first and then her daughter. Why? Of course, because of that bachelor. These are some of the examples on how we bachelors face humiliation.

Nevertheless, shared auto was one of the fascinating, interesting, and affordable rides! I used these autos to a greater extent till I got my bike!

How To Get Your Work Done Without Bribe

noreply@blogger.com (Suresh) — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 16:30:00 +0000

Here is an interesting article from Jago Party which provides a practical guide to get your work done without paying a bride! Click here for article.

Mutthathi – Picnic spot near Bengaluru

noreply@blogger.com (Suresh) — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 06:19:00 +0000

Mutthathi is a picnic spot on the bank of river Cauvery near Bengaluru. It is approximately 80 kms from Bengaluru city and hence ideal for a weekend drive.

Mutthathi is a small village kind of place where river Cauvery flows. This makes this place a beautiful picnic spot.

How to reach:

From Bengaluru, get into Kanakapura road. Once you reach Kanakapura road, you can see sign board for Mutthathi or Cauvery Fishing Camp. Follow that sign boards.

Once you reach a place called Halagur, get into Mutthathi road. When you are approaching Mutthathi, the road becomes narrower and more scenic.

You can park your vehicle near the river bank and you can take a round shaped boat which will take you to the other side of the river.

Where to eat:

Though local foods are available at Mutthathi, I strongly suggest to pack food from Bengaluru or Kanakapura. Another option would be to have lunch at Cauvery Fishing Camp (Also called as Bhimeshwari fishing camp) which is 5-6 kms from Mutthathi. Both Veg and Non-Veg foods are served at Bhimeshwari fishing camp.

Do’s and Dont’s:

Own/private vehicle is the best and suggested transportation to this place.

When you are approaching Mutthathi, do drive slowly. Road is narrow and bit of Ghat section.

If you are going with family/kids, do ensure that you will leave the place before it gets dark.

Do pack foods like bread/fruits/biscuits so that you’ll never get surprised!

There are lots of monkeys in Mutthathi. Take care of your belongings and never keep the food visible.

Be very careful before you go for swimming. According to local people there are crocodiles in some places. Do take locals’ guidance before you dive for swimming.

Do not litter the place. Always carry a paper bag for all your disposals and bring it back.

Do enjoy the beauty of the nature!

Submission of LPG details with RR Number

noreply@blogger.com (Suresh) — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 08:58:00 +0000

This is for Bengalooreans only! As you might have already heard/read in newspaper, if you are having LPG connection, you have to submit BESCOM (Electricity) RR Number along with LPG details to the government. With the process opened in online, it is easy to submit from your computer. I thought of sharing these simple steps to submit document.

Pre-requisites:

Scanned copy of Electricity Bill

The scanned copy should be saved as JPEG or GIF file in “Black and White” mode. The file size should not cross 100KB. You have to reduce resolution to bring it less than 100KB. Try giving less than 50dpi.

Steps:

1. Go to http://web5.kar.nic.in/fcslpg/. If this page is not working, go to http://ahara.kar.nic.in/ and check for one scrolling message which says “Click here to submit LPG details and RR number”

2. Select LPG Gas company (Indane, HP, BP) and wait for sometime for it to display distributors’ names

3. Select distributor from the list

4. Enter all other details (Fields which are marked in red * symbol are mandatory)

5. Select your scanned copy of Electricity Bill

6. Enter Security Key which is displayed on screen

7. Click Submit and wait for sometime

8. If your submission is successful, it will display an acknowledgment slip. Click on Print button to take a print

9. If your submission is not successful during the above process, try again!

Maruti Estilo - Layman's approach to buying a car

noreply@blogger.com (Suresh) — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 12:44:00 +0000

I bought Maruti Estilo recently. This is my first car. It was not an easy job to select one from the lot! As a layman to automobiles, things went only difficult. But, at the end I had to make a decision and I made it.

Some research:

Once we decided to buy a car, the basic question which came to my mind was “which one”. That’s when my searching started. Before I make a decision on one, I need to know some ABCs of cars. That’s where the power of internet came! I started searching for cars. I visited car manufacturer’s web sites and checked the models and price. Wow! So many models! It confused more than any help!

Then, I started some research to find more about these cars. For that, I took the help of review web sites. In these web sites, you can find car reviews written by experts and owners. There are many such web sites but after careful study, I stuck to Team-BHP. I found Team-BHP to be very professional and un-biased reviews directly from car owners. I carefully studied each and every review report and started zeroing on cars. In the next section, I’ll tell you why did I like/dislike some cars.

By this time, I had decided on a couple of things. One is that I’ll go for hatchback since it is my first car and I’ve to drive it in Bengaluru traffic. Second, my budget. Let’s go to the selection!

Selection of Cars:

Obviously, this requires some patience and time. There are people who go by an advice of others and pick the car. For me, I wanted to do a careful study before I choose one. And this is how I decided. Please note that, the comments I’ve given is purely my personal observations. Definitely, it varies from people to people.

Based on my budget, I listed down some cars and did careful filtering. Here is the list:

Hyundai:

Santro – Though it is one of the successful models from Hyundai, it is pretty old model. So, I filtered it out.

Tata:

Indica – Though the diesel version of this car has got reasonably good reviews, I had to reject it for one reason: It’s taxi image. So I didn’t even look for other variants of Indica.

Chevrolet:

Spark – My wife liked this car. For her, it looked cute. I didn’t like the interiors (subjective) and also it’s Fuel Efficiency (FE) was not that promising.

Beat – I liked it very much for it’s different looks! My wife rejected it saying the rear windows are too small! She’s right! Also, rear seats are somewhat not roomy. So had to reject it.

Maruti:

Alto – Most successful running model in India. My wife was against it as she felt it an old model. When wife says no, there is no much argument left!

Alto K10 – We did have a look at it. This was in the final list and it lost to Estilo as we found it less roomy comparatively.

WagonR – This car has got pretty good reviews in many websites. This has also made it to the final list. We had to reject as it was more boxy in looks (subjective). My wife always called it “Van”!

Estilo – The previous version of Estilo (Zen Estilo) has got some negative reviews. One was on gear box and other was on the looks (subjective). New Estilo has got K-series engine and the front looks have changed drastically. As per reviews, Maruti has rectified the problems which were in “Zen” Estilo. We both liked this car and bingo! The car was chosen!

Estilo was chosen based on my observation on reviews. I particularly went for Maruti for the following reasons:

• Good track record of the company
• Excellent after sales service
• Less maintenance (I spoke to Maruti owners to validate this)
• Better FE (I’m not a speed freak, so I was looking for better FE)

Still, I wanted to get a first hand report of the car personally. And I approached my bro Anoop. As he says, car review is his passion! He sighed a relief as I had done lot of homework before approaching him. So, the only question to him was “What is your review on Estilo?”.

Anoop happily took the task of reviewing this car for me. He took the car for test drive and carefully observed many things and to my surprise came out with a PowerPoint presentation! Wow! The report was very professional and covered many aspects. He had clearly mentioned both Pros and Cons. As I carefully observed Cons, none of them mattered much to me. After a discussion, Anoop gave a green signal to go for this car. That’s it, no more reviews, I thought!

Credits: Thanks to team-bhp for all the work they are doing. It is really a wonderful site to know all about automobiles. Special thanks to Anoop for all! Right from the car review to car delivery, he was constantly guiding me. In fact, he was more enthusiastic than me!

Here is a snap of my car:

Return of Bofors ghost!

noreply@blogger.com (Suresh) — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 12:59:00 +0000

Few days after Sonia Gandhi made a bold statement that her party was ‘prompt’ in acting against the corrupt, Bofors has hit her and Congress very badly. Now, Income Tax Tribunal has claimed that Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi and Win Chaddha were paid kickbacks in the Bofors deal. Ironically, CBI had given clean chit to both of them! No wonder, now people started calling CBI as “Congress Bureau of Investigation”!

If you are still not clear on why or how Gandhi family (not Mahatma Gandhi!) is believed to be involved in the scam, I would suggest you to read an article by renowned journalist S. Gurumurthy titled “Zero tolerance, secret billions”. Author has put the points very clear with source. As he says, Gandhi family has been “silent” on all these accusations. It reminds me a Sanskrit proverb “Mounam Sammati Lakshanam” meaning silence indicates acceptance!

Interestingly, the Karnataka governor Bharadwaj who acts as a lone soldier fighting against corruption, was a Law minister in the central government and he had defroze Quattrocchi account! Not a single word from him now!

Even after so many revelations on Bofors, you wouldn’t find a single discussion on Gandhi family involvement in any main stream media! NDTV’s Bharka Dutt will not discuss this in her “We, the people” program. Neither CNN-IBN’s Sardesai would dare to grill Sonia. Just think what would have been the case, if it were some BJP leaders who were caught in Bofors scam! This is Media for you! And tweeters rightly point out with a tag #mediashame.

Update 3-Jan-2011: The 98 Page Appellate Order on bofors commission - traces the entire Money trail - PDF file judgement on 31/12/2010 can be found at http://bit.ly/hoTYzW. Credit: @centerofright.

Bye Bye 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Suresh) — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 10:50:00 +0000

Today is the end of 2010
But, it is not the end of the world!

New beginning starts tomorrow
And so your life will follow

Forget all your worries
keep the hopes alive

You cannot change what has happened
but you can decide what is going to happen!

Write your own destiny
and let 2011 be just yours!

Wish you a very happy, prosperous and successful New Year 2011!

An interesting fact about October 2010 - Hoax mail

noreply@blogger.com (Suresh) — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 09:42:00 +0000

In this month of October, a mail is being circulated in internet which reads like this:

An interesting fact about October 2010:

This OCT. has 5 Fridays, 5 Saturdays and 5 Sundays, all in 1 month. It happens once in 823 years.

Is it true? A simple and quick check in the calendar shows that it is not true.

If we only consider October, it happened in 2004 and it happens again in 2021. So, we do not have to wait for 823 years as the mail claims.

If we take any other month, it happened in Jan 2010 and next it happens in July 2011.

CyberFunda - Ask and Answer in your language

noreply@blogger.com (Suresh) — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 10:40:00 +0000

You might know there are many websites where you can ask questions and get answers. Some of the popular ones are Answers, Yahoo! Answers, and Ask. In these web sites, you can ask question or provide answer in English.

Gurudeva from HitXP has come up with an unique website called CyberFunda where in you can ask question and also answer in your choice of (Currently mostly Indian) language. Currently it supports 15 languages (Alpha version) including English, Nepali, and Sanskrit. This website is developed using Open Source applications and libraries. You don’t have to register to ask or to provide an answer. But, if you register, you’ll get points for every question you ask, and every answer you provide.

Go ahead, register and share the knowledge in the language of your choice!

Karnataka Politics - Hopeless Politicians and Helpless People!

noreply@blogger.com (Suresh) — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 09:04:00 +0000

As the drama is going on in Karnataka politics, we, the citizen, are feeling totally helpless! After a misrule by Congress and JDS, we decided to give BJP a chance. When we gave chance, it was not for 1 or 2 years, but for 5 years. Who wants to waste our own money for more and more elections!

As things seems to have got settled, problems only started surfacing. Initial blackmailing from Reddy brothers only showed us how weak our CM is. Some tainted ministers were inducted to “strengthen” the government! As reshuffling happened, dropped ministers and other MLAs started blackmailing. It only showed how elected representatives are only interested in making money than serving the people. This was the plight of BJP.

Coming to our opposition, the Congress has ruled (looted) the state and country for so many years that it finds it difficult to sit in opposition. With governor acting like a BJP-hater, things never look easy for the state. Congress even went for padayatra, but we really didn’t hear any positive outcome from it. The only positive, perhaps, was that some of our netas shed some kgs! Congress has never acted as a responsible opposition.

Coming to JDS, the party which does not have any morals or principles left! Even though the people of Karnataka clearly said “No” this party, it is still dreaming of ruling the state! Gowda and his sons cannot digest the fact that they are rejected by the people. They are always trying to dislodge the government and sit in the hot seat by hook or crook! They do not hesitate to seek the support from it’s equidistant enemy Congress. In the recent drama, JDS was seen openly supporting BJP dissidents to dislodge the government.

As we see each of these parties, one thing is pretty clear. Everyone is acting for their own vested interests. No one is least bothered to ask the people what they really want. We, the people have voted each of these MLAs. But, today we are in a back seat. We have become a mute spectator. Unfortunately, even the media is of no help. These media are just dancing to the tunes of political parties!

With all these natakas in Karnataka, the loser is pretty clear. It’s us, the people. But, who cares! We have made the selection and we have to suffer! Long live democracy!

Salary Hikes for MPs - What are the criterion?

noreply@blogger.com (Suresh) — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 11:18:00 +0000

In any organization, salary hike is decided based on the performance of an employee. I'm not sure in the government office but in any typical organization, this is the case. Based on the performance of an employee, hike percentage is also decided.

But, look at the salary hikes for MPs. Government has decided to increase by 3 times! This percentage of hike applies to every MP. We, the people of India, have no idea why and on what basis these hikes were given!

As one of the tax payers, I would like to know what were the criterion used for this hike.

1. Did they take the attendance of MPs into account?

2. Did they evaluate the performance of each MP based on the work carried out in the respective constituency?

3. Did they consider "mannerism" of MPs during the sessions?

4. Did they consider the corruption background of each MP?

5. Did they evaluate how the constituency development money was utilized by each MP?

6. Did they consider whether MP has come up with any new idea for the development of constituency?

7. Did they consider if MP has done anything to improve the living conditions of people?

8. Did they ever talk to people of the constituencies to access MP's performance?

In an organization, without proper assessment employees will not get hikes. Then why is this difference when it comes to our MPs?

Are there any MP(s) who are listening to these questions? It would be great if you can answer to some of these if not all.

tweet4blood - Twitter for Blood!

noreply@blogger.com (Suresh) — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 10:04:00 +0000

Today I got one SMS from my friend seeking a help for his friend's mother. She needs AB- blood and she's hospitalized in Bangalore. At that moment, one thing which came to my mind was Tweet4blood. It is a simple yet effective application which utilizes the power of popular micro-blogging and social networking site Twitter.

If you need blood, just hit http://tweet4blood.com and submit your request. No need to login and no need to register!

If you are a donor, follow tweet4blood at http://twitter.com/tweet4blood and you'll get notification for all blood requests. Currently, 405 people are following tweet4blood (including me!).

Is it not so simple? The credit goes to Thejesh who has developed this application.

Placement of the Indian-Rupee Sign on QWERTY Keyboards - Survey

noreply@blogger.com (Suresh) — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 06:47:00 +0000

Which key combination in QWERTY keyboard do you prefer to input the newly introduced Indian Rupee sign? Voice your opinion!

Indicate your preference by taking this small survey. This survey contains only one question. All you need to do is select one key combination which you think should be preferred location for Indian Rupee sign. You also have any option to type in your own combination.

Click at Kwik Surveys and have your voice count!

Shri Sapta Maatrukaa Chowdeshwari Temple Mysore

noreply@blogger.com (Suresh) — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 08:39:00 +0000

Snaps taken at Shri Sapta Maatrukaa Chowdeshwari Temple, Mysore.
Address: #D-1, D Block, 3rd Stage, Vijayanagar, Mysore

Temple Entrance

Sanctum Sanctorum

Statues depicting Shiva and Ganga

Sculptures depicting Devas on the wall of temple

Sculptures depicting Kailash on the wall of temple

Sculptures depicting Vaikunta on the wall of temple

Snaps from Lalbagh Flower Show 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Suresh) — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 05:11:00 +0000

Here are some snaps of Lalbagh Flower Show taken in August 2009. This year, Independence Flower show at Lalbagh, Bangalore starts from 6th August. Do not miss it!

Time Pass Blog Post!

noreply@blogger.com (Suresh) — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 11:57:00 +0000

[This was written on 15th July]

I'm writing this while travelling to Mysore in train. I just finished reading newspaper. Finding difficult to pass another 1hr. I've nothing much to do, so started observing people around me...

Opposite to me, two ladies in their late 20s are talking continuously in a language I don't understand! I guess, it might be Konkani, Tulu or Kodava.

In the other side of the compartment, four women in their late 40s are discussing about their families and relatives. Among them seated, a young guy seems to be lost! Once in a while, he is staring at those young ladies! Poor chap!

Behind me and diagonally opposite, there's a young mother with his 1+ year son. This cute boy seems to have lost patience sitting for a long time and she's having tough time in consoling her son!

In the next (front) compartment, there is one cute young lady (may be teen) napping on her mother's shoulder. Next to her is a handsome guy, busy in reading some book. He looks uncomfortable with his shoulder touching hers! May be he is bit nervous! Wonder if he can concentrate on his reading! Opposite to that teen is one old man who looks completely bored!

Oh! my train has reached Shreerangapatna. One advantage in the train is one can pass time by just observing co-passengers! Every time I travel in train, I get to see new kind of people! Signing off as my train is approaching Mysore!

Indian Rupee gets a symbol!

noreply@blogger.com (Suresh) — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 07:48:00 +0000

It's official. Indian Rupee gets a symbol similar to USD ($). The new symbol is an amalgamation of the Devanagiri 'Ra' and the Roman 'R' without the stem. And it looks like this:

With this, Indian Rupee joins the selected currencies having its own symbol. Image credit: IBNLive

Now Secured Google Search!

noreply@blogger.com (Suresh) — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 07:32:00 +0000

Ever wondered of having a secured Google search wherein no third party will come to know what you are searching for and also the results returned by the search! Well, Google has it for you!

Welcome to https://encrypted.google.com/

As you can observe, this site is SSL enabled (that is why it is https instead of normal http in the URL). Secure Sockets Layer aka SSL provides a secure communication between your computer and Google server. What does it mean is whatever you search in Google cannot be intercepted by any third-party including your employer! Even the result pages returned by search is secured!

Before you start using the above link, keep in mind the following things:

1. This secured search is only for web search. It is currently not available for say Google Images and Google Maps. You can observe that when you click on the above link: Image, Map links may not appear in the left or top panel.
2. If any of the search results is http (meaning not SSL enabled) and you click on it, you are coming out of secured channel.
3. You might experience small delay in the search and it is obvious because of secured channel. Of course, the results will not get truncated.
4. You may want to know about some technical limitations to SSL at the protocol level which Google has mentioned in their help site.

So, enjoy this new experience! Should I say, Happy Secured Googling!

Future Airplanes - What's in it for us?

noreply@blogger.com (Suresh) — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 09:08:00 +0000

If you are asked how planes might look like in 2030, you might recall some of the pictures from fictional space stories/movies. And you might think the planes look jazzy and super sexy! Well, hold on! This may not be the case!

A research sponsored by NASA has produced some of the designs which might look like any ordinary plane but it would be way advanced when it comes to sound, comfort, fuel-efficiency and more! Yes, some aircrafts may look super cool like this one!

Detailed report on this research can be found at NASA website. If you are aeronautics person, do look at PDFs linked at the end of the report.

Bangalore Auto Woes - Register Complaints

noreply@blogger.com (Suresh) — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 09:07:00 +0000

Prashanth has posted information on how to register a complaint on common auto problems faced in Bangalore. Read the full post here.

I also checked Karnataka RTO web site. In web site, it is mentioned that, Autorickshaw complaints should be mailed to these email IDs: addlcptrafficbcp@gmail.com, acat@kslmd.com, clm@kslmd.com. Note that, these mails will go to Additional Comissioner of Police (Traffic), Assistant Controller of Legal Metrology (Auto & Taxi Unit), and Controller of Metrology.

Easy Cabs – No, they are Difficult Cabs!

noreply@blogger.com (Suresh) — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 11:46:00 +0000

It was a long weekend spending Saturday and Sunday in office. On Sunday night around 8.40PM we booked a cab with Easy Cabs for pick-up at 9.30PM. We also got booking id through SMS. As the time was approaching, there was no call from the cab driver. Normally, we get a call from the cab driver confirming his time of arrival. As there was no call, we called up Easy Cabs number and customer service agent told that we’ll get the cab in 5mins. So, we waited and waited till 10PM but there was no sign of the cab. I again called up the number and the guy who was talking to me asked me to hold the line for a minute and he’ll check the status and update. I waited patiently for 5mins but the guy didn’t turn up! I ended the call and again called the number, this time another guy was at the other end. I vented my anger on managing customer calls and he said he’ll check the status and immediately update me. He again put the call on hold and it went for another 3mins. Sensing that these people have no sense, I ended the call and called another cab provider. The cab arrived within 20mins.

Summary: Easy Cabs are most unprofessional cabs I’ve encountered in Bangalore. I’ve booked in many cabs provider but Easy cabs beat them all! Do take a note of it when you book for a cab.

Top 25 Cleanliest cities in India

noreply@blogger.com (Suresh) — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 09:15:00 +0000

Recently, Ministry of Urban Development published a list of cities ranking on sanitation 2009-2010 under National Urban Sanitation policy. Cities and towns were rated on parameters such as complete elimination of open defecation, elimination of open scavenging, safe collection and disposal of total human excreta.

Here are some interesting points:

> Small towns have fared better than metros
> Kanpur, once most polluted city finds place in Top 10
> None of the cities is listed under top classification "Green" (which requires city to cross 91 points out of 100)
> Only 4 cities are listed under the next best classification "Blue"
> Once plague hit Surat has come third in the list (I mentioned about this city in my article Making Breakthrough Innovation Happen)
> Karnataka state has more number of cities (5) in Top 25

Here is the list of top 25:

1. Chandigarh, Chandigarh
2. Mysore, Karnataka
3. Surat, Gujarat
4. New Delhi Municipal Council area, Delhi
5. Delhi Cantt, Delhi
6. Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu
7. Jamshedpur, Jharkhand
8. Mangalore, Karnataka
9. Rajkot, Gujarat
10. Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh
11. Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra
12. Bangalore, Karnataka
13. Chennai, Tamil Nadu
14. Rourela Industrial Township, Orissa
15. Mandya, Karnataka
16. Bidhannagar, West Bengal
17. Noida, Uttar Pradesh
18. Shillong, Meghalaya
19. Ahmadabad, Gujarat
20. Alandur, Tamil Nadu
21. Haridwar, Uttarkhand
22. Bidar, Karnataka
23. Achalpur, Maharashtra
24. Vijaywada, Andhra Pradesh
25. Kolkata, West Bengal

The complete list is available at India Environment Portal

Google SMS Search

noreply@blogger.com (Suresh) — Tue, 18 May 2010 11:43:00 +0000

This is another product from Google. By sending a simple SMS, you can use the power of Google search and get the results right to your mobile phone. You can send SMS to get cricket score, Indian train PNR status, flight schedules, hotels information on a particular area, stock quote of a company, city weather, definition of a word and more. An interesting note here is, all these SMSs cost you only standard rate not any premium rates!

You have to send SMS to 9-77-33-00000 (India number). Say, you want to know the definition of a word you just heard while moving. Send one SMS to the above number with the text as "define caveat" and you'll get the meaning of the word caveat. If you are interested to know today's horoscope for your sun sign, type your sun sign and send. If you don't know what is your sun sign, just type horoscope followed by birth date as "horoscope Oct 1".

You'll get results as SMS. There are many things you can do using this SMS Search. Check this link for a list of search features available. This is really a handy tool especially when you don't have access to internet but you still want to search in the web!

Do store this number in your mobile device and happy SMS searching!

An Open Letter to the President of India

noreply@blogger.com (Suresh) — Thu, 06 May 2010 14:20:00 +0000

Dear Honorable Ms. President of India,

I’m a common man from India. As I heard the news of Kasab’s death sentence, like any other Indian, a lot of questions came to my mind. As I’m sure that no other person would be able to answer these questions, I thought of asking the first citizen of my country. I know you are very busy person, but still I request you to take some time to read these questions and if again time permits, kindly respond.

I heard that the terrorist Afzal Guru’s petition is still pending with the union ministry to be processed and sent to your office. We do not have any hopes on Union government on moving these files. In fact, we have even lost the slightest hope we had. Can I request you to order union ministry to expedite the process and send the request to your office?

We really do not want some terrorist taking the hostage of some useless politician with an exchange offer for Afzal and our country paying the (huge) price for it. Can you please take a note of it to expedite the process?

Even common man knows what Afzal Guru is and I’m sure you will also agree that he does not deserve to be alive. Can I request you to out rightly reject the petition and order for his death sentence?

Also, I heard that there are nearly 52 people waiting for your assent on their execution. Afzal must be somewhere down the line. I really do not know who these other people are and what are their crimes. May I request you to give special attention to Afzal as I believe, as a terrorist he deserves it and pull him to the front in that list and give the consent? I’m sure no one would really mind it!

As a common people, we are very angry with this creature called Kasab. Killing innocent fellow citizens is very hard to forget and forgive. We Indians, are eagerly waiting for his execution. Whether we look at it as tit-for-tat, or a message to all terrorists who look at our country, we want him to be executed at the earliest. We are sure that one day a mercy petition will come to you. Can you please help us realize our dream at the earliest?

There are some senseless people who call themselves as Human Rights Activists, who are right on their toes to oppose the execution of Kasab. May I request you to ignore these people as their logic does not make any sense in case of terrorists?

We are the citizens of India. You are the head of the state. Whenever we citizens are in trouble, we look at you for your help and assurance. When someone from outside created a chaos in my country, we look at you for your action and help. We look at you for your assurance that everything will be alright. I believe you understand the pulse of your people. You are the only hope for us. May I request you to give a signal to all your countrymen that you will uphold the feelings of your countrymen?

Sincerely and warm regards,
A common man