Pros:
1) the ac is awesome. It can withstand the summer of bhubaneswar and when the knob is at 1 you can feel the chill in a normal day.
2) the music system. However not providing a usb cable and selling it for 1k odd is ridiculous. The bluetooth is great.
3) Price. I think the price and the features it gives for the price is very competitive.
4) there are lot of other small features which I love like boot opening can be done from the key button.
5) boot space. You get lot of boot space which I guess is highest in its class.

Cons
1) ground clearance. It gets hit even on those indian humps which are bigger than normal. To counter it I just got 3M under body treatment which cost me some 2800.

2) Power windows for rear windows. I dont understand why this is not provided even for titanium.
3) cost of parts. I guess the cost  parts are on higher side. The simple usb cable is 1k!

We started at around 7 30 am, going from NH5 to NH42. I think we reached Dhenkanal the nearest town for our destination at around 10 am, which included breakfast at Chowdwar and a photo session. Dhenkanal is around 100km from bhubaneswar. Our destination Kapilash temple and Saptsajya are 25km and 15 km respectively from Dhenkanal but in opposite directions. We followed a simple route of NH5 and then to NH42.

On the way to Kapilash there is Sai baba Ashram which serves delicious food or prasad just like Jagannath temple of Puri. We booked our lunch and headed for kapilash, there is a Science park and a Zoo (Joo as per Abhijit our Pure Odia) at the bottom of  hill. Tirthankar the only pilot (I am trying to avoid the work driver as he gets angry ) had first time experience of driving on a hill and he drove perfectly. We stopped in between to enjoy and take pictures. My Nikon was begging me to use him, but now he must be a satisfied camera. We tried the jumping phenomenon learnt from my Vizag trip and special potrait pic coined by happy (My dear friend who thinks he has patent of that pose ) After taking pics in all kind of pose we headed for top of the hill.

1

Kapilash is an ancient Shiva temple, I think build in 12th century. People have choice to either come by walking or come by vehicle. Not much of crowd was there, it is usually crowded on Shiv ratri and the season of Kawadias (people who bring holy water and put them on Shiva Linga).

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But the place is ruled by monkeys, they will snatch the food items and they have no fear. After getting darshan Mr Abhijit encouraged us to go “DevSabha” which was some 3 kms still above the hill. And we were bare foot.

2

As per people Lav and Kush Sri Ram’s son were born here and there is a Valmiki ashram, but I dont know the truth. With pain on our feet (remember we were bare feet), we headed up, in between we were also attacked by a big fat monkey to take coconut from Abhijit hand. Seeing the monkey Abhijit just threw the coconut towards me, and with that the monkey also jumped, well I didn’t catch but that #$$##$ fat bandar was gone with the coconut. There is nothing much to see, it would have been a nice with our shoes.

But at the end of day it was a nice experience to remember. We reached back to car at around 1 30 pm and headed back to Sai Ashram.

3

The lunch served at Sai Ashram is similar to food or prasad available at Puri Jagannath Temple. Everything had a great taste and our hunger was making it more tastier. After a satisfied lunch we started for Saptsajya, another hill with Ram mandir and if we still go above a Shiv Linga.  We headed back to Bhubaneswar at around 6 pm and reached at around 7 3opm. The back journey was entertained by Sourav a bengali giving Odia lesson to Pavalam a Tamillian. He was saying “Just add “ANTU” “BHAINA” to any word it will become Odia

Altogether it was a nice experience and good for one day trip. Planning the next trip has also started and the place chosen is “Bhitarkanika National Park”.

But this year I realized that we ourself can file the returns in Just Rs 5. Which is the cost of purchasing an envelope from any post office.

Income Tax department has given us power to efile our tax returns.

First keep your Form 16 provided by your employer handy.

Download the excel file utility from the following link: https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/portal/downloads.do or if you are a normal tax payer i.e a salaried person who invest in saving instruments of 80c and 80D, may be having one Home Loan then download the ITR-1 excel utility from this link.

After downloading the excel utility, enable Macros, the steps to enable macros are there at the first worksheet or Home tab. Read all the instructions.

Now go to Income Details  tab, fill all the details taking help of your Form 16. All the fields are easy to fill. Only one difficult field is “Designation of Assessing Officer” here I filled TDS Assessment Range of the employer value taken from my form 12BA.

After filling all the required fields click on Validate button and then click the next button, similarly fill all details in other two tabs and validate. After that click on generate button, this will generate an XML file. NOTE if you have any refund to get, fill the correct bank name, account number and MICR code (this can be found on the cheque or just google it) in the third tab.

Now register yourself at the following link:

https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/portal/register.do?screen=registerPage1

Then login at the following link:

https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/portal/uploadXML.do?assyr=2009

One need to upload the XML file and then after uploading we will get the ITR V form, just print it, sign it and send that by normal post to the address mentioned in the ITR-V form. And that’s it.

In some day we will receive acknowledgement of the Income tax return on the email id we mentioned.

I got it in around two weeks.

I found that those online tax filing websites do the same. It is better we do  it ourself which is so easy.

On the way we decided to go Pipili which is around 20 km from Bhubaneswar, on the way to Puri. Pipili is famous of its handicrafts works, but didn’t have any such intention to see them, we just planned to have our lunch there and come back. On the way we checked out Dhauli hills where the famous Kalinga War was fought. There is one temple and the Shanti Stupa. It seems that it is made by Japan government. After taking a few snaps we started again towards Pipili. By 2:30 PM we reached Pipili. We stopped by a dhaba which served the worst food.

Puri was just 30 km away,  after a quick thought we decided “Wonga lets Ponga” and by 3:30 PM we were at Puri. Had darshan of Sri Jagannath, Subhadra and Balbhadra bhagvan at world famous Puri’s Jagannath Temple.

This much distance and not going to Konark is like committing some sin. And I was already interested in the drive called Marine Drive. The road is nice which connects Puri to Konark. Both side of the road has mainly Cashew trees, for a few kms Bay of Bengal will accompany. We had a pit stop on the way and enjoyed the sea beach. Konark is around 40 more Kms from Puri.  Puri-Konark-Pipili makes a triangle, means we can directly go to Pipili from Konark.

Konark which has the famous Sun Temple is one of the main tourist attraction of Odisha. And after spending some quality time there we came back and reached bhubaneswar by 7 30 PM. It was nice trip, only problem was we were more comfortable standing than sitting. Hope you understand if you ever had such a long bike trip.

This is not my piece of writing, got this as forwarded mail, and could not find the original writer  of this. Liked it soo much. Read on….

Ours was an arranged marriage. It was done the traditional way. Our Parents took care of everything. My only condition was that she should be ready to work. Our horoscopes and photos were exchanged. Everything Matched. I spoke to her over the phone. We talked about things two strangers would talk. She was a lecturer in Bangalore who felt Chemistry was more important than Hindi movies. There was no engagement. The date for marriage was fixed in 2 weeks as I could not get a vacation after that. Even the vacation time I got was just 10 days.

Everything was fixed. It was supposed to be very hectic for me. We got married and 2 days later we had to leave the country. She cried like there was no tomorrow when we left. She would not talk to me on the plane. I thought that was usual for an Indian girl. I thought she would get over it. Once home she would not talk to me. She sat in a corner staring at the TV. For the first couple of days I had to catch up on some work and did not take her mood seriously.

A week later I sat beside her and asked her, “What is wrong?”

“Why did you bring me here?”

“What do you mean? What happened?”

“I want to go home”

“This is your home”

“No. I want to go home. Please buy me a ticket”

“Look, everybody feels homesick. I did when I came here the first time. It is normal. You will get over it. Sorry I have been busy with work.

We can go out this weekend. You will meet my friends and other people who will be very friendly. Come on be a good girl”

“I hate this place. I miss my family, my friends, my college. All the people I know are not here. I want to go home”

“Think for a minute. Try to reason it out yourself. What is your plan by the way? So you want to go back and never come back?”

“Yes”

“Are you crazy?”

“If you think this is crazy then I am.”

“It is ok if you do not answer this question. Is there someone else?”

“No. I want to go home. I will call 911 if you do not send me”

“First cool down. Think about it. Think about our parents. It is less than a month that we got married and now you want to return home. You very well knew that you had to come here. What were you thinking? Even if you are returning home what happens to our marriage?”

“I am not blaming you. I take the blame. It is my mistake. I can’t stay so far away from my family. If you are so interested come to India”

“I am family too! What you are asking is ridiculous.”

The next day she would not change her mind. I called my folks. They said that it was my decision and they would stand by me. I booked her ticket and put it in her hand the next evening. She was to leave in 2 days.

Nothing would convince her to change her mind. She was crying like a kid. Then she left.

She had done nothing for me to miss but something inside me was telling me that I was at fault. I tried to shake it off but as time grew I started feeling more guilty. I called her. She made it clear that she did not find me despicable but she would not leave her city. Her parents apologized profusely but they were helpless too.

I have had crushes. None of them were serious. There was this girl in my high school tuition whose phone no I managed to find out. Then the prettiest girl in college whom everybody loved, who talked to me once. Then the girl from my city who was at my university in USA who made me feel at home when I visited her place. I had ignored them once I crossed their paths. But Anjali was my wife. I could not ignore her.

I decided to quit my job. I went home. No one back home knew I was returning. I wanted to surprise her. I dropped off my bags at my place and went to the college she was teaching. The gate keeper would not let me in. So I had to wait outside for the classes to get over.

She walked out alone, struggling to carry her bag, tired, with slow steps. She was walking towards the bus stop. I silently followed her and went behind her and whispered, “Do you mind if I carry your bag?”

She was startled and turned to face me. Her eyes lit up. I was not sure if I could hug her. I was smiling and she had a 100 questions written all over her face. “I want to spend a week with you in this city. Show me the things that you could not miss”

That one week went in a jiffy. She was treated a kid at home with all the comforts. That explained her behaviour. Coffee was brought to her in the morning. Even her dress was laid out for her. She would have breakfast and leave. The bus journey was an hour. She would sit near the window with a book. Then once in the college she would teach her classes and come out tired in the evening. She would stand in the crowded bus carrying her bag which would look heavy. Then she would alight, go home, have a snack and would head out to a friend’s place. Some times she’d stay home watching TV or listening to music. When her dad returned she would join him and they’d have dinner. Then her mom would tuck her in bed. Weekends were not much different. She would sleep late, wake up for breakfast and lie down talking on the phone. Then she would visit the temple in the evening and would have her singing lessons. Then she would eat out and would head home late.

That was her life. It was something every human being wanted – simple, content and happy. Of course to her I was a villain. I told her that I understood her. I wanted to know if it was ok if she stayed in the same city but away from her parents. Her only condition was that I should not stay at my parent’s place to which I agreed. So we moved into a small apartment. She knew nothing. She had to be taught everything. She learnt. It was hard to make her understand that she had duties and she had a husband. Coffee had to be brought to her in the morning. She made the rules and broke them. She did not care for me. Sometimes she would not return home but go to her parents’ place without informing me. I would have had to go bring her back.

Slowly she started realizing about married life. She would wake up before me, try to cook, agree for a movie, visit my friend’s place, invite me to her college, let me dress her up, dance in front of me, teach me Chemistry, talk about her crushes, play cricket with me, make me cry for a change. She was growing mature day by day. One day she apologized for the whole thing. I brushed it aside. Finally I had her the way I wanted.

Today I am happy and content with my life. She is still there crying to get her things done. I keep reminding her how she had threatened to call the police. She laughs it away. Some times I wonder how life would have been if I had not returned. Then again some things are left as they are.

That’s how life is..
There are two ways of meeting difficulties:

“You alter the difficulties, or you alter yourself to meet them”

So, what do I what from my laptop,  as I like Desktops, it should be kind of my desktop  replacement which can be carried easily. It should be future proof meaning I should not say after 1 year at least that “Oh!! I should have waited 2 more months to get the blah blah feature”.  It should be able to handle latest or not so latest games ( I do play games occasionally  like counter strike, Serious Sam etc) I do have some games like COD 4 etc which does not work on my NVIDIA 7300GT 512MB card currently in my desktop.

So, after my research I wanted features like Intel Core I5, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, 500GB Hard disk (320GB was also okay), a good screen to watch movies (14 inch or 15.6 inch anything was fine for me),  last but not least, it should have dedicated graphics card which should have fair performance.   My budget was 35k to 45k. The configuration I was searching for was above 40k anyway. Regarding brands, I do like Lenovo and Acer. Other brands are also okay for me.

There are only a few laptops which satisfy my needs. Lenovo Y460/Y560,  Acer 5740G Sony Vaio CW series and E series and DELL Studio laptops. There is one in HP, but that is way too ahead in pricing.

Lenovo y460/y560 is still not launched in India, I have waited long for this one and when found that they are selling Y460 for 1049 dollars in US, I dropped the idea to buy this one. Sony VAIO E series VPCEB16FG/B is a good buy but it has i3 processors and its price is around 47-48k. This can be bought if we ignore the processor, everything else is great and anyway its a VAIO. Dell Studio 15 with 1 GB dedicated graphics card (5470) is good, but I personally don’t like DELL. The graphics card offered is not that good also for the price.

So finally it comes to Acer 5740G. There are different models in 5740 series, I am talking about Acer 5740G with Core i5, 4GB DDR3 RAM, 500GB hard disk space and 1 GB of ATI RADEON 5650 dedicated graphics card. Rest every normal stuff is available.

I bought this laptop yesterday for 43.5K at Acer Mall (IT park at Parklane Secunderabad) including the backpack. I guess I could have got it at 42.5 or 43k at least, but that Acer Mall person took advantage of the situation where stocks of this particular model was over. He took Rs 500 for that backpack which he previously said that it is free. I would recommend to avoid that Acer Mall. But this price is better that Croma or other showrooms. I asked it at Croma and they quoted 45k.

The laptop looks decent, the sample HD video looked stunning. It has numpad which is quite handy. Touchpad has multi gesture but I hate laptop touch pads, I prefer to use mouse. The keys looks delicate but are comfortable. It has 4 USB ports, bluetooth, HDMI port, card reader, DVD writer, webcam. It comes with Windows 7 Home premium 64 bit. Windows experience index is 5.8. I am yet to explore more. Following are some pics.

acer 5740G

acer 5740G

acer 5740G

It all started when we got an email regarding the event and we have to play a virtual paintball on PS2 to qualify. I got 7 and with few others we were invited to the real game. It started around 3 PM (27 March 2010) with intro given by the organizers, the National team Paintball players, . They also showed us a demo game.

Basically there are two teams, you either have to eliminate all the opponent team members or capture the flag (in our case it was handkerchief, they forget to bring the flags). 1000 small yellow balls called the paintballs was given to our team. Fill your gun with them and you are ready. And yes these paintball hurts but its okay, not that painful, all of us were hit and have a red mark left :).

We named ourselves “Sonata Warriors” and were the first of teams to play. After wearing those jerseys we turned into real warriors :). Our first opponent was TCS, and we lost it. For me it was like “WTF is going on?” and suddenly one paintball hit my leg. I had almost hit 50 balls but didn’t hit the person I was aiming for. And before reaching the bunker my team-mates were already there to welcome me :D. Next match I am not sure with which team it was, but we won. Although I acted like a fool running in the open thinking only one of the opponent is left and I can hit him from close. Suddenly one them raised his gun as if he has just teleported himself to the bunker. He hit me almost 4 to 5 paintballs. One of them hit my arm and left its love mark. Anyway our other warriors were quick enough to hit them. Our last match was with Airtel. It was a great match. I was the only left and I guess they were either two or three opponents. So it was 1 on 3. One of them came running towards me, however I hit him before he could. I also took on other two. I am not sure if 1 on 3 or 1 on 2. After 3 matches We had 8 points. But the same Airtel won from our group as they had 11 points. DAMN!. Don’t know who is the winner. Infosys from group B played well, they had 17 points.

Anyway, it was great fun. And if we would have won, we had to purchase the paintballs which is Rs 2.50 per ball. (Didnt think that while wasting them on the battle field). I left after B groups matches. Dont know who won, will play again some other day.

Happy Holi. (I am confused here, when is Holi? tomorrow or on Monday?)

It was just an half day trip as village where my grandmother stay is quite near. Woke up at 5 AM to catch the passenger train to reach BaluGaon. From the balugaon station we took a auto to reach the place where motor boats can be hired.

The boats are not that good, they run on diesel (or may be Kerosene) making hell lot of noise. Even there are no safety measures, no life jackets. I am not sure if good boats run there, but one person told me that there is a place called Barkul where good boats are available. Even there is Panth Nivas, a government run Hotel.

Chilika Lake has lot of islands, we visited just one of the island, named Kalijai, famous for the temple. It took around 45 min to 1 hour to reach that island.  There are some other islands worth a visit like Nalaban. It is a bird sanctuary and heaven for bird watchers. Especially in the winter (Nov, Dec) a lot of migratory birds come to this island traveling 12000 kms, like from Russia, Mongolia. Don’t know who tell the route to them.

There are some other islands having villages, I was surprised to see people taking bikes on the boat, may be they wanna ride it on the limited area of their island. Next time I will explore these island.

It was a nice short trip, and we were back home by 2 PM.

Last two months had been quite busy, August was full of work. And September I was busy with Puja and shifting to my newly purchased flat.

To all those who dont know, I have purchased a small flat around 800 Sq Ft (2 BHK) at West Venkatapurum, Alwal, Secunderabad. Purchasing a property is very tiring, tedious and difficult job. Had to run here and there. The difficult part of purchasing a flat is bank loan, somehow everything got settled and I am now owner of a flat.

Had puja on 27 September and finally shifted on 2nd October. Commuting to office has become a bit easy (now 11 Kms) and got a good internet connection.