From the Desk of Satba

FIFA 2010 – The Fantastic Four !!

2010-06-06T09:05:00.001-07:00

The most exciting event on the planet – FIFA World Cup 2010 is about to start in another 5 days. The next one month would see lots of discussions, time, energy, etc being spent on discussing, debating, supporting, arguing and what not on the matches, the errors, the goals, incidents, etc. Though India does not have a high ranking football team and may not make it to the World Cup in years to come, Indians are no less passionate about football especially the world cup. There are 3 main regions where football is still a passion – Bengal, Goa and Kerala. While most Bengalis root for Brazil, most malayalees root for Argentina (ever since Maradona scored this famous goal ; infact there is also a milk shake named after Maradona :)). Being a mallu by origin, I have also caught on to this following and since the 1986 world cup (which was the first world cup that I watched religiously along with my dad), when I was just 8 years old, I have been supporting Argentina, no matter they win or lose. I just like their style of play …

There are some rituals that most people practice ahead of the World Cup – and one of them is announcing is your favorites. I had done a similar exercise for the World Cup 2006 (read the article here) and one of the teams went on to win the world cup (ahem !!).

Now for the four teams that I would be supporting this world cup.

Favorite 4: Netherlands

The Netherlands are the dark horse of this world cup. They have always had talented players but havent been able to convert the potential to victories. Somehow the killer instinct has been missing and this time could be no different. However, I like the orange jersey and will be supporting them this time and hoping that they beat the odds to make it to semi-finals.

Possible obstacles on the way (if they make it till finals)

Group Stage: Denmark
Quarterfinals: Brazil
Semi-finals: England
Finals: Argentina

Players to look out for

Robben
Sneijder
Persie
Van der vaart

Favorite 3: Italy

One of the boring teams, they were the surprise package of last world cup playing precision football to win the world cup. Defense is their strongest forte and it is a treat to watch them execute their strategies. Though they are the title defenders, it might be difficult for them on their road ahead.

Possible obstacles on the way (if they make it till finals)

Round of 16: Denmark
Quarter Finals: Spain
Semi-finals: Argentina
Finals: Netherlands

Players to look out for

Buffon
Cannavaro
De Rossi
Gilardino
Pirlo

Favorite 2: Spain

Spain amazed everyone with their display of skill, aggression, defense, etc during the Euro 2008 tournament and ever since they have been one of the favorites to win World Cup 2010. If they continue the same level of play as in Euro 2008, they can definitely lift this years world cup.

Possible obstacles on the way (if they make it till finals)

Round of 16: Portugal
Quarter Finals: Italy
Semi-finals: Argentina
Finals: Netherlands

Players to look out for

Casillas
Puyol
Villa
Xavi
Torres
Fabregas

Favorite 1: Argentina

They have been my all time favorites and even though they are not in the best of their form, they would continue to be my #1 favorite. Argentina is known for aggressive soccer and for me, they play in the most stylish manner. Their hopes are primarily resting on Messi and this could put more pressure on him and could be their downfall.

Possible obstacles on the way (if they make it till finals)

Quarter Finals: Germany
Semi-Finals: Spain
Finals: Netherlands

Players to look out for

Rodriguez
Heinze
Messi
Tevez

My favorites aside, Brazil and Germany could easily make it to the semi-finals. These two teams know how to pace up their play and make it to the semi-finals and have real good chance of making it till the semi-finals. Interesting WC on hand. The best part is that there is no group of death and hopefully the best 16 would make it to the knock-outs.

Who are your favorites ? Let me know ..

Another Re-factoring!

2009-05-28T07:26:00.001-07:00

Another re-factoring ?! Yes, unfortunately true ! Another blog and I would mostly be moving over to that blog. The desk of Satba would focus more on travelogues and reviews on travels. Also dont be surprised if you find more "vertical-blogs" surfacing ...

Catch you soon with something from my travel diaries !

Chao.

My First Vote ... Finally !

2009-04-23T06:39:00.001-07:00

I voted finally ! The excitement was uncontrollable as I came out of the polling booth. I had a wide grin on my face and could not control the excitement. This was after I had almost given up on getting my name into the voters list for the Loksabha 2009 elections.

It was beginning of March 2009 when an advertisement in the newspaper announced that it was still possible to get your name into the electoral roll. After giving it a pass initially, I decided to take it seriously and atleast make an attempt to get my name into the electoral list. The process was simple and hassle free. After getting the necessary documents, I decided to give it a try. My wife also joined me after the initial hesitation. She decided to join me after realizing that I was serious about it and the fact that I might end up voting and she might not !!

April first week and a couple of trips to the voter facilitation centre only led to disappointment as we could not locate our name in the voter's list. The last date had passed by and I thought to myself, "this was another election that I had missed." In an interview to NDTV the other day, Shashi Tharoor had mentioned that he had also cast the vote for the first time and that too for himself. May be I would also do a similar thing !

With just one day to go for elections in Bengaluru the election commission updated the online electoral roll and now we had the chance to search for our names ourselves and voila ... our names were present !! It was my first real chance to take part in the democratic process and did not want to miss it.

April 23rd 2009 11:12 AM; as I pressed the blue button in the EVM to register my vote, I had got one monkey off my back - of not being able to vote! I had cast my vote and I was proud of it !

Exclusive picture from Vishu 2009!

2009-04-21T09:55:00.001-07:00

It is exactly a week since we celebrated Vishu. Here is an exclusive picture from the Vishu celebration.

Healthy Life ...

2009-01-08T08:29:00.001-08:00

A picture often speaks a 1000 words. For me, this indicates a healthy life .. life that requires a healthy body and soul and filled with varying colors that are both bright and subdued but beautiful...

This picture was taken at the Botanical Gardens in Ooty (Tamil Nadu, India) in the month of December, 2008.

Seven Wonders of India - West Bengal

2009-01-08T08:14:00.001-08:00

West Bengal is a beautiful place with beautiful people. I have been to Kolkatta once and was impressed with the varying colors of the city and beautiful people. Most ladies in Bengal have eyes that are really powerful and attractive. However I have not had much opportunity to visit many places in West Bengal but plan to do it some time. Here is Satba's opinion on the options in http://7wondersofindia.ndtv.com/vote.aspx?id=2.

S.No	Place	Description	Satba's Rating (out of 10)	Vote as Wonder ?
1	Hazarduari Palace	Not visited	NA
2	Shantiniketan	Not visted	NA
3	Bishnupur Terracota Temples	Not visted	NA
4	Cooch Behar Palace	Not visited	NA
5	Toy Train	The toy train is one of the most popular attractions in Darjeeling. Infact the toy train has also been declared as a UNESCO heritage object. In 1970s / 80s, this was a popular background for most hindi movies, the most famous one being the melodious song involving Rajesh Khanna and Sharmila Tagore.
6	Dakshineshwar Temple	Not visited	NA
7	St. Paul's Cathedral	Not visited	NA
8	Botanical Gardens and Banyan Tree	Not visited	NA
9	Howrah Bridge	More than the howrah bridge, I felt the ganges flowing below was more worth looking it. It is definitely surprising that such a bridge was built in India during the 60s and since then it has weathered difficult times (cyclones, etc) and still standing tall
10	Hooghly Bridge	The hooghly bridge is a newer one and looks better than the howrah bridge. However this bridge was built for a period of 14 years and completed in 1992.
11	Victoria Memorial	I have seen the victoria memorial only from the outskirts but this is definitely one of the beautiful white marble buildings that I have seen.
12	Sunderbans	Not visited .. but why is this in this list ???	NA
13	Dalhousie Square	Not visited	NA

To be honest, I do not think that there is anything that can be voted as a wonder. However among the list, the toy train and Victoria Memorial could qualify.

Sidenote: A better option would have been "Mamata" ! :) ... Just joking ....;-)

Seven Wonders of India - Andhra Pradesh

2009-01-05T10:17:00.001-08:00

Recently NDTV launched a web site where people can vote for the seven wonders of India. The process has been started with the voting for the wonders of each state. This is available in http://7wondersofindia.ndtv.com and I have already cast my vote. In this series, I plan to reveal the options that I voted for and the reason why they qualify to be a wonder.

I will start with the first state - Andhra Pradesh. I have lived in Hyderabad for 7 years (1999 to 2006) and this period has given me some of the best moments of my life. I was also fortunate enough to visit some of the beautiful places of Andhra Pradesh and have been awestruck by the beauty and history of some of the sites.

Here is a short description of the sites that I have visited and mentioned as options for the vote.

Mecca Masjid:

This is supposedly the second largest mosque in India after the Jama Masjid. This mosque is believed to contain sacred relics, one of which is the hair of the Prophet Muhammad. Though I have seen the mosque only from the outer perimeters, the sight of the mosque would take you to the period of the Mughals. The entire area surrounding the mosque still has an air of the Mughal era. The world famous Charminar is also located close to the mosque.

Bhongir Fort:

Not visited

Borra Caves:

The Borra Caves are located few hours from Vishakapatnam, closer to the Arakku valley. The sheer size of the cave will not be appreciated until you visit the same. Though this cave is sure to impress any geologist, I did not find it interesting. However for a geologist, this would be a natural wonder, but is it anywhere close to the silent valley ? Nah !!!

Charminar:

The charminar has been the symbol of Hyderabad (and Andhra) for quite some time. This is located in old Hyderabad and if you are visiting it the first time, be warned that the visit could turn out to be an anti-climax. This is because the Charminar suddenly springs out from the middle of the road. However, the way the four (Char) minars are placed and the sheer purpose of the monument amazes you. Club the visit to Charminar, with a tour of the old city especially to the hotels that serve you delicious biriyani and you are sure to have an experience of a lifetime.

Ramoji Film City:

Entertainment at its best ! The sheer size and the magnitude of effort that has been put into this project bewilders you. One day might not be sufficient to take a complete tour of this city. The dynamics and technicalities of the film industry are so open to the common man and this makes people appreciate the effort and the film industry.

Tirupati

What makes Tirupati my option for the wonder of Andhra ? The sheer size of everything and the way it is managed would give many management gurus a run for their money. The crowds are unimaginable, but they are managed so well. The Lord himself is decorated so lavishly and the holiness of the place is something that you should experience in your lifetime.

Golconda

Golconda Fort is an engineering marvel and one of the few forts in India that were impenetrable. A trip to the fort is a must if you are in Hyderabad. The light and sound show is well organised and gives you a glimpse of the history. For me, this would be a close second to Tirupati.

Nagarjuna Sagar Dam

Not visited

Warrangal Fort

Not visited

Legislative Assembly

Not visited

Hussain Sagar Lake

This is the largest man made lake in India and is another example of engineering marvel. The lake was primarily constructed to be a source of drinking water but is currently a major tourist hub. The buddha statue in the middle of the lake is the primary attraction. You can take a cruise ride upto the statue and return back. Other places of attraction include the lumbini park, necklace road, NTR Garden, Prasadz IMAX, etc

Lepakshi Temple

Not visited

Ramappa Temple

Not visited

Lantana Furniture : A Win-Win-Win Deal !

2006-10-13T02:48:00.000-07:00

We were just settling down in Bangalore and we soon realized that our hall was totally empty. There were two chairs for visitors, but one of it was broken and the other just about to give up. There was a mat (Kerala "paaya" mat) that took on different role depending on the timing and the context. It was used as a replacement for sofa set, dining table and sometimes even bed ! Well, if it had life it too would have complained about job satisfaction !!

So the hunt began - our first aim was to get a decent sofa set. The main objectives were defined and revolved around.

1) Get a cheap and decent one : There was no point purchasing a costly set unless it is your own house. Hence the hunt for a cheap one but decent one. This was a difficult combination !
2) Easily Movable
3) Re-usable : When purchasing a proper set at a later point of time, this should be reusable.

So, with our objectives defined, we started visiting different furniture shops. For some reason, the cheapest we could find was one for Rs. 30000 and these were all the "spongy" types. We also visited a cane furniture shop and they quoted around Rs. 70K for good looking ones !! Something was wrong with this city ! And then internet stepped in ...

After doing some good research on this subject, I finally zeroed in on Lantana furniture that was being tried out as an output of research by ATree. The products and pictures looked impressive. The cost - doubly impressive !! For a set of 1 three seater chair + 2 single seater chair and a coffee table, the cost quoted was Rs. 2000/- only !!! Cannot believe right ! Even we couldnt and so we set out to check it out ourselves. The research office was situated in Hebbal and it was a long drive from Marathalli to Hebbal. After some wrong turns and tense situations, we finally managed to locate the building. The products on offer were much more that what was available in the net, but the price was the same. After learning a bit more about Lantana and the furnitures, we placed an order. Well, just like the US consulate, there was a waiting period here also and it was for more than a month. But that was not an issue for us !!

After nearly 2 months, we finally got it delivered last week. Though the dimensions and shapes are not the perfect ones, it definitely is usable and much more worth than its price ! So it was a win situation for me. Now, you must be wondering why I had put "win-win-win". For that you need to know the background of Lantana.

Lantana is a forest weed that destroys the forest vegetation and looks more like cane. It is considered to be termite resistant and can be used to make furnitures similar to cane. From the net, I got to know that ATree has been training the tribals to make furniture out of this weed so as to improve their livelihood and at the same time to remove the weed out of the forest. So indirectly, by purchasing this furniture, I have contributed to the preservation of the fragile ecosystem and also helped in improving the livelihood of the tribals. So thats a Win-Win-Win situation :-))

FIFA WC 2006 - Time to sleep after Nirvana

2006-06-21T02:15:00.000-07:00

Of late I have missed most of the matches in this world cup. There are many reasons for the same, the primary ones being.

1) There is no more interest left in most of the groups, except the one in which Italy and Czech are present, as most of the qualifiers are already known.
2) In India, the exciting matches are usually played at 12:30 AM IST (that is not the time for football on "working" weekdays !!)
3) I attained football nirvana after seeing the Argentina vs Serbia Montenegro match. All matches subsequent to this one have not matched my new levels of expectation !

Argentina has so far played the best match(es) and if their players maintain the same level of fitness till the finals, then we can be sure of Argentina taking the cup comfortably. Currently the next best bet seems to be Spain. Netherlands is currently playing in patches and they would be thoroughly tested in today's encounter with Argentina. My expectation is that this encounter would raise the levels of both the teams during the further stages of the tournament.

Coming to Italy, they seemed totally clueless against USA after having a very good outing against Ghana. There was no need for rough play and it almost seemed like they had forgotten to score the goals. The defending was definitely far from being the best and it also led to the decisive goal (self goal) ! Italy needs to lift their game if they are to progress further !

Interesting days ahead and I hope I get to watch most of the matches !! I sincerely hope that the viewership in India for football increases tremendously so that the television houses and organizers are forced to schedule the matches (alteast the exciting ones) during the evening hours (6 - 12 in the night would be fine) and not in the middle of the night !

FIFA WC 2006 - England Disappoints

2006-06-16T03:12:00.000-07:00

Before the world cup began there was lot of expectation from the english team. Though I dont consider them to be the best team in the world cup, I nevertheless expected them to give a good fight and cruise through to the Quarter finals and then let the best team on the day win ! England has lot of stars in Beckham, Lampard, Gerrard, Owen, Ashley Cole, Ferdinand and Rooney ! But their performance has been very disappointing especially in yesterday's match against Trinidad & Tobago. Infact I was so disappointed that I preferred to watch a boring Hindi movie which seemed to be much better than the match !

Against a team like Trinidad & Tobago, one would expect the english to go bang-bang that too when they are loaded with so much of fire power; people who can shoot at goals from almost the half line. But what we saw was a display that definitely had no explanation. I hope the english team wakes up in time for the second round and atleast provide an entertaining 2 hrs of football !

England would now go on to meet Sweden who have played boring soccer so far ! I hope that this encounter doesnt turn out to be the most boring one !!

FIFA WC 2006 - The Craze Continues ...

2006-06-15T01:39:00.000-07:00

17 matches have been completed and all 32 teams have had a chance to showcase what they are capable of ! The tournament so far lived up to my expectations and is not a disappointment like WC2002 where most of my favorites got knocked out in the first round

Best Match So far
Of all the matches played so far, the best one was between Italy and Ghana. It was fast paced and there were opportunities all around and Ghana also fought well. The second best was the one between Argentina and Ivory Coast. Though Argentina displayed superb ball control skills, the match went down to the wire and could have easily gone either way. The Netherlands match was a disappointment as far as the number of goals went. However Spain dint disappoint me at all as far as the number of goals were concerned and I felt that they could have easily scored another 2 or 3 goals !

Best Match : Italy v/s Ghana
Most Boring Match : Sweden v/s Trinidad & Tobago (France v/s Swiss was a close second)
Most Promising Team : Spain
Most Disappointing Team(s) : England, France
Best Goal : Jaziri (Tunisia)

So with the first round in the preliminary group stage being completed, it is time to focus on the next round which would be important for most teams as far as further progress in the tournament is concerned. These are the matches that I would be looking forward to in round 2 of the preliminary stage.

Netherlands v/s Ivory Coast [Netherlands would have to fight hard to win]

Argentina v/s Serbia & Montenegro [Another display of brilliant latin american soccer]

Brazil v/s Australia [Would the Aussies be good enough to match Brazil ?]

France v/s South Korea [Would this be the first major upset of the tournament ? I dont see France winning this one !]

Italy v/s USA [Go Azzuri ! Go !]

Czech v/s Ghana [How much can the Czech dominate !]

The Fever begins today

2006-06-09T02:41:00.000-07:00

Millions of homes would be glued to their TV boxes from today onwards expecting their favorite team to win the world cup. Germany take on Costa Rica in the opening match today and the Germans have to be careful of the openings match syndrome i.e., the stronger team usually loses or draws the match with the weaker team. As per the FIFA rankings, Germans rank just 7 places above Costa Rica (Germany - 19 and Costa Rica - 26). However the rankings would have no meaning during the world cup. The Germans would be under lot of pressure and expectation from the home team whereas the Costa Ricans has nothing to lose and can afford to go all out with the hope of a win ! The Costa Ricans would also be aware of the fact that their group is placed such that they have a better chance of making it to the second round with Poland and Ecuador placed lower down in the rankings. Hence the chances of an upset are real and Germany has to be vary of this !

Yesterday, I was following the discussion on when and whether India would make it to the world cup (NDTV 24x7 - Cricket Controversies) and it made me wonder if it was really worth the discussion. In India, football is fast fading as a popular sport (as far as watching/ following Indian team and football is concerned). During my school days, my dad once took me to the Federation Cup match between BSF and Mohun Bagan being played at the Nehru Stadium in Coimbatore. The stadium was overflowing with spectators and everyone used to cheer and shout the moment Babu Mani received the ball. Those days the following for the sport was huge and people used to follow the Federation Cup, Santosh Trophy, Rajiv Gandhi International Tournament, etc. Nowadays, even newspapers rarely give news space for these tournaments ! The following has dropped significantly and is mostly non-existent in the states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra where this sport used to be played and followed with much enthusiasm. Whatever the reason for the decline, it is sad to see the sport in such a mess in India ! But we always like to discuss such things. Be it athletics at Olympics, Soccer or hockey, we generally remember these sports during importants events and would comfortably forget them and everything is back to square one ! Hopefully, cricket would not meet such a fate in the near future !

Coming back to the world cup, I had talked about my personal favorites in the last posting. But technically (on paper) I feel the following teams have it in them to make it to the last 4 - Brazil, England, Netherlands and Czech Republic. The only common factor between my personal favorites and that of the technical favorites is Netherlands !! :-) Brazil are the strong favorites, but for some reason I normally dont like the favorites winning the cup as it makes the tournament very predictable and takes the zing out of the tournament ! Whoever wins, glue yourself to the TV sets for the next 1 month and ensure that you dont miss a single moment of the tournament.

FIFA World Cup - My Four Favorites !

2006-06-06T04:33:00.000-07:00

The Fifa World Cup 2006, billed as the greatest sporting event on earth, is just round the corner. However, personally for me, the excitement is missing this time with more time being spent in settling down in Bangalore and in the new company. The last world cup was a different ball game with lot of predictor games being played within our groups, gang, etc. This time, the excitement is just catching up.

For me, the last world cup was a disappointment with 3 out of 4 favorites crashing out in the first stage itself and the fourth one (Italy) crashing out in a rather disappointing manner in the second round. This time I have my list of the 4 favorites (personal favorites and not necessarily favorites to win the cup) and I plan to track their progress religiously !

Favorite No. 4 : Espania
Currently No. 5 in the world, this team makes it into my list of top 4 purely because of my attachment towards the country. However they are in very good form and have been unbeaten in the last 21 encounters.

Players to watch
Casillas [GK]
Puyol Carlos [D]
Xavi [M]
Torres Fernando [F]
Luis Garcias [F]
Raul [F] (look out for his come-back)

My Prediction
Expect them to have an easy path till Quarter final where they would meet Brazil or Czech Republic !

Favorite No. 3 : Italy
A poor FIFA ranking of 13, Italy usually has the best defence in the world. However this is being seriously challenged by other countries like England and Italy has a point to prove. Their defence is mostly not matched by the attack which is usually lop-sided and lacking creativity!

Players to watch
Buffon [GK]
Nesta [D]
Cannavaro [D]
Totti [M] - Watch out for him - He has always missed the major tournaments. If he stays on for the entire tournament, he could make a difference
Del Piero [F]

My Prediction
On current form they may not proceed beyond round two where they would meet Brazil ! However if they win top their pool in the first round, you can see them sail past all rounds till the semi-finals

Favorite No. 2 : Netherlands
The orange team, with a ranking of 3, has a real chance of making it to the finals and also winning the world cup. It has remained silent for most part leading to the world cup. However it has a tough path leading to the finals and it would be a real test of character for the orange team.
Players to watch
Van der sar [GK]
Cocu [M]
Van Nistelrook [F]
Robben [F]

My Prediction
They have a good chance of making it to the final and on the way may bring down the curtains on Germany or England !

Favorite No. 1 : Argentina
Always my number 1 favorite, right from the time I started watching the world cups. The first world cup that I saw (live) was the one in Mexico where Maradonna driblled and dazzled to lead Argentina to victory. Since then Argentina has always been my number 1 ! Though ranked no. 9 in the world, expect them to give some great performances !

Players to watch
Ayala [D]
Riquelme [M]
Pablo Aimar [M]
Crespo [F]
Messi Lionel [F] - Hope he justifies all the hype !

My Prediction
The World Cup !! If they end up being runners up in their group, then expect an Argentina - England clash in the quarter finals ! No matter what the opposition, it would be worth to watch all their matches.

Finally, I would love if the final was played between Argentina and Netherlands ! But I just hope that all these teams dont crash out by round 2.

Rebooting from Bangalore

2006-06-06T03:47:00.000-07:00

A lot of water has flown during the last 2 months. I decided to move from Hyderabad and settle down at Bangalore. Settling down is a big word and in the current world it could mean remaining in the same place for a period of 6 months to life long. Moving to Bangalore wasnt that pleasantful !

Packing and Moving
To make things simple for us, we decided to hand over the entire "operation" to a packer and mover company. Though they did a good job, we realized our mistake only after the goods were sent. The entire household items were packed and sent on a Sunday evening and our flight to Bangalore was on Monday morning ! We had to spend a night in the house with no cot, bed, buckets, mugs, etc and lot of dust and packing waste all around us ! To make matters worse, I had also packed and sent my bike and hence there was no option of moving to my friend's place for the night ! Lessons learnt !!

Food @ Guest House
My new company was very generous to offer us a free stay for a period of 2 weeks. The accomodation was a shared one i.e., each family got one of the 3 bed rooms and we found ourselves fighting a cold war when it came to controlling the TV remote ! The guest house had a caretaker who was from Orissa who earned a platry amount of Rs. 2500. But most of his profits came from the food expenses. The food was of the lowest quality possible (for such a guest house) and there was very little variety. Further, the prices were heavily jacked up as he was aware of the allowance that was being provided by the company. His formula went something like this.

Price of breakfast/lunch/dinner/ snacks remain fixed (for e.g. lunch @ Rs. 45)

To get maximum profit, the actual expense had to be brought down sufficiently.

He had to do this because he paid for the food expenses and any profit arising out of this was entirely his !

Coming to the actual food quality. It was mostly north Indian and the main course usually contained dal, dal and dal !! Moreover, coming from Orissa, the food was totally lacking any spice or salt ! It was absolutely dull !

Moving into a new House
Finally, got a brand new house and it was all set for moving in. Only on the day that we moved in did we realize that there were pending works like cleaning the toilets (toilets are usually the last to be painted / cleaned), missed carpentry fittings, messed up electrical fittings, lift that is brand new and hence doesnt work, etc etc. So one lesson learnt is never to move into a new house unless it is your own ! Still gettings things set up like gas connection, water connection, cable, etc etc !

Running around has now become a habit !

Waiting for 3G

2005-12-03T00:17:00.000-08:00

It has been 2 years since I bought my Nokia 6610 and got a GSM based connection. The usage was very limited till the rings got exchanged and the network nearly choked due to the extensive usage of the limited bandwidth. During this period I began to realize that the mobile could be much more than just a simple voice communication device. I seriously contemplated buying some “well-featured” phone until I came across the news about the 3G services which would be launched in India in 2006.

What is 3G all about? In simple terms it is about making available broadband over the mobile. One of the most talked about usage of 3G was video telephony i.e., watch your girl friend laugh in real time, at your not-so-non-sense jokes! ( Well, one of the articles had mentioned that in Japan (where 3G is very popular) the most popular use of 3G is to download music and keep listening to it. Well, what I foresee is that in the days to come you could use your phone as a mp3 player, radio receiver, digital camera, camcorder, email utility, internet browser, organizer, calendar, remote, GPS, weather forecaster, blood sugar monitor, blood pressure monitor, etc.

The definition given for 3G in wikipedia is, “3G (or 3-G) is short for third-generation mobile telephone technology. The services associated with 3G provide the ability to transfer both voice data (a telephone call) and non-voice data (such as downloading information, exchanging email, and instant messaging).”

There are two phones that have captured my attention. One of the Nokia N90 and the other is Samsung Z500. Well, Nokia N90 is truly my favorite and am looking forward to owning one or a better one once 3G is launched in India and then using the various facilities it offers. It might be a better time to throw away my digital camera which anyhow is showing signs of giving up!

A picture of Nokia N90 taken from engadget.com review.

Strange Error

2005-10-16T23:53:00.000-07:00

This was an interesting error message that I encountered in one of the dataone.in pages.

First of all, the service itself was not visible !! But the error says "Visible service does not exist" ! Am confused !!! :-))

On Cloud 9 !

2005-10-16T23:19:00.000-07:00

It was an special occasion in my life and I was the man of the moment. As I entered into the hall which had quite some number of people, I knew that there would be comments all over the lips of people assembled there. It was a moment that would push me to cloud 9 !

I could see people all around whispering to their immediate nieghbours as to how good he looks. Comments like "good match", "super", "good selection" were clearly visible on their looks and I was totally impressed. Though I was asked to go and sit in a room, I did not want to lose this opportunity of increasing my self-esteem :-) I decided to come out and then sit in a place where people would keep looking and commenting and believe me ... it worked !!

I was definitely on Cloud 9 and I am still relaxing there ! You ugly morons !!! :-)))

~ Sathish, from Cloud 9 ! :-)

The Great Gambler - Business Quiz

2005-10-01T10:51:00.000-07:00

"A quiz with a difference !" That was the objective with which we set out to conduct a quiz that would be different in presentation and different in the way it would challenge the participants. During our discussions leading to this concept, one of our main concern (which later became an objective) was that participants generally like to play safe and there is little opportunity for the participants who trail to win the game. Our primary objective then became "Reward those who take risk !"

At the same time when we were trying to put together a format based on the above objectives, I happened to watch an episode on the card counters (blackjack) in the Discovery channel. More than the card counters, what pulled my interest was the very game of blackjack and how it could be moulded into a different quiz format that would meet our objective. A few discussions with Jos and thus was born "The Great Gambler !"

Rules
The rules that had to be framed had to be derived from the game of blackjack and at the same time it should be simple enough so that I would have to spend as little time as possible on making the required tool. But first we had to know the actual rules of blackjack. Wikipedia helped us a lot in this (see blackjack). Based on the rules of the blackjack game we arrived at our own set of rules.

The blackjack value was changed from 21 to 11. The participant could choose a maximum of 2 cards

The value of Ace was fixed at 11

The game would proceed as follow.

All 5 teams would place bets (they would bet on points). A minimum bet would be 10 points and maximum 50 points. The teams can only bet on points that are multiples of 10

The first team then selects a random number from the board (see pic. below) and the card value is shown to the user

One card was mandatory and this card is immediately shown to the participant. The participant would then decide whether he needs to pick the second card

The number of questions asked is equal to the number of cards picked

All questions have to be answered to get the points

Once questions are asked to all the teams, the points are distributed based on whether a blackjack has been obtained or based on the leader. We had to do lot of customizations here to keep the game simple ! :-)

Tools
The main challenge here was to make the card deck and the scoring sheet. Inspite of automating the sheet, Jos had a tough time with it which shows that the game was not that simple to track :-)

Finals
One of my main worry was whether the participants would understand the rules. To my surprise, there were very few questions when the rules were read out. However I am not sure if the audience understood most of the rules. After the quiz, I could still hear people discussing and trying to figure out why someone lost or gained some points. The best part of the event was that the crowd was also lively and tried to encourage teams to take maximum risk (and thereby see them loose points ;-) ). It was fun all the way and it gives some amount of satisfaction when I look back and see that the last three quizzes (Entertainment quiz[2003], Bali Trail[2004], The Great Gambler[2005])in which I was one of the quiz masters, were all great successes ! And now there is a talk of Bali Trail II :-)

Enjoy ...

The Great Gambler - Prelims

2005-09-27T06:41:00.000-07:00

The prelims of the business quiz that I and my colleague (Jos) had conducted in my company.

Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly have their own restaurants. Who is the cricketer who owns a beauty parlour?

It was in 1962, at Gouster, Virginia when the PNB with the aid of National Banking Machines started this for the first time. What are we talking about ?

What is 'Agfa' the trademark for? (Tie Breaker)

In an all time classic advertisement, this product billed itself as “The only school that encourages copying”. Name the brand.

What word is used to describe a equity security that has been converted from a paper to an electronic form?

Which is the oldest stock exchange in Asia?

This scooter also means a wasp in the country of its origin. Which scooter?

During his school days, this famous industrialist was once thrashed by his teacher. He angrily told the teacher something and stalked out of the class. He later made this phrase a recurring theme in the advertisements for all his products. Name the industrialist and tell me what he told his teacher. (Tie Breaker)

Name the parent company of Funskool.

Whose first foray into business was the founding of the ‘Laugh-O-gram’ corporation in 1921 which went bankrupt barely two years later?

Which Indian clothing brand gets its name from Greek for ‘Circle of Animals’?

What was designed by Umesh Rao, a young empoyee of the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency on an idea by Booby Kooka?

This was the classification of the highest quality of ships, by the Lloyds shipping Registrar of the world famous insurance association Lloyds. It has now become a phrase in the language meaning something of superior quality. What? (Tie Breaker)

Identify the logo (Tie Breaker)

Identify the logo

Answers

Harbhajan Singh

Photo Goods

Xerox

DEMAT

Vespa

Rahul Bajaj, “You just cant beat a Bajaj”

Walt Disney

Zodiac

Air India Maharaja

Liberty Footwear

Standard Chartered

Long way to go ...

2005-09-21T23:22:00.000-07:00

I almost made it to Google !!

2005-09-08T06:09:00.000-07:00

I just missed it !! I almost made it to working with Google annd believe me, it was by a whisker ! It was really interesting, everything happening in just one day.

I had never applied for a job in Google but somehow the Google executives managed to find out that I am one among the best available and hence decided to invite me for an interview ! This was a honor for me, to be "invited" by one of the best companies for an opportunity to work in their company. I just wondered if this is what people refer to as "Opportunity knocks on your door!". I gleefully accepting the invitation and the technical interview was a telephonic one which was scheduled on the same day! Mmmm ... no time to prepare but then I am supposed to be the best !

The clock struck 10 and simultaneously the phone rang. In the initial few seconds of our conversation, I could imagine a techie sitting on the other side of the phone banging on two or three key boards with cables flowing all across him and his table ! Once we were both comfortable with the conversation, he asked about my profile and then we were into the technical round. Surprisingly, he said that he had just one technical question for me and I just hoped that that question had nothing to do with the fundamentals of discrete mathematics applied to holistic speech reconginition in a noisy environment ! But the question just stumped me ! His question was "Can you explain how placeware works from a user point of view ?". I just wondered if he knew whether this was an interview and whether he had confused this call with the call to the Placeware support team !!! But this was the question for me and I knew I was making it to google. With total confidence, I described the working of placeware from login to how you can conduct meetings and log out once you are through with the meeting. The techie was totally impressed ! He then logged out of the call after asking me to wait for the call from HR.

It was one of the most anxious moments of my life. I got to know from the techie that there were 3 people who were invited for the interview and only 2 would be selected. Finally the phone rang and it was a conference call involving another candidate and the HR manager. The HR manager informed us that they had selected one candidate and now it was a toss up between me and the third candidate. Both of us had answered the technical question really well (yeah !!) and now he had to choose one. He paused for around 30 seconds and then informed that I am the unlucky one !! The world had just collapsed under my feet and it was as though I was being sucked into an abyss !! What did I do wrong ? Why the third candidate and not me ? This is not fair ... all kinds of questions were criss-crossing my mind ! The HR manager then clarified that I had lost because of the answer I gave for the question relating to my current job profile. Instead of mentioning my job profile, I had got excited and had mentioned about the challenges that I had solved - the nuts and bolts of the product architecture that I was working on !

Excitement had become the bane of the Indian cricket team in the world cup finals and now it had come back to haunt me !!! There was no purpose left in my life. I just banged the table in front of me, but surprisingly the table was soft as bed ! The bottle of water that was placed on the table toppled over and I could feel the water spill all over the room and on me ! Things just were not going right. Suddenly the world around me had gone dark and I was sitting on my bed feeling sad at missing out on the opportunity of not getting into Google ! I could still feel the water that had spilled over on me ! There was sure a missing link ... something had happened ! It was then that I realized .. it was one of those dreams that makes reality look boring. I had just missed working for Google in my dreams ! In another 5 hours I had to go back to the same old job !

When it rains, it pours !

2005-07-26T04:32:00.000-07:00

Hyderabad has been receiving huge amount of rainfall over the last few days. In the last 10 days the city has received around 25 - 30 cm of rainfall and all the lakes have started overflowing. The pictures below, taken today morning, are that of the Durgam Cheruvu lake that has submerged the gardens on the sides of the lake.

Shining through the clouds and blind foldings

2005-07-21T02:00:00.000-07:00

This photo was taken from my office work desk on 16th July !

Going Broadband !

2005-07-08T11:16:00.000-07:00

One more year has passed by and I am 27 ! Numerologists may be excited at this number because 2 + 7 = 9 (considered a good number), my DoB also contains 2 and 7 (it also contains other numbers and if you consider the time, it might contain all numbers from 0 - 9), etc. Not sure if this would be a good year, but it definitely has to be the year when lot of good things have to happen. Now whenever an adjective is mentioned it has to be always relative to something and when I say good, it is relative to the previous years.

An year that is worth forgetting, but that which may not be forgotten for all the wrong reasons ! It was the yeay when work related stress, tension, etc was the maximum. Minimal learning and high stress and that can make you the owner of all kinds of physical and emotional diseases. That is why I decided to start this year by studying the impact of previous year. The reports of the executive health check up were really encouraging - strong heart (I thought this had nearly given up till I got it checked ! Now need to search for some takers ;-) ), organs that are performing at its best in the worst conditions, etc. But that doesnt mean that I can dance around the streets and go around freaking on all kinds of junk food. Body is beginning to show signs of stress and I need to keep a smiling face even if the situation around is not favorable. No wonder email is the best way because I can put a smiling face whenever I like .. here goes one :-)

The previous year was also a disaster as far as relationships are concerned. This was the year when most of my friends went far or wide or both. I also shifted to a new place and now I often end up fighting with my landlady who also doubles up as my house maid ! The previous year also saw contacts with friends being reduced, broken or terminated ! The last one was a tough one but it was something that was well thought out and executed to perfection in the better interests of everyone concerned.

Anymore stress to add ? Well lots - toying with the idea of buying a car, a flat, etc. Finally found myself postponing all the decisions. But I did buy something and that, I hope, would be worth more than the car or a house in the current scenario.

Having seen stress at its peak, can it be any worse ? yes, definitely. I see many people who are more stressed out than I am ! But hope this year (28) would be kind enough not to stress me up and ensure that I keep smiling (or atleast start smiling) ! So far it has been great ! A peaceful and pleasant week spending my vacation in Coimbatore, purchased a new computer and connected my home to the information highway through the broad band services of BSNL and when I am back in office, we have the football, cricket and volleyball tournaments !

Best Kanna Best !
(Signing off watching the clear sky from the Cruise somewhere in the middle of the region north of Indian Ocean :-) )

Breaking the boundaries !

2005-05-04T07:38:00.000-07:00

An evening with a difference, in which the atmosphere was filled with creativity in a location where we were lost in the ocean of some well knit fabric. The occasion was the fashion event organized by the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Hyderabad. [May 03, 2005]

I was enjoying my dinner (Gobi Paratha, Roti, Dal Tadka and home made mallu pickles) when I received a call from my friends who had received the invitation for the fashion event. With no hesitation in taking the decision, we were soon traveling to the Rock Gardens where the event was being organized. Luckily we didnt have to do some serious rock climbing to reach the location. As we entered the event zone, a feeling of being in the clouds swept through us as the event zone was located on top of the rocky hills and the entire area was filled with artifical clouds !

The event by itself was a great display of young and creative minds. A total of 13 winning collections by budding designers were showcased. These included the collections of Megha Sharma, Neha Gupta, Ishita Singh, Seema Doshi, Ritu, Rohini, Srikant, Y.S.Reddy, etc. Whenever I used to pass by the NIFT campus here in Hyderabad, I often used to wonder if these institutions really produced the bright talents that were a class apart. This event was an eye opener, as it proved beyond doubt that the institution produced world class talents who had the right approach and motivation to succeed. And most of all, TALENT !! The collections were wide ranging, from the blooming flowers of the garment world to the earthly garments that could redefine the boundaries of the fashion world. It was an evening where both the models and the garments they showcased competed with one another to be in the limelight !

There were 3 main collections that were truly a class apart.
Flowers
Ritu's collection was inspired by the spring in Hyderabad. Though it is debatable if Hyderabad has spring season, it is worth giving full credits for her creativity. Creativity was present both in the dress as well as the accessories that ranged from the crystal flower to the shining white pearl necklace. The highlight of this collection was the flower shaped dress (I am not aware of the various types of dresses and hence will use the generic word "dress" :-) ) which wobbled in the gentle breeze as the model walked down the ramp. The collection was just out of the world and definitely the most creative.

F1
Shock and Awe ! That clearly was the motto behind this collection. The collection carried in full force the spirit of F1 racing - speed, attitude, and RED !! The collection had a balanced mix of red and yellow leather (not sure if it was really leather but I guess it could have been synthetic or some other glossy material) garments with accessories that went along so well that one hardly could find any criticism with the collection. The collection was from the tables of Seema Doshi, whose dad happened to sponsor the entire event ! (hhmm ... no wonder there were pictures of Seema Doshi all over the stage).

Anhad - Without boundaries
The most impressive of all collections was something that was more ethnic and perfectly crafted. This collection, aptly named "Anhad", was designed by Ishita Singh, who has also won many awards include the best designer award at the 3rd DHL-CIAe International Fashion Awards 2002 in Mumbai. I have often seen fashion as something that can be easily adopted for normal wear and at the same time taking the person to the next level of fashion trends. The best part of the collection was the dress with frilled pyjamas and carefully groomed kurtas with embroidery that was a class apart. The collection carried the peacock blue and sand brown colors in perfect harmony and blended well with the embroidery and ethnic jewellery. The collection could easily become a trendsetter in its own right. In more than one way, this collection, to me, was the one that had broken the boundaries of fashion (among the collections showcased) and had truly reached the stratosphere with no boundaries !

With a little help, and luck these could well be the fashion designers who could be defining what you and I wear in the years to come. Ok if not me, atleast the lucky ones could be wearing. For me a lungi and a banian would be more than a fashion statement ;-).

Well having said all this, I shouldnt forget the special moment of the evening when Kamna se Samna hua !! Kamna, the actress in the "Chod dho aanchal zamana kya kahega.." song, was one of the special invitees in the event and we were awestruck when we suddenly noticed her passing by our area ! She must have definitely noticed me .. us ... err, .. well, its her loss !!

Ok, time to pack my bags to Coorg !!

Chao