The healing touch...

Back in 2007, after being posted to Trivandrum, I came home to get Mahek. I also wanted to collect my music collection (around 14 MP3 CDs worth) since I wanted some form of entertainment apart from television. I did not want to haul all those CDs with me plus my disc man (I'll always be grateful to my brother for gifting me one) was on the verge of breaking down. Another reason is that it didn't play the MP3 format. Hence I had this requirement list for a player in my head.

A friend of mine was supposed to catch up at Powai for coffee and as usual she was a bit delayed. Planet M was right in front of me and I decided to walk in. Right at the entrance was this sign which displayed the discounted prices of Apple iPod - a 30GB iPod Video 5.5G was Rs.18,400 Rs.14,400. I couldn't believe my eyes. It was my lucky day. I walked in straight to the counter and picked it up in my typical shopping style. No chit chat, no contemplation, no listening to the sales pitch. I came back home and wasted no time in setting up iTunes and building my music library (something that has lasted with me all these years).

Three days later I come back to Trivandrum extremely glad and excited with my new found gadget. I come to office, open the browser and type in www.engadget.com and wait for it.... splashed all across the site are articles detailing the launch of a revolutionary new product from Apple - the iPod touch. It was nothing like anything the world had seen before. The more I read about it the more I lusted and wanted it to be mine. I quickly opened the Apple India website to check out the pricing details and it was then that I felt a piercing pain rip open my heart - iPod touch 8GB Rs.14,400.

I was devastated (to put it mildly). I had just started reading engadget and I had no clue about the schedule that Apple follows in organizing events to announce new products. There was no point now. I had put down my money and like any good Indian, I wanted ROI from my acquisition. I tried to convince myself that an 8GB iPod touch doesn't fulfill my requirements (my music library was already 12GB without any movies included) but still my heart longed for the touch.

Days, months and years passed by but the desire to own an iPod touch stayed strong in my heart. Generations of iPods came and went - shuffle, nano, even an iPad and iPhone but I still wanted the touch over the iPhone(partly because of it's limiting features as a phone but mainly because it was ridiculously expensive). My iPod Video served me faithfully all along. The more I used it the more I fell in love with the Apple design. But definitely not the accountants and marketing executives who sabotage the products by withholding key features only to introduce them a year later in the next generation of the product thus raking in more money.

My friends were so fed up with my obsession with the touch that they joked about establishing a trust fund called the "Alffrey iPod Touch Welfare Fund". Even marriage didn't help cure my longing for the touch. A few months back I get a call from my friend, who was in UK at the time, who tells me that he had bought an iPod touch. That bugger made an international call to just let me know that. Somehow I managed to maintain my composure and not shower him with the choicest expletives. Yeah and I knew that a new iPod touch with cameras and Retina Display would be available in September 2010 :) which I had already made up my mind to purchase. I didn't have the heart to tell him that he was in the same position that I was in, way back in 2007.

Fate works in mysterious ways. The same friend was later in US and coming back to India in October 2010. Obviously he would get me my iPod touch. At last after all these years I received the healing touch... but as my wife puts it "Iss Apple products ki pyaas ka koi ilaaj nahi hain kya?" I am sure there would be other gadgets that will catch my fancy and this cycle will continue but for now my mind is at peace knowing that there wouldn't be a new iPod touch until next year.

Food: North Indian or South Indian

Being raised by Malayalee parents in Mumbai has certain benefits associated with it. Some of them from the top of my head are

• Non mallu accent Hindi
• One more language to add in your profile - Malayalam (at least the spoken part)
• Ability to have both north and south Indian food (without reservations).

I would like to delve a bit on the third point. Now it may not seem to be huge deal but ask my friends from north who were posted in Trivandrum or Chennai or ask my relatives from Kerala who had to endure trips to the North and you'll get to hear their survival tales.

Both food styles differ hugely and it takes time to get accustomed to it. My friends had to stick mainly to the so called dhabas (even the north Indian food here has a southern touch) for their main course and found their recourse in Maggi during those inevitable bandh / hartal days. For my realtives, it was the presence of fresh coriander leaves in the food which was totally unacceptable (even my wifey is a prey to this syndrome). The notion of having chappati for breakfast, lunch and dinner is another thing they can't come to peace with.

This is where I consider myself to be truly blessed since I have adapted very well to both styles of food which gives me better flexibility while travel or dining out.

Guruji's mysterious hints...

Guruji puts out something called "EYxx" on his blog every year where the xx stands for his age. It's an annual report of sorts which lists down his achievements, failures, takeaways, goals, etc though not necessarily in the same order.

Now I have been reading these for quite some time now and I never really gave any thought as to what EY stood for (in fact its only now that I realised its an annual report thingy) until a recent comment popped up on the latest report asking for the expansion.

I decided to try my luck and left "Evaluation Year" as a reply comment. What happened next is interesting but not really surprising*. Four days later I got my reply

ksp said...

"Nope.

Let's see, if I was Latin, it might have been a T instead of an E."

This guy had posted something on "The Dunning–Kruger effect" with a reference to the following from wiki

"It also explains why actual competence may weaken self-confidence: because competent individuals falsely assume that others have an equivalent understanding."

Notice the words emphasised above...Now you know my position.

Now I have to rack up my limited knowledge of English and come up with a word which fits the bill and validate it against something in Latin (of which I have no knowledge whatsoever except maybe "veni vidi vici").

If you had the patience to read so far I guess I owe you an explanation as to why I wasn't really surprised. I was fortunate enough to spend three years in college with this genius. During the early days (when I didn't know him better) I was hunting around for a piece of code for an assignment and someone told me that Sree had already completed it. Like any other guy in my position would do I decided to ask him if I could borrow it.

This is the interesting part - he tells me the name of a book and its author which has the relevant information about the topic for my assignment and goes as far as to let me know on which shelf in what aisle of the library would I be able to find it. I was not bitter at him in fact I respect him for the fact that he pointed me in the right direction. Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and he'll never starve.

The only reason he asked me to refer a book was since he was already busy with something else. I am sure if that wasn't the case he would have taken the pains to explain it to me himself.

P.S: I am pretty sure he still keeps his work encrypted and password protected if he has to keep it in a LAN folder. Also the security software would be his own work.

To cycle or not...

Almost every other day I visit this blog (right after checking Sree's) hoping that a new post would magically appear but alas I end up disappointed. The fact that this is not a group blog means that its up to me to make stuff happen and anyone who has even remotely known me can vouch for the fact that I am not too keen on taking up responsibility.

Anyway, a post was long overdue and I got a pleasant surprise in the form of "Theme Editor". This is a new feature introduced by blogger and is really helpful for design disadvantaged mortals like me. Of course design templates have existed forever and Akky probably would disapprove of it but I liked it. It helped me change the face of my blog in like 5 secs. Cool...

The real reason of this post is to address my ever growing neglect towards my cycle. I had bought it in Trivandrum with the hope that it would inspire me to start cycling and thus in turn get in shape. But as you can guess, it didn't turn out as expected. In the two years I had it there, I might have rode it 3 or 4 times tops. I tried getting rid of it (selling it, gifting it to my brother-in-law, etc) but it stuck with me.

I had a great time cycling while growing up and I wanna feel the same energy and enthusiasm once again. Bangalore's climate is almost perfect but I just can't drag myself out of bed in the morning (its really chilly). Hopefully I will gather up enough will-power to kick aside my lethargy and begin a new chapter of fun on the road.

I guess all elder brothers dote on their siblings

I guess all elder brothers dote on their siblings... what else can explain the comments above? (I've already ruled out coincidence since that would belittle the emotion behind this post)

*_{Please click on the image to view a larger version}

Before and After - The Facebook effect

The two instances displayed below reached me as forwards but I can't seem to get over the fact how social networking sites have become an integral part of our lives.

Lying to your Boss


Ramayana - Facebook Version

Mini Me in 2010

Lets get two things straight upfront

This ain't an Austin Power movie review and

No, we are not expecting. (For God's sake its just been a year since we got hitched)

The Mini in the title actually refers to my latest gadget acquisition - the HP Mini 210 with Atom N450 (also know as Pinetrail). Its a netbook bought for my parents in Mumbai, since our faithful 9yr old PIII 550 Mhz with an Intel 810 board is on its death bed. Not that it can't be revived but I decided to give it some rest and present my folks with something which won't have me playing the Tech Support guy over the phone (pretty selfish in such matters).

Its a pretty little number sleek, light, beautiful and sufficiently powered (1.6Ghz, 1 GB RAM and 160 GB HDD). Battery life is satisfactory and I can romp around in the bed with it (I still remain faithful to my wifey though). The HP QuickWeb (rebranded SplashTop) is a delightful feature which every computer should have by default. It gives me access to my desktop (albeit with limitations) within 3 seconds from the moment I press the power button. I can check my mail, browse, listen to music, checkout my photo collection, IM and Skype which is pretty much all I need most of the times.

The Skype in SlashTop doesn't support video and that is why I need to boot into the Windows 7 Starter Edition that is bundled with the Mini. The trackpad doesn't support scrolling and the Up and Dn arrow keys are diminutive. Apart from these minor issues I am drawn towards acquiring another one for my wifey (well you can guess who will be spending more time on it though).

I just realized that the design of the screen is awfully close to an iPad.