Shyam's Blog

Bangalore traffic (Photo courtesy:Web) I got a chance to drive around the city in the past few weeks for one reason or the other. It is shocking to see the change of traffic sense in people compared to a decade ago. I am already feeling like I am 2-3 generations older compared to the younger lot. It is the first time after a decade or so I am getting a feel of Bangalore city traffic. Outer Ring Road: Ufffff. Metro construction is going on. It is pathetic to drive on that road from Silk Board to Old Airport area. There is a service lane road that is in very poor condition. When I was standing in a signal, I was thinking, "why are these people driving on such a bad road on service road?". I got the answer minutes later when I got stuck in jam for an hour. I recommend, please avoid this road for the next couple of years. Hosur Road (flyover): Flyover from Silkboard junction to Electronic city is in good condition. But, the people driving/riding on that road are having poor traff...

I keep interacting with teams from China. To talk their language, I sometimes say, "Xie Xie", meaning, Thank You. Today, I got a response to that - bu ke qi. The person on the other end expected me to know the meaning of that :). On checking online, I got to know that bu ke qi means "You're Welcome".

We shouldn't think that India is poor. It has full of money flow everywhere. Let me take an example of street vendors. Do you know how much is it worth annually? $43.8 million. How? In our street (area), we get atleast 10 vendors. On an average, each vendor will have transactions of Rs. 200. It is just an average. Think about Rs. 45 for 1 Kg of green beans, or, Rs. 130 for 1 Kg of apple. Continuing with calculation - just like our street (area), there are atleast 100 areas where such vendors are present. Calculating this per day, and per month and then, annually, I got $43.8 million! Vendors per area = 10 Transaction per day = Rs. 200 # of such areas = 100 (assumption) Money flow per day = 10 x 200 x 100 = Rs. 2,00,000 (2 lakhs ) Flow per month = 2 lakhs x 30 = Rs. 60 lakhs . Per year = 60 lakhs x 365 days = $43.8 million. Taking 10 cities like this in India, cash roaming around in Indian streets is $438 million! I think, I will introduce such a market in US. Forget online shop...

One fine sunny afternoon, phone rang and mom picked up. Let me name the caller AP. AP: Hello Madam, Is this Shakunthala Devi's residence? Mom: Yes AP: May I talk to her please. Mom: Yes, I am Dr. Shakunthala Devi. AP: Oh, Madam. I am so thrilled. My name is AP and I am calling from Vivekananda School in Arunachal Pradesh. We are students of class 10. We got your number from the internet. We want your biodata. Where did you do your primary school? Mom: Kolar. AP: Is that a place in Karnataka? Mom: Yes. AP: Where do you live right now? In Bangalore? Mom: Yes. What is the name of your parents? Mom: S...... and S............ (Spelling those names were tough. Those kids on the phone confirmed it twice!) Mom: Why do you need my biodata? AP: We are doing an exhibition in our school. In one room, we are keeping all the mathematical signs and information on them. We thought of naming that room after you. (Kids are super thrilled to mention this to mom) Mom: I am not a Mathematician you want...

  This family visits us daily. Captured them on camera.

  Tell me who is this?

Visited Taco Bell in Bangalore. Tacos were good. But, they don't have Chalupa :( - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Got up in the morning. Went on a garden walk. Saw that I had something to pluck! Fresh Vokra from our vegetable garden Once I had the raw material, I thought of finishing the product. It was delicious! Bendekai Palya

Saw this on the road ... - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

My wife has started a project of archiving selected photos from the zillion photos taken by me in the past three years. Her main idea is to create a traditional paper album rather than the digital version. I am searching online for tips on family photography. We know that most photographers focus on the commercial aspect of photography, very few talk about the theme of family. In today's world, there are families that put in interest on photography by investing on a decent, mid-level professional DSLR. Being one among them, I want to follow categories that help me click better. Also, there is no better person to shoot the best photos of a family than the one within it. Below are the categories: 1. Toddlers/Kids 2. Travel 3. Events 4. Actions/Milestones 5. Day-to-day I want to elaborate on the above sometime later by providing samples and tips based on my experience.

Visited Innovative Film City, Bangalore. It is a nice place to spend a day as an outing. Entry ticket was fixed at Rs. 499 which didn't include a few attractions inside. We had to buy ticket for Go-carting separately. What did we do? 1. Pottery demo - Wife dirtied her hands in making a small pot with the help of an expert. 2. Go-carting - Son and I did 4 rounds of go-carting. 3. Miniature City - Got a police car from the toy store to make him play in this miniature city. 4. Roller Skates - Wanted son to experience it. He didn't attempt and I had to do it alone for my pleasure. 5. 4D show - Show was about UFO. 10 minute show was just OK. It would have been better if the show had some cartoon theme. Seat-shaking, jet air blowing around, water spraying along with 3D movie is something that is worth mentioning. 5. Had typical Thali-Lunch at the food court. Food options are sufficient to cater to all customers visiting this place. 6. Flying carpet movie - We sat on a ...

Potatoes from our veggie garden... - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A nail had got in to my car's front tyre. When I shook the nail, air started to leak. Without much experiment, I took the car to the mechanic. Because the new i10 cars come with tubeless tyre, it took only 2 minutes to remove the nail and close the hole with the fluid! - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Got one new milestone for our son - took him to the theatre for the first time. Cars 2 (3D) movie was a good option as he loves cars. Meenakshi Mall's Cinepolis was a suitable place for us. After purchasing the ticket, we had paav-bhaaji at the food court. Inside the movie hall, our son was alert for the first 10 minutes. After that, slept off! He woke up at intermission. He watched the full of second half. We have heard that kids become cranky when they are taken to movies. For us, it was a nice experience as our son didn't trouble us at all.

Waiting to harvest potato - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

How will it be to keep 50 million rupees in a bank for a month? With good interest rates, surely a million will be flowing in our pocket just by sitting under a tree. This is what a cell phone company is doing, duping it's customers by over charging and then readjusting in the next bill. Below is the story: I got a call from my cell phone service provider that I have an unbilled usage of Rs. 11,000 and it was a heads-up to make interim payment to avoid disruption. With a long conversation, I explained that this information is bogus and got an assurance that there will be no disruption of service. They were not providing the usage details as the bill gets generated on the 28th of every month. Even with a bill in hand, there are so many people who don't check the bill details before making a payment. Even with a couple of rupees of mismatch, a company can suck millions of rupees due to huge customer base. After 4 hours, my 3G service got disconnected. When I called customer suppo...

There are so many reality shows on TV that people are bored of watching the same type of competitions. Now-a-days, TV has become like democracy (of the people, by the people, for the people). One need not be an actor or a model to be on TV, it is the other way round - you will be made one once you participate in a reality show. I was watching a show on a Kannada channel where 10 singers compete to become a superstar. It is so easy to create such a program that we don't need stars, just 10 young fighting and talking people are enough. The show shows participants jogging, eating, talking, etc, etc. These 10 yet-to-be-stars stay together for 40 days, end of which a star will rise! Who told the program owners that a star can be made in 40 days? That too with unwanted things like jogging in the morning! More than anything, music star is a star by his/her dedication for years in practicing. In the name of music, they are trying to attract viewership.

Visited Bannerghatta Zoo this Saturday. Our son liked the place and had a nice time. Horse ride near the parking lot was his best experience. Zoo timings: 9:30 to 5:00 Entry fee: Rs. 45 Safari package: Rs. 160 Start early to beat the crowd. In the entrance, you will find zoo map. This will help you in knowing the locations of animals. A few inhabitants in the zoo have been adopted by Anil Kumble. Animals to checkout: a few birds, hippo, snakes, crocodile, zebra, leopard, deer, jackal, monkeys, bear. Animals not to expect: lion, tiger, elephant, giraffe, camel. After zoo visit, we had sufficient time to visit Tulip Resorts. This is a OK place, no tulips around though.

  Menthya MoLake` at Home Veggie Garden

Z gave her share of money. So, totally, 24 kopecks were needed to cook. 24/8=3 kopecks per log. Y's 5 logs costs 15 kopecks. His share of 8 will be deducted and will be given 7 kopecks. X put 3 logs, total investment is 9 kopecks. X will get 1 kopeck back.

I was reading a book, "Mathematics can be fun" and found this puzzle: - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Paid BBMP Property tax online. It is very easy and straight forward. Got the receipt immediately! Thanks to BBMP for providing this facility. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone Location: 8th Main Rd,Bengaluru,India

It has been a decade since I came out of college and have seen a sea of changes in the field of technology (especially in India). 1. Digital Camera - This was unheard for me 10 years ago. Now, the whole world takes pictures on digital camera. No film processing and no negatives. 2. Broadband Internet - India has moved from a dialup connection to ADSL since 2001. This has made email and other internet services easy to access on the world wide web. 3. Social Networking on the net - Orkut, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc have made the world come closer. Nobody had ever imagined that friends can be closer via the net. 4. Cellphone/Smartphone - My experience of not owning a phone a decade ago, to a smartphone now, I have seen good growth of mobile technology in India. As per sources, there are 750 million cell phones in India! Nokia was the leading seller long ago. Now, all other players have entered the market with fancier models. Call rates have come down from Rs. 6 per minute to 20 paise per min...

The whole India-Pakistan population was glued to this India vs Pakistan semifinal. Though the match didn't have great drama, it created hype for 3-4 days. News channels were covering it live like an election or a calamity. Facebook and twitter too had its share of traffic. Lots of people took a day off because of 'cold' or 'bad stomach', etc. Many in India halted their work by afternoon to sit in front of television to catch the action from the toss. For me, the match started at 5pm. Indian batting was over by 8:30pm. By then, I thought of not watching the second part of the match. When Pakistan was going smoothly at 100-2, my hopes were going down. In the next hour, I got a message on my phone that the score was 150-6! Though I was sleeping, my mind was partially on the match and was telling myself that India will win if they pick couple of more wickets. In the end, message on phone read, "Pakistan 231-10". Next is the grand final - India vs Sri Lanka in ...

From room window... Morning... Afternoon... - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone Location: New York

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone Location: Cambodia, airport

Visited Angkor Wat last week. It was an awesome trip. Click on above photo to check out the photo album. We flew from Singapore to Siem Reap (nearest International airport). Our guide was waiting at the airport and took us to our hotel. The next 3 days went like a zoom. All our arrangements were done by our travel agent, Chan Brothers, Singapore. Siem Reap is tourist friendly. Guides and shoppers speak basic English. Hotel accommodation is available in plenty with good facilities like gym, swimming pool and wi-fi internet access. Roads are OK. Food for vegetarians has to be managed with rice, soup and cooked vegetables.

Sweets... - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Significance of Singapore flag - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

We visited Singapore zoo today. It was raining heavily when we reached at 11:30am. In the next hour, rain stopped and the weather was suitable for taking the zoo tour. We spent the next 5 hours roaming around and making sure that our little one was not bored. Our son liked the KidzWorld section. There was pony-ride which we initially thought would be tough for him. I told my wife that once we hand over him to the care-taker, he will sit on the horse and continue his ride. My main idea was to show him elephants (Elephant show)! Our dad will surely tell, "oooh, just take him to temple; you will find lot of elephants". It was 3:30pm and time was ticking for our son. Within few minutes of the show, he got bored listening to the story. Having shown him how elephant looks in real life, we started back home.