Shyam's Blog

We contributed to Earth Hour 2012 by Switching off lights between 8:30pm and 9:30pm IST.

In Bangalore, it has become very easy to watch movies in theaters. There are Android and iPhone apps to check movie timing and book it instantly on our phone. Once we reach the multiplex, we can print the ticket in a kiosk. No need to worry of house-full. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Very few people feel they are passionate about what they do. I am one of them. I don't think I would have become an engineer if I was left to choose my career in-line with passion. My brother and I were doing so many things that Engineering came to us very late in our life as an option when we finished our college. I was checking this website of Karnataka Secondary Education Examinations - here . We were so much in to painting that I am sure we could have made Painting/related art as our passionate career. We had passed the exam when we were in High School. I will surely recommend all schools to have this exam in their curriculum. Another certificate (exam) that we got was Music Junior - link here . Though this certificate was of little importance then, I do feel that we took music very close to our heart. Seeing the publicity that today's generation get in media, I feel that we had very little opportunities. There were many other streams that we (my brother and I) participate...

A seminar was organized In Gayana Samaja today. 10 musicians answered questions from the audience of around 600. This session should have been for people who don't really know music, but it was otherwise. Most in the audience knew music and 90% of them were senior citizens. Don't know if that served the purpose of having this seminar. Highlights of discussion... On fusion music - Panel was open on this topic. Seeing the development of music in the past 5 decades, there is no reason to worry on fusion. If people like it, that will become an integral part of concerts in future. Overall, music is something very big to be made impure. On own compositions by current composers - Nothing bad. If the songs are good, they will stay, else they will perish. On structured way of basic lessons - it is important to have basics right. If the kid has talent, lessons can be taught faster. Also, teaching small songs initially will make the kid interested in music. First duty of a music teacher i...

It was a wonderful experience to be at Annual Day of our son's school (Planet Kids). It is actually pre-school! The program was arranged in Town Hall and it was done very professionally. All kids from age 2 to 5 participated. Our son was part of dance with theme as Sports. He wore the Hockey dress! All the dances were good. Only thing is, it is hard for kids to face a huge audience! They are moody too. Some were even crying:(. Nice thing is that the choreographer of each dance stood right below the stage and did the dance for the kids to follow. I appreciate their patience! Program ended with the National Anthem. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Having problems with my iPhone 4's home button made me to try out iOS 5 to resolve the issue. It took some effort to install it, had a few hiccups on my way. Overall, I got an onscreen Home button. Got iCloud too which I will be trying for the first time. Once installation was completed, my contacts were empty and all the installed apps were closing out before opening. Somehow, it got resolved itself after a few minutes. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

We now have 2 Android consoles at home - one on Touchpad and another on smartphone. I installed a racing game called Racing Splitter. It is a simple game. Both my son and I are enjoying the game as competitors. I have to see myself not to go beyond the limits in playing such games. It is truly grossing, but have to limit playing it with my son. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

It is Summer time in Bangalore and people talk about water and electricity problems. I am thinking of a scenario - what if we share some of these day-to-day problems with the peole in USA. How will they react? Lets see. Mercury News says-Power shortage in Bay Area this Summer. People will start thinking of how they will survive without AC. Few companies have come up with solar power options. Though it costs more, people are planning to invest on solar power for hot water and lighting. With 4 hours powercut everyday, kids and students are requesting their parents to get them emergency lights! So much concern about power has led to companies shifting out of CA if crisis continues. Now coming to water problems... Mayor of San Jose, C upertino, and other counties are holding a meeting to discuss about water crisis. People are told to use less water and stop using sprinklers. Parks and gardens are looking dry with no lawn and mud everywhere. Plans to get water from neighboring states have n...

I installed Android OS on HP Touchpad. It was an easy process following this link - Link . Touchpad is now simply wonderful.

Started playing with a new tablet - HCL ME. With price 1/4th of an iPad, it is worth the features it provides - USB port, microSD slot, HDMI port. It comes with Android 2.3. It didn't have the Android Market and I checked on the net to get it installed.

Hero Pen - Courtesy: Web Dad was searching the whole house for one small thing this morning. He wanted a pen! Do you 'own' a pen in today's world? It has been more than a decade since I owned and used a pen. It has become so redundant these days. Go to meetings, use laptop write notes. Talk over phone, use notepad on your laptop to write down something important. There is very little need for pen. It has become a borrowing item, "swalpa pen kodtheera?". Owning a pen goes back to my school days. I have to write about stories how pens played a role in our lives then. Good pens were saved for the exams. If those pens turned lucky, they would be used only for the exam, and not for class notes. Ink pen, ball pen, and the so called expensive pen, 'hero' pen. Out of reach was Parker pen. My brother hated pens. In first place, he hated writing :). Schools didn't permit using ball-point pens. Only ink pens were allowed in the class. I don't remember him usi...

Was standing in front of a bank this morning. Met the owner of a music recording studio. He informed me to drop by at the studio to meet a popular music director. Went to the studio and met Praveen , a popular music director. It was nice meeting him. I got a chance to do the audition. Would be interesting to work with him in future.

I was checking out our coin collection (Numismatism). Found the below rare ones. 1/4 Anna = 1.5625 paise; Copper coin; today's value=10,000 times. 1 dime=0.1 USD; Mercury coin; today's value=1,00 times. Unfortunately, this coin is a correct one :(. There was an error in 1 dime of 1941 and 1942 where 1942 got press over 1941. Such coins are available on ebay for $900 as of today!

Statement - A taxi driver in the US has better job satisfaction than a manager in India! After reading a few things about motivations to work and related satisfaction at work, I deduced how different it is work in cultures with different environmental setup. Parameters considered: 1. Money - How much of a factor money is playing on their life? Are they achieving their goals? Is money a motivation factor for them to work? 2. People/Customers - People at work place and customer behavior has an impact on job satisfaction. Better these values are, job satisfaction enhances. 3. Work environment - Support from policies, processes, organization system, etc make it a factor to make or break positive attitude at work. 4. Stress (de-stress factor) - Stress creates a sense of fear, in turn affecting performance. Hence, it is a factor to consider. In my calculation, higher the de-stressing value, better is the effect. Driver 1. Money - In India or US, person in this field will be little satisf...

Do not submit bank details online. Today, I got a bogus email (which looked genuine). I got an email to my gmail inbox that I am getting a refund (from Income Tax). Email screenshot I clicked on "To Submit a request, CLICK HERE". It took me to a typical Income Tax Website. I noted the URL (website address). It is a bogus address and is a hacking method! Income Tax Website with WRONG URL Next, I selected a bank and it opened up a page similar to my bank page. Again, the URL is a bogus one. The page looks similar to 'your' bank page. Bank Website screenshot with WRONG URL Do not take any action to such emails. Income Tax Department doesn't ask for any account details via email.

Visited Lalbagh this morning to see the flower show as part of Republic Day celebrations. This was also Lalbagh's 100 year of flower show! The flower show was similar to previous years. I felt that flower show will be lot attractive for Independence Day (Aug 15) because it will be lot greener due to rainy season. Few points for visitors who plan to visit show: 1. Parking is sufficient. No need to worry on this aspect which is one of the major concerns in Bangalore. 2. Food stalls for snacks and icecream are plenty. Only thing is, you should have the habit of eating out. Else, you might feel low on the hygiene front. 3. Crowd was huge as it was a weekend. Don't plan for a picnic during the show period (Jan 20-29th). 4. Crowd management is not the best. Need to adjust a bit. 5. If you are there for the first time with your camera, you will have lots to click!

My iPhone grahachaara (fate of iphone) is not seeming good in the past few weeks. First, it was not functioning as per requirement and I had to resolve it by checking online forums. That same day, I had lost that phone for couple of hours before I found it in office cafeteria. Today, my iPhone was not responding at all. Few minutes ago, I had used the phone and an hour later, it was hot like a pan and was dead! I tried charging it with wall charger. Still dead. Hooked it to computer to restore its life. No response yet. Then, my only rescue was googling for solution. It recommended to hold "Sleep button and Home button" for 10 seconds. I did that and my heart started beating faster seeing the Apple come up on screen. Ufff! Phone is working now. Having costly phones is a big risk in India! I have heard lot of stories of people forgetting phones in restaurants/meeting rooms/etc. I think, we have to come up with solutions to these problems at the earliest. Simplest one is, buy s...

Had this wild spider at the door one fine morning!

My iPhone started off this morning with a bug. When I put that in silent mode, it's vibration feature was not working. My initial check of settings didn't help me much as everything looked correct. I googled online for solutions. I got to know that the motor inside is jammed. To resolve the problem, just struck the phone to my palm a few times. It worked!!! This is similar to many of the 'Indianesses'- starting the scooter being a great example. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

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...