MS word bug - Time has arrived for our BPOs to serve the customer in Space

I read an article that ground staff are banned from sending MS word attachments to the space shuttle mission becoz of possible anti-virus issues. It looks some bangalorean call centre will soon get a call from space to fix their PC issues. I do not know what is the make of PC used by space mission :)
More here

Online Map services linked to CNET editor's death

Here is an arcticle which says that a wrong route suggested by online map service could have made this Man one wrong turn which ended his life. We had a similar experience when we took the route to MtRainier from yahoo maps in 2003. We met a dead end junk yard and a board saying "we will not call 911 and tresspassers will be met with a gun" kind of boards.
With the kind of blood flowing in our veins, we still called those guys behind the warning boards and asked them the route to Rainier ;)
Online maps are great inside the city, but I believe that the road signs are the best when traveling around the places like US.

iPhone is a reality???

All the people who made fun of me when I got my new Nano, get ready to get it back. If this is true then Sony will learn a lesson about why they should not mix up camera into a cell phone.

Nokia??? Nokia has to learn a lot and more importantly People who buy N series will know how they are being robbed by Nokia.

Motorola - let us whether iPhone can beat the looks of Razr. There is nothing else in the Razr.

Good one about Gujju's - Thanks Sabari for sending this one

An Arab was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital, Bombay for an open heart Surgery. Prior to the surgery the doctors needed to store his blood in case the need arrived. As the Arab had a rare type of blood group, which couldn't be found locally, a call went out nationwide.

Finally a Gujarati gentleman was located who had a similar type of blood group. The Gujarati willingly donated his blood for the Arab. After the surgery, the Arab sent the Gujarati, as appreciation for donating his blood - a new Toyota Prado, diamonds and US one million.

A few years on, the Arab had to undergo corrective surgery. His doctor telephoned the Gujju who was more than happy to donate his blood again.After the second surgery, the Arab sent the Gujarati a thank you card and a jar of almond halwa sweets.

The Gujarati was shocked to see that the Arab this time did not reciprocate the kind gesture as he had anticipated. He asked the Arab why had he only given a card and a jar of Almond sweets.

To this the Arab replied, "Bapu... now I have Gujju blood in my veins!"

Wal*Mart enters India

After started to bet on stocks, I spend sometime watching the business healdine in the nights. The latest buzz is that Bharti and WalMart are having a JV to start retail business in India.
And as usual the comrades have started raising their flags against it. This specific case is very good I believe, It will be really interesting to see how Bharti will solve the complex logistical problems existing in India.
Similar to US are we going to see a bigger Bharti - Walmart store in Bangalore-Hosur, Bangalore-Hyderabad and Bangalore - Bombay highways soon?
I hate big bazaars because of the crowds they generate. The amount of commercial and parking space they have and the amount of crowd they generate are unproportional and sure someone who has been owning pantaloon retail stocks should have got the rewards for this. If Bharti is going to do the same thing then I would rather go to a food world or fab mall closer to my house than driving in the crazy Bangalore traffic to save 50rs and spend 100Rs on petrol.
Anyway All the best to Mittal!

US visa

Recently went to attend the US visa interview in Chennai consulate. Horrible experience this time..
1)Do not go to Consulate 15 minutes before the interview time. It really does not matter where you are standing in the queue, 15 minutes before the interview you will be called to come closer to the security check.
2)Only case when there is no people waiting they may allow you to go inside embassy in advance. But that is like lesser crowd in Tirupathi temple.
3)Elders do no take a noon interview. You just need to enjoy the Chennai climate standing in the mount road if you reach in advance.
It was interesting to know chennai embassy processes largest number of Visas. It is not going to reduce anytime soon. My approximate estimation of the number attendees =
(2*30% of people who went to US on a job) + (1*80% of guys who got married ~a year ago at the same time and working in US) + 10% of the experienced guys who joined in a new s/w company without a visa + 50% of freshers who joined s/w company
That is the minimum, there is hell lot of other industries who also work with Americans. So it is never going to come down.
One more interesting piece I found after my weekend outing with my collegue who is from IIT delhi is there apprx 5 times more people from IIT chennai go to US than IIT delhi. Somebody is listening?

Chennai trip 10/11 - 12/11

First time flew to Chennai for personal trip. Went to visit Sivan's wedding. Sometimes it feels good to do some thing like this for friends.
Rest two days were usual. Went to Residencey towers this towers and they refused to let me inside the Bikes' pub. I did not wear shoes damn it! I did not even wear shoes for my last interview. We went to the restarant (central street?) over there and buffet was really good.
Somebody looking for a good dinner place can go here. Costs 400Rs per person.

Then watched Lago Raho Munnbhai. Movie was good. Still I believe that Gandhi is captured completely in that movie. Gandhi is non violent, but he is stronger than a terrorist in his mind. He is truley extremist towards peace, non violence, freedom of speech. But people make fun of hi just because he will not hit back. I believe that he deserves a lot more. Will want to write a bit more about this a detailed blog.
THis I took a ride on OMR (new name for old mahabalipuram road). OMR has got a new name but it is pathetic. They should ahve named it differently like some suggestions
Lake view road - More water in the road than any other lakes
PTH - Path to hell
My sympathies to the people who travel on the road to reach their office!

Moview review - Vallavan

We saw this movie over the weekend. When I booked the tickets, my collegue advised me to avoid this as he has suffered headache after watching this movie. Since we did not watch a Tamil movie for a long time, we decided to go ahead with the plan.
Movie starts with Simbhu's name coming up similar to Rajini's super star title and has a dialogue for his intro like "pattaya kelappitu irukaaru."
He continues like SJ suryah, tries to be a Kamal and ends like Raghuvaran. It is all just trying out, but he has passed only in the role of SJ Suryah. In the meanwhile there is a mix of padayappa neelambari and dhool sornaa akka in reema sen who is shown as school girl(devudaa). That is the real killer for the audience and it makes you feel like simbhu's role is ok.
Simbhu should realize that, nobody will become a suprt star just because they call themself a super star. Otherwise we can spot him in kilpauk hospital within 10 years.

Hello Bengalooru

Recently Bangalore has been renamed to Bengalooru. Some say it as Bangalooru, Bendakolooru.. what ever it is, it is more local than "Bangalore" Some people worry about brand name. Bangalore is a name of a place rather than a brand.

Brands are always built, so let us not crib about loosing Bangalore. It is better to keep local names for a country like India which thrives on local identities. Previously the names of the Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai have been changed and no brands or no business have been lost. Just call it with whatever local people like and continue to make the place better than making big fuzz about it. More about the name change here

Colours are way of showing up the emotions, people use black to protest, white for peace, red to signal a danger, blue for infinity.. and whether we like it or not we go have to see all of them in our life. I want to paint this blog with the colours of my life. Thanks for coming over here.