Gtalk vs Gmail Chat

The invisible mode has finally arrived in Gmail Chat, though not yet in Gtalk, but looking at the extra features available exclusively in Gmail Chat, it seems to me that they are Gamma testing all the features in Gmail Chat and will roll them out all together in Gtalk... Logically that seems right because introducing new features in Gtalk means upgrading to a new version - much easier to upgrade to a final version instead of multiple Beta versions. Bring it on, I say.

www.itwofs.com

If you haven't heard about http://www.itwofs.com site as yet, do it now; it is a growing collection of 'copy cats' in the Indian music industry. It is updated by one Karthik; so new tunes are continually under scrutiny. You'll be surprised by the songs which are lifted from around the world. Check it out now. And you thought Pritam was a wonderful composer. Pritam is a sham for all the fame he gets.

The clips are in Real format, so you'll need to have Real Player to listen to them. Be ready to hang your head in shame.

AAA Part 5 - US Presidential Elections

If you are confused about the current US Presidential elections and scratching your head, I don't blame you. I will try and give you a crude explanation.

There are predominantly 2 parties - the Democrats and the Republicans. For the Presidential elections, usually a (former)member of the Senate/House of Representatives(equivalent of the Parliament) or a former Governor (or someone with some credibility), announces his/her intention to run for the President's post. Then, each of the 50 states vote who they want to represent their party for the Presidential race(you have to register as a Democrat or a Republican and vote for them; you can't pick your choice in both parties). Depending on who wins each state, they are allotted some number of delegates to a convention at the end of the voting in all the states. Then, the winner at that convention - the one who has the most number of delegates, is that party's choice for the Presidential election and squares off against contender from the other party to become President. Then, voters in each state vote to an electoral college - each state has a number of electors - whose total number determines who becomes President.

An example. Let's say, Hillary, Obama, Edwards, McCain, Huckabee and Romney announced their intentions to run for President. The first three are Democrats, the rest Republicans. Elections have taken place in many states till date, and candidates Edwards and Romney have dropped out because they did not feel they would end up with enough delegates to win the Presidential nomination. When you 'win' a state, you get some number of delegates, now Hillary and Obama have similar number of delegates and it is too close to 'predict' who will win their party's nomination. On the other hand, McCain has a sizeable lead, but Huckabee is not giving up because he is a very very conservative candidate who has the backing of the hard-core Christians(yes, believe it or not there are 'true' Christians in USA today).

The down side of this type of election is that these candidates have to raise a lot of money to campaign - Romney has supposedly spent $40 million to give a shot at becoming President - but now it's no point - so it is a bit hurting to know that candidates spend so much money which is ultimately of no use. This money is raised by the candidates mainly through donations and rarely personal finances(as Romney did).

Similarly, when two candidates are pitted against each other, like Hillary and Obama are, the danger is that the enemity will split the party, the voters and work to the advantage of another candidate, in this case the Republicans. That danger is living out today as the two are pulling every trick to criticise each other.

As for the Vice President, the nominee for President can select anyone he/she wishes - as his 'running mate'. It is usually another person who was also in the race.

The issues in this 2008 elections are Iraq, Iran, the economy, healthcare and immigration.

And that is the Presidential elections in a nutshell.

'Faster Gmail'

Have you ever had a sudden drop in your net speed, causing Gmail to behave ever so sluggishly? I have found this to be the case when I return home from the university, where net speed blazes away. In the normal version of Gmail, it would take forever to open on a really slow network, so I set out to find a solution. I found two - Gmail Html and Gmail mobile. The former is meant for the PC, but the latter for mobiles, but it works out fine on a comp too. Point your browsers for the Html version and here for the mobile version. The mobile version is just the text - so no attachments will open. It is useful when you get a reply and are inching for it but just can't open normal Gmail. The Html version is useful when you have a sort-of ok connection and have attachments. I've found them to be very very useful.

My favourite from Icanhascheezburger.com

This is by far my favourite from Icanhascheezburger.com

The breakaway from the first half of the caption is the best part of this pic.

Really short story series

My really short story series, inspired by Valentine's day. You can guess the type of inspiration from the stories. Do you relate to any of these, by the way?

• Once upon a time, there was a boy. no girl. end of story.
• Once upon a time, a boy saw a beautiful girl. but she didn't see him. end of story.
• Once upon a time, there was a girl. she liked boy#1. and married boy#2. end of story.
• Once upon a time, there was a boy. he approached his dream girl. she tied a rakhi to him. end of story.

PS: Stories will keep appearing as and when they are created.

'Indianised' ads - I hate them

The last Indianised ad which made me switch off the tele and do something else(I hated it so much) was the British Airways one showing that they were increasing their Indian presence.

Exactly what pissed me off was the effort the ad showed the British were taking to say 'Namaste'. Now, whether the actual British individual would like to do that or not, I would say it was out of sync with today's generation. I really don't see young people like myself greeting others with a Namaste. If I ever did that, even amongst business circles, I would definitely be 'the-guy-who-is-still-sleeping-in-ancient-India'. I strongly believe that is one of the things Westeners have in their minds when they think Indian. We try to say Hello and shake hands, they take the opportunity to fold their hands and say Namaste. Don't mistake me - I'm not against Indian values and Indian cultures - but I don't see myself doing what others aren't doing.

On that note, do you ever remember seeing a Tata automobile ad focusing on 'traditional Indian values'? Remember the Toyota-Amir Khan ad where he lights lamps on the river banks at the end of the commercial(he is a muslim, but 'acting' is another talking point)? How about LIC insurance' new-age-ad with a man standing under a shelter in the rain with children playing around making him do the same - or the SBI western-style-comedy series mocking the urban Indian vs the Aviva ads showing the Indian returning from foreign studies married with a pardesi bahu and a kid?

So what I'm saying is, while Indians try to make western ads, western companies try to make inroads by making 'Indian ads'. But the British Airways ad make me fume because it happens everywhere - on a foreign airline air hostesses realise you're an Indian and say Namaste when you almost say Hi :P - once upon a time on Bournvita Quiz Contest, there were two teams from some Indian cities and there was a team from Dubai(Indians of course). The first two introduced themselves with a 'Hi', but the Dubai Indians said 'Namaste'. Now that would have definitely embarrassed the first two teams, and members of the audience. Me too.

And so brings us to the question of who is more Indian at soul - an NRI or a mainland Indian. Probably a sense of longing drives Indians abroad to be more Indian than ever - while the average Indian longs for westernised life. It's been a long time since I've seen Indian tv, so guessing the current situation ain't possible.

Just an afterthought - maybe the foreign companies with their ads are targeting the older generation - and the Indian ads target the younger fellow. Maybe.

Spam, now with Indian names

Now I've started getting spam with Indian names. Until now, spam had only English names - and it was with good reason. If you see the name of any person in the west, it will look exactly like the one in a spam mail. But now Indian names have started cropping up - so that means more Indians are using the net, hence making them a target. Hope we aren't as gullible as the West was once upon a time in opening emails. I must say, Gmail seems to be much much better that Yahoo! in spam control. But even Gmail can't stop one batch of mails - phishing emails. That's because they are sent in plain text from legitimate servers - like yahoo.co.hk, gmail and aol.com. So be careful.. Spam too is now Indianised.

AAA Part 4

Continued from AAA 3

• Most buildings usually have two doors at an entrance - with a buffer zone - to stop the outside weather from infuencing the conditions indoor. So you will have to open two doors.
  
• Almost all areas, 99%, are accessible by the physically challenged. That means all stairs can be by-passed by lifts indoors and ramps outdoors. That means you can take the lift to any floor of the building. This also implies that you can take a roller bag or a huge box on a carrier anywhere, just rolling it along.
• In any restroom(toilets) in a commercial building, you will find in the vicinity of the sink a liquid soap dispenser and a paper-roll/air drier. You are expected to wash your hands with soap and dry your hands with the paper that you roll out of the paper dispenser.
  
• In an apartment/house, in the bathroom, you will not find an open tap. The only outlets of water are the sink and usually the bathtub tap and the shower right above it. That means there is no proper place to keep a bucket and fill water; so filling a mug is not that easy because that bathtub tap is far from the potty. Paper is the only option. One of my friends from Blore was describing how he connected a pipe to the sink and used that. I get sick even imagining that. If you haven't used paper before, you got to do something about it.
• The amount of paper they use is phenomenal. Paper is also used as mini towels, in fast food chains and restaurants. Also for cleaning around the house. That is why the per-capita consumption of paper is so high for USA.
  
• Fast food chains are as common as tea shops for us. Almost every street corner has one.
• I have noticed that all of them do not prepare the meals behind closed environments -you can, to some extent see your meal being prepared. Probably to let the workers know that customers are always looking - maybe this leads them to be work faster and makes sure they don't add 'un'edible stuff in the meals.
  
• All buildings have centralised air conditioning; that means heating as well. So in summer you feel cold, in winter you feel warm. That's a major area of energy usage.
  
• Americans like really weird tastes(at least that's my impression). Cinnamon buns have too much cinnamon in them, Dr. Pepper, which is a very very popular drink, tastes like cough syrup(it really does, I'm not joking), pop(e.g. Coke, Pepsi) have flavours like cherry.
• Tea is a popular drink, not hot, but as Ice Tea and Lemon Tea.
• Gas for cooking and indoor heating purposes is delivered via underground pipelines. Same with water.
  
• My relative told me that most don't build their own houses - they just move into a house already built by an agency or an existing one. I don't know whether you can't build your own house or if it is legally better to get it built by a construction company. But there are all sort of rules to be followed in construction, fire safety rules to be adhered to, so it makes sense to just move into a house instead of taking the pain of building your own.
  
• I don't know how far this is true, but in posh areas, you need to get permission from authorities to keep pets, so that they know the pet has sufficient space and you are sane enough to treat it well.
• There seem to be medicines and pills for each and every ailment -right from depression to kicking the smoking habit to weight reduction.
• The ads on TV are really good - almost all the tricks in the textbook are used - cartoons, comedy, direct speech, truth telling, interviews, cute animals, cute kids... I was really impressed with the pharmaceutical ads - like those for heartburn or some allergies - they have a story running in the background while the voiceover continues talking about the pill, it's side effects, who should not take it, so on. But all say - ask your doctor. Its also obvious that all the effects of a pill must be revealed in the ad - i.e. the ad shouldn't mislead anyone.
  
• The Superbowl(sort of all-America American football finals) is a major event with the highest viewership of the year. Ads are created specially for this even - search on YouTube for 'Superbowl ads'. A thirty second slot sold for around $3 million for this Superbowl, held on Feb 3.
  
• An undergrad classroom is pretty much like as though they don't care if the prof even cares about them - they laugh loudly, make jokes, pull the prof's leg, pretty much being themselves. The profs don't seem to mind too.
  
• How it works is, since the students pay money for the credits they take, they are sort of superior, and they expect value for money.
• I haven't exactly understood undergrad college, but you can take any course anywhere in the college - so history one semester, psychology the next - that is while applying for higher studies one of the minimum requisite clauses states "minimum xx credits" in whichever field you're applying.
  
• People wear anything they want to to class - shorts, caps, t-shirts.
  
• Dignity of labour exists here - there's nothing wrong in being a Spanish teacher or a History teacher.
• Spanish is the a de-facto second language, with signs and labels including Spanish.
• In any University, the de-facto second language is easily Telugu.
• 
  
• School, job and college are just a mixed set - you can finish them in any order you like. School, then college, or job, or both.
• Many undergrads work part-time to offset their tuition fees, I guess they are on their own after school, their decide their own life.
• Similarly, children, engagement and marriage are another mixed bag - it seems you can have children, then get engaged and then married - or the other possibility.
• It is pretty difficult to understand a common American's language(accent) - I have asked a Subway 'Sandwich Artist'(the person behind the counter) to tell me the different kinds of meat they have around 3 times, and they say it so fast and with the accent I still don't know what they are.
  
• It's the same the other way around - they have difficulty in understanding what you say. You have to be ready to say each word slowly, carefully, and spell it out if necessary.
• At fast food chains you will be asked, "For here, or to go?" 'For here' means you want to eat in there itself, your meal will be presented on a plate; 'To go' means you want to take it home and eat it. 'To go' is cheaper by a few cents.
  
• The thing that is really special about America is the bureaucracy - everyone does their job, they take their job seriously, work efficiently - getting a Social Security Number was so straight forward. No bribes, no lines, no hassles.
  
• Another nice thing is the companies take customer service seriously - so the employees try to be at their best.
• The common 'culture' is also nice - holding doors open for the people behind you, saying excuse me when you have to pass close by a person, saying sorry if you are suddenly on the same path, saying hello to start off a conversation - even with an employee across the counter - you just don't start off 'I want a drink' - you say - 'Hi, I'd like a drink, please' or 'Hi! How're you doing.. I'd like a drink, please'. You are on your best manners even if you don't mean it.
• Americans drive on the right side of the road, drive left-hand-drive cars.
• The floor we call Ground floor is the First floor. So the Second floor is the First floor for us.
• Everyone follows the law - while driving, noone jumps red lights, no sudden overtaking, in fact, not many even use their horns.
• Americans have ultimate faith in the law and justice. Not even the President is above law. Only if that were also the case for India.

More, coming soon.

Epitome of Politics

It was 2006 and election time.

All of America was preparing. Most didn't care a damn. George Bush Jr. and Al Gore decided to contest on behalf of the Republican and Democratic parties respectively, after the two of them had a conflict of issues and couldn't talk each other into dropping out. Both candidates were popular all across the nation, nationwide polls were inconclusive. But there was a problem: Bush Sr., Gore, John McCain amongst others had served in the Vietnam war, and all had been reprimanded for dereliction of duty. They were allegedly smoking away and cracking jokes in their barracks when they should have been in the frontlines. They were immediately released from the army by a court marshal; there was no serious punishment and they were lucky to be let off for such serious breach of trust.

Since Bush Sr. had already been President, he decided his son should get a chance too.

Most had forgotten about the Vietnam war; it was a thing of the past and all looked forward to the future between these two. During preliminary rounds of 'feelers', the Bush camp, on consultation with senior members of the Senate, expressed their opinion that given Gore's 'black mark' in the Vietnam war, he should stand down for moral reasons. But as mentioned earlier, Gore's supporters were adamant that the past is past and there should be a fresh start to all things new. Moreover, they thought, the Federal Election Commission(FEC) would not object to Gore standing inspite of the negative marks on his war records. Now senior members of the Senate were sympathetic towards Gore; they promptly passed on discreet information to his party supporters what the Republicans had conveyed to them.

The night before the filing of nominations was one of hectic plans, meetings, speculation, strategy talk - very tense.

The nominations had to be filed in Washington, D.C. and the scrutiny would take place that same day and eligible candidates announced. Bush Jr. filed his nomination; so did Al Gore. And then, Bush Sr., since he was a former President, used his discretionary powers and informed the FEC of Al Gore's 'inservice' to the nation at the time of need. The belief was that since he was let off, there would be no effect on Gore's nomination; however, the court marshal had taken place behind closed doors and the actual orders were bound by the Secrecy Act; so noone had actually seen them. Since a person of Bush Sr.'s stature had raised questions, they decided to look into the matter and opened the files related to that court marshal. The orders were very clear - Al Gore's actions were 'unpardonable', and a black mark had been placed against his name. Now, the FEC had solid proof that Gore wasn't exactly a 'son of the soil', and so, was not fit to be the President of the country; his nomination was rejected. On contacting the FEC, their spokesman said that they would have overlooked the outcome of the court marshal if it hadn't been for Bush Sr.

All work done, Bush Sr. retired to his Texas ranch, being a weekend, to spend time with his wife. The eligible candidates were to be announced later that evening - it was going to be an 'election' with just one candidate - Bush Jr. was to become a rare 'elected unopposed' President in the history of the USA.

And then came the shocking news that evening - Bush Jr. wasn't declared elected unopposed - there was another candidate. What?? Who was it? An independent candidate? Apparently not - it was John Kerry, a little known guy from the Democratic party.

This was politics at its ugliest - or smartest - depending on how you look it - having got wind from members of the Senate, they recognised a potentially embarassing situation - there wouldn't be a Democrat to oppose the Republicans if Al Gore was disqualified - and so the Democrat's 'High command' had decided to file John Kerry's nominations, so that if Gore was disqualified, there would still be someone to challenge Bush Jr. Now that Gore was out of contention, the gamble had paid off - but this was a bombshell to the Republicans - they hadn't expected such complex politics at all - from almost winning the elections to having to fight it from scratch. Investigations revealed that John Kerry had been told to file his nominations without anyone knowing - noone even knew - in fact none in the Democratic party itself knew that Kerry was going to stand. It was that deep a secret.

But, a little introspection reveals that hadn't the Republicans gone to the FEC to register their objections, the Democrats would have fallen flat on their face - they would now have not one but two candidates and would have a tough time convincing the public why they fielded two candidates - confusing them - this would definitely worked in favour of Bush Jr. So, if the Republicans knew the Democrats would field another candidate, and then if they hadn't forwarded their objections, it would have been advantage Republicans - since noone saw it coming, nothing was done - leading to this situation.
However a point missed here was that Bush Sr. himself was part of the 'bunking' group - he had a transfer order to another batallion that night - he said this had prevented him from going to the frontlines. He had escaped the court marshal. In effect, being a part of the tainted soldiers, he objected to his mate to stand for elections.

The late evening brought about a buzz all across the nation - the media had spread the news like wildfire - everyone was talking politics for a while. Charges and counter charges flew - politicians concocted tales to convince their supporters and undecided persons. Meanwhile news also spread that it was Bush Sr. who had presented the formal objected to the FEC, and his long time friend, Saddam Hussein, was behind the secret nomination of John Kerry. The once thick friends, Bush Sr. and Saddam, were now arch enemies.

The candidates canvassed far and wide - not a single city was left uncovered. In the background media spin doctors did their work - the Republicans slamming the Democrats for fielding two candidates to ensure they won, and the Democrats accusing the Republicans of raking up long forgotten issues to kill competition.

And so came election day - not all persons voted though - some were sick and tired of dirty politics. Both parties ticked off names from lists(God knows how they got a list of all the eligible voters when even the government didn't know who was a citizen and who wasn't and if they even existed) to ensure their poll predictions would come true.

That very night the votes were counted; John Kerry, the what's-his-name-again guy won by a considerable margin. The victory party went well into the night and spilled over the next couple of days, replete with cakes, fireworks and treats. Analysis and talk of the win went on for weeks, revealing who and what swung votes to either candidate.

Time has however swept away a lot of the anguish - Bush Sr. and Gore have reconciled - but no wonder Bush Jr. was so adamant on invading Iraq and demanding Saddam be executed. For all you know, Al Gore didn't go empty handed - he won the Nobel Prize, which, some say, should have gone to John McCain.

The elections were very unique for the suspense and surprise value - worthy of a book or a movie. But neither Al Gore nor John Kerry are interested in either.

This reporter too was in the thick of action, but similar to choosing whether to wear formal clothes or casual clothes, he too had to make a decision - he could neither wear both nor nothing, which would make him an idiot. A choice was made - but whether it was to the deserving party or not - that is another story worthy of a 'Big Fight' episode.



PS: This story you will not understand if you were not in the vicinity of 'a Tintin'.

A few real facts:

• Presidential elections were held in USA in 2000, 2004 and to be held later in 2008
• In 2000 it was Bush Jr. vs Al Gore, Bush Jr won
• In 2004 it was Bush Jr. vs John Kerry, Bush Jr won
• Bush Sr. and Al Gore were never in trouble in Vietnam.
  

Shaun Pollock - a legendary marksman

It is with a heavy heart that I wish farewell to Shaun Pollock - one of the greatest marksmen in the game. Rather than his wickets it was his preciseness that perturbed many - not to mention his useful runs with the bat. Pollock I will remember for his distinctive action and superb swing bowling which was always bang on target. He was a treat to watch.

He had a fairy-tale send-off, with him hitting the winning runs in the final ODI and his team whitewashing West Indies 5-0. A great guy he was.

Takes on the Microsoft-Yahoo merger

Status message from a Yahoo employee: Aishwarya is being forced to marry Om Puri, by her parents with a dowry of $44bn. A bit too much, I'd say, but that might be due to the high emotions

Status message from a Microsoft employee: Yacrosoft, Microhoo! I wonder which name they'd settle on....

Comment a long time back from another friend, on the 'popularity' of Yahoo messenger: Only Yahoo! employees use Yahoo messenger. A bit cheeky, I'd say

Status message from another software professional: Google-Yahoo :) Yes..Microsoft Go to Hell

If you think you need to be credited with the comments, contact me.

This is an awesome cartoon from The Politico

Scientology... cult or religion?

Scientology has once again come back into the attention of the media and the public - this time when a video, which was supposedly only for closed circulation, got into the hands of journalists, and became quite a sensation. A major part is based on Tom Cruise - who is a believer of Scientology - partly in an interview and partly in an acceptance speech of an award at some Scientology function. Now the video itself is harmless - Tom goes on beating around the bush and most of the video isn't about anything specific - it just talks about how you can be a better Scientologist, being a follower,..... To sum up what is said in the video, the best words would be - nothing at all! However the controversy isn't in only in that video - the Church of Scientology wants the video taken down because they claim it's a copyright infringement and was meant for distribution only amongst its followers.

And then came a group "Anonymous". They said they were fed up with the actions of the Church and were going to "wage a war against them". They uploaded videos, and they the wide view is that they are hackers, because on the day they announced their "declaration of war", they brought down the Scientology website. They plan for further 'action' on coming days, supposedly on Feb 10 there will be a 'mega uprising'.

From these observations Scientology seems to be a victim of hackers for all the wrong reasons and might be passed off as 'another religion'. The entry in Wikipedia on Scientology is pretty boring, just discusses the beliefs, values and so on. But other entries, raise questions as to the intended nature of this 'religion'. Germany is planning to ban this 'religion', so Tom could be arrested if he goes there after it is banned. Read these entries and decide if Scientology is good or bad. If you remember, there was a furore over a BBC journalist shouting at a Scientologist - and the video became famous as proof of media going out of bounds - but now, claims by the journalist - who was investigating Scientology, that he was followed wherever he went and at times harassed, seem credible. I would not like to place negative charges against Scientology, read these articles and follow-ups to gain more information.
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ICANHASCHEEZBURGER?

ICANHASCHEEZBURGER.com is a wonderful site. It is full of lolcats - images of cats(mainly) and other animals with captions, which makes for a hilarious combination. It has many many images, so it makes for wonder ful timepass. It has a "Make Me Laff!" button, which is for random pictures.

The language used in it is purposely in broken english and grammar - it is supposed to be the way a kitten speaks. So kitten becomes kitteh, food becomes fud - it's fun to read. The pics on the main site are so good becuase not all pictures uploaded are featured - users vote on pictures and only the best are featured. A very nice idea. About 5-6 pictures come up each day.

I look to that site to lift my spirits. Hope you like it too.

When the iPhone comes to India

"If you want an iPhone, you will have to buy the phone for $399(as of date of this post) and take a 2-year contract with AT&T with a minimum of $59 monthly charges. Apple allegedly arm-twisted AT&T into an agreement skewed in favour of themselves, but that is a story worth of another blog post altogether. This why some predict this business model to fail in India - but they will simply do what they did in France - sell it for regular price bundled with a post paid connection and sell it for a much higher price for use on any other network. Let's see how this 'prediction' ends up."

This is from my earlier post on AAA2. The talks between Apple and China Mobile(China's largest telecom company with about 350 million subscribers) on a revenue-sharing agreement failed as of date of this post, because the Chinese don't agree to such an agreement(It is speculated that Apple gets about $10 per month per iPhone from AT&T), because, "they don't share revenue". Apple is after China because it means a huge potential for growth and also meeting the goal of selling 10 million phones in 2008. But with the agreement failing, the release of the iPhone in China will be delayed.

Why I am talking about China is because the Indian market is also unique - most of us have pre-paid mobiles, and tying a phone with a 2 year contract is unheard in India - it might not be a popular move amongst us when we like to make our own choice of phone and service provider - and change it at will. But it may take till June or even later for the iPhone to be released in India.

One major concern for Apple after the discovery that 1 in 4 iPhones sold in USA is unlocked to be sold in other continents - is that they are losing potential revenue. It might seem easy to tell them to crank up the price and sell unlocked phones itself, but then it will make AT&T look like an idiot - because they have signed an exclusive 5 year contract with Apple. Wow. On the other hand is Wall Street. Apple's investors apparently want a secured source of revenue and definitely Apple's share price will plummet if it starts selling iPhones without contracts, because it will send out signals that Apple is desparate to sell and neglecting profit. I still haven't really understood Wall Street. Google's shares dropped slightly last week, inspite of beating it's own records, because it didn't meet Wall Street's expectations. In simple words, Google got 99.5 out of 100 with the class average being say85, but Wall Street wanted it to be 99.8. So Google's share prices fell. ??

So coming back to the iPhone, reports are galore that unlocked iPhones are available in India as in other countries - albeit at a higher cost. Even in the US, unlocked iPhones are offered on eBay - for about double the cost. Apple is not far behind, coming up with software updates to ensure unlocking is not possible.

Apple chose AT&T because it wanted a 'national' presence. So the best guess for Apple in India should be BSNL - or Airtel - if they go in for a contract that is. Edge/3G is still in its nascent stages in India - so is internet on mobiles(its not as widespread). So Google Maps and email functions will be useless. Indians also don't predominantly use iPods or music machines on the move - so the iPhone will be bought just for the sake of ishtyle. I am keeping in mind the common man also when I say they don't use internet/iPods, because I have seen second hand Nokia 6600s on sale because people bought it to show off but sold it because it was too complex for them to operate. So, among the hip-hop youth it will be a hit. The iPhone as yet doesn't have Bluetooth or touch-dialing functions, so we can hope they will be implemented soon. Going by the trend, I guess the cost of the iPhone will always be around $400-$500, and will not fall, because they will keep introducing new features and phase out the earlier models.

Apple may offer a contract version and an unlocked version at a higher cost - a good idea - but it will have to do it quickly if IT wants to make money rather than hackers making money. The iPhone makes an entry on my first ever wishlist.

Cylinder konja thalli veinga...

Place: First year class, CEESAT lab

Scene: Hacker sitting behind the second row of girls so that he can 'enjoy' in the company of girls(after all he has just come to college, where one should enjoy life). Knight and Nattu with him.

Action: Srividya from Bangalore is sitting in the second row. She's exactly the opposite size of Monica; you would probably look at her and ask, "Does your father own a glass factory?" So it is natural, when Hacker says loudly, "Cylinder konja thalli veinga", maybe the poor fellow couldn't see at all, or maybe he couldn't move around, given his own size, or maybe he just wanted to take advantage of a Kandu girl by making fun of her in Sentamizh she didn't know.

Reaction: To his astonishment SV turns around, gives a cold stare and looks ahead. Hmmmm... Looks like she enjoyed the comment. Poor Hacker didn't know that SV knew Thambi language even though she was from Kandu land. And so Hacker slipped away realising his cover had been blown. I don't think he has ever had the courage to talk to her again.

Nattu - my eternal Hero

Even if I'd emptied an oceans' worth of words here, it wouldn't be enough to express the admiration and reverence I have for Nattu. I was in his section in First year, the same hostels as he was in in subsequent years. It is his love for life that leaves me introspecting what the real purpose of life is and if we should squander it away buried in books that would never be touched in the future. A laid back approach to all things surreal, he was always jolly - come sad days, bad days, any days, the corridors of the first floor, east wing would always be filled with the kookaburra laughter. At the receiving end would be usually Pallu, Knight, Babu or Mamu - that pretty much is the entire wing actually - some weird joke as usual.. I remember Nattu having a good time telling a joke about Cecil - apparently he called up Cecil's mob, who was sitting in the first bench, and it wasn't on silent - and rang right in front of the professor. The fun part was when Nattu called and the mob rang again - Cecil hadn't bothered to put it on silent.
Nattu was quite a team player...or should I say, PaaYum PuLi or "Ja**ikkul kutti veeran" that he was, seemed to help others pretty well. AOE, then CS, then Dota. Of course, I was Second person shooter, that best described my role. I was so much at peace in those days, when Nattu's room was for me to forget my worries and delve into the virtual world for atleast some time. Nattu loved to take revenge on screen and would never miss a chance to laugh at it too. He like all loved the awp - sniper rifle - and would save and save till he could buy one. A diehard Rajni and Vijay fan, he has always enjoyed Vijay's films - all of them - that's how crazy he is about him. Rajni is, God. The posters in his room were proof enough. If I remember rightly he brought one of the first comps to the hostel... His room, with a Chandramukhi-Rajni poster welcoming you, would almost never be locked, kind of an open LAN-surf kiosk it was. His comp's hard disk, had almost everything -all softwares, songs, pictures, games, fun videos, bad videos, Superstar movies - a pretty huge collection.
The most amazing of his array of skills is Tamizh poetry. Not exactly printable, they are interspersed with English words to produce the highest level of rhyming verses which capture the moment in full glory. They make perfect sense and are very humourous - that's an achievement. Very high quality that too. Birthdays, Valentine's day specials, or just out of the box writing - his lines would be the best amongst all on display.
He may not the topper he once was, but he's a mechanical engineer in the software industry nonetheless - I still really don't know if he said "CTS enakku romba pudichirukku" out of pure love or lack of inspiration or desperation.
With those peals of laughter still ringing in my ears, a smile fills my face whenever I read one of his wisecracks in his status messages. One such was the subject of a post on Pallu. N@ttu, you are the embodiment of a real college guy - balancing studies, games, life, partying, movies, so perfectly you come out unscathed. Not to mention he surprised his intelligent first year friends Hacker and Knight and Pallu and myself by getting a 9 point something(only for that semester).

Jodha Akbar - MY music review

The very first time I heard the theme of the title song Azeem-O-Shaan, the tune which immediately came to mind was the Swades 'theme', which plays when Shahrukh is in the airplane at the beginning of the movie.
Then, when I heard the chorus of the same song, at around 2:33, that reminded me of Ghanan-ghanana from Lagaan.
This has happened in Swades as well - the Dusshera song and Pal pal bhari are in the same tune as Radha kaise na jale from Lagaan - but the fault is not with ARR, mind you. Music directors have often stated that when directors want a certain type of tune, that is what they compose, so the 'blame' should go to Ashutosh for the similarity in tunes.

In lamhon ki daman starts out with such a beautiful instrumental, fizzles out at the end of the male voice and takes a different path altogether... Looks like this is a flashback-missing-your-company-sad kind of song. It lifts your spirits in the beginning and then leaves you with mixed feelings.
Khwaja mere is untouchable, right up there. ARR simply doesn't fail to dazzle you when you thought the best is behind us. His voice is the just awesome..

All in all, a wonderful set of songs, I had been waiting for an 'imperial tune' from ARR - and the title song is very pompous indeed.