Rakesh Reddy Kandula

Bungee Jumping results in tragedy

Its been a long time since I posted anything. But never expected that I will have to start with something bad. This is about the bungee jumping event organised by CARE and facilitated by BMC India in Bangalore on April 10th, 11th, 12th.

Few days back, I got a mail forward about this bungee jumping event being organised by CARE adventures and headrush bungee. I was interested in it but could not go because of some work and a friend of mine, Karthik registered for the event. He went to the event on 11th April. His serial number was 31 and was waiting for his turn. In the meanwhile he went out for lunch and after coming back he notices that nothing was going on over there. Then he came to know that there was a mishap and a guy got injured seriously. So, the event was cancelled. Just after five or six persons had done it, the hook was broken and resulted in the accident.

So, this post is to warn anyone who would like to register for such events in the future. Be sure that enough safety measures are taken before taking part in any such events. Later on when the news about this incident came on news, we came to know that the guy has succumbed to death. There wasn’t even an ambulance at the venue which is supposed to be a very basic safety measure. And as it always happens after such events, the organisers were absconding. So, people be careful…….all the adventurous people out there, this should be an eye-opener.

11 comments April 11th, 2009 at 09:02pmIST

Miscelleneous Sessions

Attended a few other sessions like Mobile Applications for Indian Population, Open Source Development, Build Your Own Brain(BYOB), OpenStreetmap, etc.

The mobile apps session was sort of a discussion about what kind of mobile applications can be developed specifically for the needs of Indian Population. Some of the ideas discussed were like apps for farmers to send updates about power cuts, daily updates about the cost of commodities, etc. Issues like what kind of UI would be required, affordability, etc were discussed. The other app was to have an Indian calendar and also something related to horoscope, etc. Then came an app for commodities trading. And then was the most interesting one…….apps for traffic updates. There were quite a few ideas about this. So, this was more about different ideas but not about how to actually implement them.

Open source development and BYOB sessions did not seem to be very interesting.

The OpenStreetmap one was slightly interesting. These people were taking the existing maps and then trying to make them accurate by ground verification and then updating them. They had already mapped a few places around chennai and were quite accurate when compared to google or mapmyindia maps. They were calling for the support of everyone to make use of their tools to update the maps. Basic concept was to have a community effort to update the maps.

Add comment March 7th, 2009 at 02:36pmIST

Session on voice php

Was initially apprehensive about how this session is going to be. But it turned out to be a really interesting one.The guy who was presenting was from TringMe. He was talking about how to power your php apps with voice. This was something new for me and I really liked it. The best part about this was its just any normal php script with just a few more additional functions provided by them. We can have an IVRS based app, a media player or just any other voice app that we can think of using voicephp. We can access our app from anywhere like through web, phone, etc. For developers who would like to test this out, we can signup for free and every user gets a unique phone number as well. So, we can basically access our app by directly dialling that number or even from the web. Looks to be a really good stuff and easy to implement as well. I am definitely going to try this out. There are a number of sample apps put up by them at http://code.voicephp.com/.

The same guys had another session from 2-3 pm but that was more of selling TringMe. It was basically about setting up your own voice portal using the tools provided by them.This didn’t seem to be very interesting.

Add comment March 7th, 2009 at 01:56pmIST

Sessions kick-off

Here starts the first session on personal branding by altius consulting and I see almost all the people just attending that one single session……these people have got a well prepared ppt and it looked to be more of altius people conducting a seminar and not like a discussion……

Moved to Track#3 and here is the discussion going on change we can believe in (using social networking sites to cleanse politics)……..this initally started with just 5 people and slowly people started gathering….but the presenter didn’t seem to be very interesting…. he says with the help of social networking sites, get people’s support and go ahead to start a party……he says language barriers can be eliminated using social networking……all the while the discussion was about advantages of social networking but at no point I heard anything from him talking about how to change politics using social networking platform…. this guy says lets first have sufficient online presence by forming a group and someday he dreams of this community transforming to an actualy party ……..I don’t think this session was worth at all……moving on to another one

Add comment March 7th, 2009 at 10:26amIST

Live from BCB8

Here I am at BCB8 @ Yahoo. Its been a long time since I got us so early on a saturday . The event is in the Yahoo cafeteria. This time its one big open hall unlike the classrooms in IIM-B. Started the day with a nice cafe mocha at Barista here in the cafeteria.

Coming to the event, this time there are a lot of first timers and even the crowd was not huge. The number of sessions are very less and I didn’t hear anything much in the session intros about the sessions that were previously announced. My first impression about BCB8 is I am little bit disappointed as there aren’t any interesting sessions announced till now…..let me wait and watch if something interesting turns out……looks like the sessions are starting……keep checking for updates……..

Add comment March 7th, 2009 at 09:56amIST

Movie watching starts again

Finally, I watched a movie yesterday after a gap of 5 months . I think this was the first time in the past few years that I haven’t watched a single movie for more than 5 months. Yeah, that’s a looooooooong gap for a guy who used to watch movies almost every week. Even if I was not going to a movie, I used to atleast check the pvr site to know about the currently running movies. And this time when I opened the site after 5 months I was surprised to see that the entire UI of pvr site has changed.

Coming to the movie that I watched, it was a telugu movie Konchem Ishtam Konchem Kashtam. As always, I haven’t read any reviews about the movie before booking. I just go to any movie when I feel like watching one. Not very particular about the story, the cast,e tc. Movie was the same routine love story and how the hero and heroine make it up at the end. It wasn’t that bad but not a great movie also. To me the first half was better than the second half. The comedy was also good enough. But towards the end I didn’t like all the sentimental stuff that the director tried to put in. And somehow in this movie, I didn’t like the dialogue delivery of the actors.On the whole, I think it can be watched once and you won’t feel bored at any point.

To me it was a nice break from my daily routine and a good start to get back to my old movie going habit.

Update: I started going to gym ………….will post about it sooooooon

2 comments March 4th, 2009 at 12:36pmIST

Barcamp Bangalore is back - BCB8

Barcamp Bangalore is back. BCB8 going to be on March 7th and 8th at Yahoo. Missed BCB7. But will be attending it this time. Some of the sessions that I plan to attend are - Affordable wireless for rural areas, Cross browser compatibility, cloud computing and android apps for indian masses, cloud @ home and many more…… Looking forward to having a good time at BCB8.

Add comment March 2nd, 2009 at 02:38pmIST

Of bumpy rides and sleepless journeys

Thanks to the economic downturn and the year end shutdown, got a loooong break for 11 days . Came to Hyderabad and then thought of going to my grandmother’s place for two days. That’s when the problems started. The two day trip supposed to be a pleasant one turned out to be a back breaking  nightmare .

When going from Hyderabad, we would have almost missed the bus. Though we were 30 minutes before the departure time, the bus had wrong service number on it and we thought the bus hasn’t come yet. Just at the time when the bus was about to start without us, we checked with the conductor standing over there and that’s how we came to know that the service number was wrong but the bus was already there waiting for us. Now the condition of the bus could not be described. It appeared as if few pieces of scrap metal were welded together and wheels attached to it. After an hour of journey when the bus stopped for a break, the driver was saying that the bus was actually removed from service and because of shortage of buses, it was taken out of garage and put on service . That’s the plight of our APSRTC. We pay for what is supposed to be the best service (Hi-Tech) and what we get to travel is on a bus that was removed from service . On top of that the driver was so rash and road’s condition so bad that we could not sleep for the whole night.

That’s one part of my story. The real problem started on our return journey back to Hyderabad. We got tickets in the last row of the bus and when we got into the bus that’s when we realized that the bus in which we came from Hyderabad was much much better than this one . This bus was full of dust, seats weren’t good and window glasses broken. This was another bus straight out of the garage. When we asked the conductor about this, he didn’t even care to reply . That’s the pathetic state of the buses and the employees. And after sometime in the journey, some creature was moving over my leg and I had no clue what it could have been. At one point of time, I was so vexed up that I felt like shouting at the driver and the conductor or go to a consumer court for such pathetic service. The whole night, I was not able to sleep and just wanted to get out of that hell asap . My cousin who was along with me was saying Indians are know for their tolerance but this is like testing it to its limits . The worst part is that we have no clue whom to complain or how to get this to the notice of concerned authorities. That reminds me of TIA (This Is Africa) which can now be safely modified to TII (This Is India) .

4 comments December 29th, 2008 at 01:13pmIST

Unwanted change

As a kid I always wanted to have glasses. Whenever I used to have headache or felt some strain in my eyes, I used to ask my parents to take me for an eye checkup hoping to get glasses. But I guess that fascination of mine for glasses was only till 11th or 12th standard. By this time you would have guessed what is that unwanted change in my life . I no longer wish to wear glasses and that’s when I had to . Yeah the new unwanted change is that I have got +0.5 power…..astigmatism to be precise and I need to wear glasses now .

It all started a week back when my eyes used to pain a lot and then I had headache by afternoon. It was only after taking a tablet or sleeping for 2-3 hrs, I used to be back to normal. It went on for four days at a stretch and finally yesterday I decided to go for a checkup. After a long wait for an hour and then four rounds of testing for about 2 hrs the doctor finally says “the reason for your headache is this error in your vision” and then he prescribed glasses for me. So, finally on December 6th 2008, my childhood fascination for glasses became a reality. You can see my new avatar in the pic . It feels strange to have glasses. Whatever I try to see now, I look through the lenses and also through the gap between the glasses and my face. And I have tough time while walking on the stairs or while eating food . Looks like its going to take me few more days to get used to this new change. Right now it appears as if I have got some burden over my face. Though the power is less, I will have to wear them always to avoid the headache or strain in my eyes . So, finally I will be back to normal after a gap of 6 days .

10 comments December 7th, 2008 at 10:53pmIST

TED talk on Biomimicry by Janine Benyus

This particular TED talk by Janine Benyus is all about Biomimicry wherein we imitate or take inspiration from nature to solve the human problems sustainably. The last few statements of the talk inspired me to write about this particular TED talk. It goes something like this - These organisms figured out a way to do the amazing things they do while taking care of the place thats going to take care of their offsprings. When they are involved in foreplay they are thinking about something very very important…..having their genetic material remain ten thousand generations from now. And that means finding a way to do what they do without destroying the place that’s going to take care of their offsprings and thta’s the biggest design challenge. Luckily there are millions and millions of geniuses willing to gift us with their best ideas…..good luck having a converstion with them. For people who haven’t seen the talk yet, when the speaker refers to organisms, she is actually referrring to the creatures around us on the planet and they are the geniuses she is referring to towards the end.

She illustrates her ideas with just 12 sustainable designs inspired from nature. In fact that’s the title of the video - Janine Benyus: 12 sustainable design ideas from nature. I liked the ideas so much that I was thinking of getting hold of a copy of her book also. A few of the ideas that she mentions in the talk are - a locust’s ability to avoid collision within a roiling cloud of its brethren informs the design of a crash-resistant car; a self-cleaning leaf inspires a new kind of paint, one that dries in a pattern that enables simple rainwater to wash away dirt; and organisms capable of living without water open the way for vaccines that maintain potency even without refrigeration — a hurdle that can prevent life-saving drugs from reaching disease-torn communities.

I think its high time that we start exploring alternative ways of manufacturing before all the fossil fuels are completely depleted and environment polluted to alarming levels. After watching the video I was just searching for more information on biomimetics and was surprised to see that there is so much going on in this field already. I found a nice featured article in NGC site as well that talks about biomimetics. That was a pretty long article and at the time of writing this post, even I haven’t read it completely .

Some other interesting TED videos that I came across can be found in my forum. I keep updating it whenever I find some good videos.

Add comment December 2nd, 2008 at 04:22pmIST