Posts filed under 'General'
Was reading some news article today and from there landed up to a research study on bit-torrents titled “Is Content Publishing in BitTorrent Altruistic or Profit’Driven?“. It was an interesting study on content publishers and why they do it. The entire paper can be downloaded here. Was initially surprised to see the kind of topics that people take up for research. I liked the way they gathered the required data for their analysis and the tool they have come up with. Gives a good overall view about why people publish content on bit torrents.
February 21st, 2011
I thought I actually made a post about my new E-72 and was trying to link to that but then realized that I never wrote about it 
. Anyways bought a new nokia E-72 this august and finally I sold it off today. Though I bought it after a lot of research, somehow did not appeal to me much. So, at last took the decision and bid goodbye to it today. Now the search starts all over again. Whether android, rim or apple is the question but no symbian again for sure. Good bye to nokia forever.
December 6th, 2010
Last weekend I had some work in a bank and parked my car just outside the bank. It was a service road and generally cars are parked on the service road in Bangalore. After finishing my work in the bank and coming back to the car, I saw a parking ticket on the windshield of my car. It was supposed to be No Parking area but as always, there was no sign mentioning it. The cop who gave the ticket was still there and on the ticket it was mentioned that I have to pay Rs. 100 fine within 24 hours. So, went to him to ask where to pay and he said I can pay it to him.
He then took out his blackberry 
, entered all my details and then took a print out of the receipt from the mini printer he had in his hand. The whole process took just some 3 mins or so and no bribes nothing. The money would go straight to state exchequer and not into his pocket. Though I heard sometime back about traffic police using blackberry’s in Bangalore, never got a chance to see it for myself. Was really surprised (and also a bit happy inspite of getting the ticket ) to see how hi-tech our Bangalore traffic police have become.
I hope they would show the same amount of seriousness in managing the traffic as well 
.
An update (10 sep 2010) – Got another one this morning in a similar way 
. Need to be more careful now.
August 23rd, 2010
Rakesh/raki/rocky…..turns 26 today . Another year older and when I look back at the 25th year, it has been one of the most eventful years in my life. There have been many developments both in my personal and work life. But today what made me to actually make this post is not those events but this feeling of mine when I got up this morning……..I was still not completely awake and I heard some activity going on in the kitchen already. It’s my mom in the kitchen who started off with her daily chores. Its been 26 years today and every day….every single day, she has been there for us irrespective of how she was.
I still faintly remember how she used to walk me to my school bus stop when I was a kid….of course I also remember how she used to beat me when I refused to go to school 
. She gave up her own career so that I can have a good future. Its been 5 years since I left Hyderabad….2 years in IIT and 3 years in bangalore, I was having fun but back in Hyderabad she was always thinking about me. Even now when I go to home, she says its better not to come as she doesn’t like it when I go back to bangalore.
So, this birthday its to my mom because of whom I am what I am today. All I can say is thank you mom .
August 1st, 2010
Thanks to Amith who took me to Alibaba Cafe & Restaurant for the first time. I must say, it’s the best place to have mutton. Yes!! this post is all about where and how I ended up in finding this Arabian restaurant….though the name has cafe in it, its definitely not one of those Irani cafe’s in Hyderabad . This place is known for the Arabian delicacies and the mutton served there is really tender. My favourite is sukhe maas (mutton) along with gawapolis. They have a special biryani made only during weekends called khuboos. Also the tea served here is also great.
I like the food there so much that I take the pains to drive 45 mins (one way) in bangalore traffic to eat mutton . The route to this place is a confusing one and consistently I have always gone through the same wrong route but somehow ended up reaching the place. I would definitely suggest this place to any pure non-veggie visiting Bangalore.
April 19th, 2010
After 2.5 years of stay in Bangalore I finally decided to rent a 1 bedroom apartment for myself…and that is when the problems started. My requirements were a decent sized apartment for a single person with car parking in a good locality……don’t think it’s asking for too much but it was not that easy to find one.
Even after a month’s search I could not find a decent apartment that I could rent….and in the process of my search (sulekha was the only source of my searches) I found some really interesting houses…….one guy posted an apartment for Rs. 7500 with 10 months advance that did not even have doors for bathrooms, the kitchen which was actually an extended room into the veranda with some asbestos sheet as the roof. Then there was this house that was not even big enough to accommodate a 6′x4′ bed…and the owner says, a software engineer who was staying there until recently moved to US now and even got a citizenship there . So, does that mean, I have to squeeze myself into that matchbox like house in the hope of getting a US citizenship 
!!!
Though I was completely against going with agents, in desperation I finally thought of contacting some and none of these people charge anything less than a month’s rent . So, was back to sulekha again.
Finally after many shocking experiences I could find an apartment suiting all my requirements but for a slightly higher rent but I had no other 
option….and it was through an agent (good part is he did not charge me one month’s rent as commission). But now after a month and a half of stay in this apartment, I must say it was a really good decision. I am enjoying every single moment here especially the amazing view of the lake and coconut grove from my balcony. Its so refresing and worth every paisa .
The other good part about this place is this being a big campus, even at 
midnight you can safely go down for a walk (which I rarely do ) which reminds me of the good old IIT campus days. I am eagerly waiting for a good rain during the day to see how it would look…..will post some more pics then.
April 18th, 2010
I am not going to whine here about the present Telangana movement. Was actually watching American History X movie and that was the initiative.
Has anything you have done made your life better?……… This is the statement that made me write this post. Professor Sweeney in the movie asks Derek this question in prison and that makes Derek to really look back at all his actions against the Afro-Americans. This guy Derek was actually influenced by another person (Cameron) and joins a radical organisation against the Black people. The above question really makes sense. If only people would start thinking rationally and ask themselves such questions before blindly doing/supporting anything, this world would definitely have been a better place.
In the current situation I can correlate this to the on-going Telangana State movement (and that’s the reason for the title ). Instead of people just saying we have been fighting for a separate state for the last 40 years and we want it now, why can’t they just think for a moment in what way is that going to make their life better. In my opinion, oppurtunities be it education/job or whatever it be should be based on talent and not just because you happen to be from some region in a country and so have got more right than someone else from a different region. The sooner people would realize this the better would be our future.
Ofcourse, this applies to whatever we do in our life and its just a coincidence that the Telangana movement was going now and found it to be apt.
And towards the end of the movie, liked the conclusion of Danny in his paper……..Hate is baggage. Life’s too short to be pissed off all the time. It’s just not worth it.
A good movie with a good message.
January 3rd, 2010
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