A very short update about my experiences with the HTC Wildfire. This is my first smartphone. And I’m loving it. It is no doubt a handsome phone and its easy to fall in love with it. But no doubt, it is also a low end phone from HTC compared to HTC Legend, HTC Desire or HTC Incredible. As a result there are a few features that are missing and a few apps are not compatible with this phone.
The upsides of using this phone is the Android platform which provides you with a number of fascinating applications. There are a few applications with amazing interfaces that include TweetDeck, Google Reader, WordPress, Maps, Dolphin Browser, Angry Birds etc. The integration with Facebook brings in hundreds of contacts and phone numbers directly to your phone. The sensitivity of the capacitive sensor is also quite good.
The downsides have to be the low resolution screen. As a result many apps are not compatible with this phone. Even the 5MP camera doesn’t work as good as a normal 5MP camera would. Running too many apps at a time may cause this phone to lag.
The phone is an excellent low-budget entry-level android phone for anyone who wishes to be a part of the ‘smartphone generation’.
Order this book from Flipkart and it got delivered at my home the very next day. Immediately I picked it up and got immersed into this book. This book has two tales running parallel. One which occurred around 2300 years ago and one happens during the present day. It is the story of the master strategist Chanakya, the king maker and how he makes Chandragupta Maurya the emperor. In modern India, Chanakya is reborn as Gangasagar and with his brilliant plots and machinations nurtures a small slum girl and guides her to become the prime minister of the country. The narration swiftly moves between the two stories and keeps you engaged.
The book was one of the fastest reads I’ve had in a long time. It is a story filled with political drama, murder, revenge and lust. The book is also an apt reminder that anything that happens in politics has a motive behind it. Nothing is left to chance. “Brilliant”.
Borrowed this book from a friend and completed it in one sitting. The book has a brilliant start. Relates to the mysteries and symbolism of freemasonry. The background behind the brotherhood is interesting. Dan Brown also sheds some light on a branch of science called Noetic Science which relates to the study of the effects of perceptions, beliefs and intentions on human consciousness.
According to Wikipedia, The theory of noetics centers around the idea that the human mind is capable of affecting work or events or even doing work in the physical world.
After a point of time, the plot of Lost Symbol became quite predictable. It was gripping in parts. I expected a thrilling climax, but the actual one disappointed me. Not exactly what I had expected. Buy this if you liked Dan Brown’s earlier novels and absolutely must read his latest. Else, there are better novels out there.
This book is Richard Dawkins’ fight against religion. He systematically dissects the evil of religion. In one the first few pages he refers to a poster which says something like ‘World with no religion’ and shows the twin towers standing prominently in the background. This book illustrates the need for a different perspective towards religion.
Dawkins is a strong proponent of evloution and is very much against creationism which is promoted by religion. Every point that is put forward is clearly articulated and backed up with evidence. This book is a recommendable read and is well written and entertaining.
I was going through my Picasa Web Albums when I came across an album which included some of the old headers that I had designed for my old blog which was hosted at blogger.
I did these when I was in college. Most of them in the middle of the night in a sleepy mode. Some of them are outright silly.
I went on this trek to Nagalapuram with CTC on Feb 12-13th earlier this year. I know. This blog post is coming quite late. But better late than never. I just wanted to ensure that this gets recorded in my blog.
I had been over four months since my previous trek to Nagari. I was (and still I am) badly out of shape and thought its high time I went for another trek. Another one of my friends felt the same way and we registered for a two day trek to Nagala organized by Biju.
We got our prep mail from Biju a couple of days before the trek with the customary ‘Things to Carry’, ‘Timings’ and the ‘Pickup points’. Around 70 people had registered for the trek. The friend along with whom I registered had some work in office and said that he wouldn’t be able to make it. Now I was unsure whether to go to the trek or not. I asked around and finally found another friend interested in joining me for the trek.
We started at around 4 as always and reached Nagala after having breakfast at one of the villages on the way. There was a dam near which we got down from the bus. It was around half an hour walk from there to reach the stream. Unlike Nagari Combo, this was much better since we had water all along the way. About half an hour from the bottom of the stream was the first pool. We walked and jumped over boulders all along the way. It was like Kuruva Islands in Wayanad. It was spectacular. I was one of the first guys to reach the pool so I got the chance to take a few pics of the undisturbed water.
After spending over an hour in that pool we proceed towards the next. Its was now that the climb began. But still it was not a big deal and anyone with an above average fitness level should be able to climb it in a jiffy. The second pool was as good as the first one. Biju took the rope and soon tied one end of the rope to a tree and the other next to another tree near the falls. Non-swimmers were able to reach the falls by hanging on to the rope. Here too we spent around an hour soaking ourselves in the water.
We had our lunch at the second pool and moved on. The third pool was amazing with a wonderful waterfall at the end. We climbed the rocks along the falls and reached the top of the falls to proceed further. After a few mins walk from the third pool comes another nice and refreshing waterfall which CTC has named Mini-Kutrallam. After some time under the falls we slept for another half hour. From there began the arduously steep climb. It was almost equivalent to rock-climbing. We almost reached the peak when Biju stopped us. He went alone further ahead and then hurriedly came back and went down. He returned after half an hour. It was sunset time by then. He informed us that we won’t be able to camp at the usual campsite and instead had to move down in a different direction.
We took our torches and started climbing down. It was harder to climb down with our bags, torches and total darkness. Somehow we managed to climb down and reached the camp site at around 8. We took out our noodles and soup packets and got ready for dinner. A couple of guys started the fire and we got cooking. In about an hour all our hunger was satisfied and we went to have a wonderful sleep in the jungle watching the stars.
It was unbelievably chill in the night and I got up quite early to click more photos. After eating ready-to-cook chappathis heated directly on the fire, we set off on our return journey. While on our way back we followed the same trial and it was quite easier than how it was when we climbed up. It took us considerably much time and we didn’t stop at all the pools either.
We covered the entire distance by noon and slept off at the first pool. After everyone woke up we had a intro session before resuming our journey back to the bus.
It was a wonderful two days trekking with CTC. I should also say that Biju did a great job organizing the trek.
Ko in Tamil means King. I got to know this only today. Just as in most other movies, there is not even a mention of what Ko means and why the movie was named so. The movie is directed by K.V.Anand and music is composed by Harris Jeyaraj.
The movie revolves around Indian politics and the media. The movie depicts the rise to power of a political party Siragugal run by an enthusiastic leader Vasanthan, played by Ajmal, who dreams to change the world. The other political parties are brought down by a photo journalist Jiiva who manages to take crucial photos at the right time and promotes the work done by Siragugal. The main characters in the movie are Jiiva and Ajmal. Piaa has come up with a role that would be remembered for a long time. Karthikaa fails to create an impact. Others including Prakash Raj and Kota Srinivasa Rao, just manage to make a few appearances here and there.
The twist in the tale in the second half is the pillar on which this movie is standing. Though new to Tamil Cinema, such twists are ingrained in my mind by watching numerous American TV series like 24 and LOST which include much bigger twists as the season progresses. Maybe because of that, I felt that the movie was quite predictable.
Music by Harris was nothing special. Other than ‘Eno Kuviyamilla’ the other songs didn’t even make an impact. The timing of the songs are totally absurd and the feeling was reciprocated by almost everyone watching the movie. It was as if it were inserted just to make sure that the movie had 5 songs in all. Bad move by K.V.Anand.
Cinematography was amazing. The locations were amazing. Those huge valleys and spectacular waterfalls made me wish that I were there. I would definitely love to go to those locations at least once in my life. I am even ready to become a part of movie crew if I can go to such exotic locations.
In all, its a good Tamil film after a long time. Quoting Sudhish Kamath – “KO- A riveting political thriller even if a tad convoluted to preserve suspense. Jiiva, Ajmal and Piaa are brilliant, gunfire scene -WOW 7/10.”
Munnar. Clean. Green. Beautiful. My third time in God’s Own Country Kerala.
This was my second team outing with Global Analytics (first one was to Mysore around six months back). Twenty seven of us started from Chennai in a special train which religiously followed the Indian Stretchable Time and took us to Dindigul an hour late. Almost immediately we boarded the bus which was waiting for us outside the station and began our journey to Munnar. It took us around six and a half hours to travel to Munnar, which included a brief halt at Theni for breakfast.
The amazing climate began soon after we crossed Theni. One by one most of the cameras started coming out followed by some furious clicking. We reached our resort ‘Ayur County‘. Its a nice resort with quite a few cottages and offered a stunning view of Munnar.
Music Above The Clouds - Munnar
After lunch at a restaurant just outside the resort we stood with no idea of what we were going to do next. The resort usually organizes fishing and trekking for its visitors. But that day we didn’t have any of those options. The only option that we had was to to go for a safari. Many of our team guys didn’t wish to go for that. Hence after a long discussion with our bus drivers we went to a dam located a few miles away. There were a couple of elephants taking thrilled tourists for a few metres long ride near the dam. We had plans to go for boating at that dam but it was closing time and there were quite a few people ahead of us. The sad thing about Munnar is that everything closes early. All we could do was to get back to our rooms and have an early night, just to see Chennai losing to Mumbai in the IPL.
The next day all of us started at around 7.30 and moved among the misty mountains to reach the Eravikulam National Park. There was a huge line where we stood for about an hour just to get the tickets. Once we had the tickets in our hand we boarded one the mini-buses to get into an area that is restricted for private vehicles. We travelled further along those fascinating tea estate roads to reach the Eravikulam Park. It has a small room at the top with some enchanting images depicting the story of the park.
The park is famous for the rare Nilgiri Tahr and the Neelakurinji. The Nilgiri Tahr is a type of mountain goat that was amazingly acclimatized to human presence. They behaved as though they were domesticated. Neelakurinji is a type of flower that blooms once in twelve years and paints the hills violet. And the time that we went there wasn’t the season for the flowers. I hope I get a chance to see these hills transformed into floral festivity in the near future.
We walked about one to two kilometers further along the roads to see a small family of Nilgiri Tahrs grazing around. We were stopped at a point beyond which we weren’t allowed to proceed, even though it was well accessible. We were a bit disappointed but well, nothing can ever satisfy the human desire. We tried to satisfied ourselves with the mesmerizing views that the spot provided. Soon clouds started covering the entire place and it gradually began to rain. We started running down to get back into one the mini-buses to reached our base.
The rest of the day was spent in bus travelling back to Dindigul to catch our return train. It indeed was a very small trip but even then we was sufficient for us to be seduced by Munnar’s charm and I would never forget the few hours we spent there.
The following is one statement which I found at the Eravikulam – Take back memories. Leave no trace. This sure would resonate well with my fellow trekkers at Chennai Trekkers Club who follow it devoutly.
Indians look threatening. They have taken over the world. They have shown everyone that they are a formidable force to reckon. We have just won the Cricket World Cup after 28 long years. The sound of crackers was so deafening that it seemed to be an early Diwali. Every Indian was celebrating the victory. From business tycoons to auto drivers. From school kids to 80-year olds. Everyone was in the mood to celebrate and party.
Since the 90s, India has been looking for something which will unite every Indian together. Something which will join us all. We found cricket. We needed something to support their country at. We found cricket. The team’s popularity is a reflection of our national ambition, of pride in national achievement. This Indian victory has been the first one that my generation has seen. Dhoni and his men are the heroes for a new generation.
It was a proud moment when Dhoni hit the winning runs in style with a huge SIX into the packed stands. It was as if he wanted to prove something to the world. That moment will be forever etched in a billion minds.
To savour the winning moments, I have made a photo album consisting of a collection of pictures from Cricinfo and a few other sources.
Here a few articles and blogs that I’m linking to, that relate to this sweet victory.
Two Cups: Then and Now. Comparing the 1983 victory and the 2011 victory. Hindustan Times.
Recently a friend at IIM B posted on her Facebook wall a link to a survey on Android phones. My eyes lighted up on seeing the word Android and being an Android user I was tempted to click on it.
It was a research survey about smartphones in general and asked us to compare different operating systems to each other and give appropriate ratings. The wildfire is my first smartphone and I haven’t actually used the iphone or any blackberry device. So I gave ratings based on what I had read at sites like appstorm and mashable.
My feelings about the survey was that it had a quite misleading title. Something on the lines of ‘Smartphones Survey’ would have been more apt. Secondly, they hadn’t included a brief summary about what the survey was about. Till the end of the survey I was expecting sometimg more specific to android but it didn’t have any. In the end, I submitted the survey a bit disappointed.
Surveys conducted by my office are even more amusing. Once they tried a new caterer for lunch and wanted to get the opinion of all employees about this caterer. The questions that they had was “Do you like the food provided by the new caterer?” and “Do you wish to continue with them?”. And most of us intentionally answered that the food was bad but we still wanted to continue with them. At times they come up with much more arbit questions and equally arbit answers.
They use an open source tool called “LimeSurvey“. That eventually led me to find more such tools. A few such interesting tools that I found are SurveyMonkey, PollDaddy, SurveyGizmo etc. Some of these are paid plans. And some like Survey Gizmo offer student plans which was used by my friend for that ‘Android’ survey. And more recently I found a couple of sites like GoPollGo and iQpoll.
And now Facebook has come up with their own Question-Answer system which can also be used for creating polls. And of course we can see Facebook use its gigantic user base to its advantage and try to drive traffic with arbit questions. The most recent poll that I saw was created by my bro asking his friends whether he should take bath or not?
While very few of these polls will be useful a large part of them will be random and will continue to be so.
I have been travelling and trekking a bit. And I have been taking a lot of photos. Many of my friends and colleagues too are into photography and I see a lot of them adding watermarks to their photos. Even I wanted to add them. Not that each of them is a masterpiece but still I wanted to retain my rights to the photos.
First I got Photoshop running and added a text at the corner of the image with around 50% opacity. The text just contained a URL to my site http://alagappan.co.in. But it was really a pain to do so individually for each photograph. Then I started googling for easier ways to do the same stuff.
That is when I came across a Batch Photo Watermarker tool that allows you to add watermarks to a whole batch of photos. They provide access to a trial version of their tool for up to 50 photos. Beyond that you either have to pay and get their application or do one of these to get a free registration key.
Of course, If you are a Photoshop guru you can create your own macros (or actions as they are called in Photoshop) and run them on multiple photos at the same time. I am yet to learn all that stuff. But yeah! Learning that and further photo enhancement techniques on Photoshop would be an added advantage for a budding photographer like me.
I listen to loads of songs at home. Thousands of songs are stored in my hard disk consuming huge amounts of storage space. The best way to listen to them is to play those songs in a randomly shuffled playlist. There is no better feeling than listening to song Awesome Song after a long time and drowning in that ocean of music.
But when it comes to Mobile, we have a very limited storage space. Often not more than 4GB or 8GB. Now, if you take truck loads of photos and download hundreds of apps just to try them out, then there’d be acute shortage of space. With so much space constraints, we often end up storing just a dozen albums and listen repeatedly to the same again and again and again. Or if you are fortunate enough to live in a city like Chennai or Mumbai you can alternatively choose to listen to the wonderful radio stations.
I feel that there needs to be a way with which we can sync our music files on the computer with the mobile seamlessly. There is the DropBox app available with which we can sync files. But again that too has very limited space for the unpaid version and am not too sure how effective that is for music files.
There are various internet radio options which exist. Like Pandora. But majority of them don’t support listening through mobile or are restricted to the US due to licensing constraints.
Grooveshark app is available to solve most of our problems but its collection of Indian songs is VERY limited and moreover it is a paid service.
Any service that lets me listen to my choice of songs direct from the internet through my mobile would be awesome. If implemented in an attractive and impressive way, it does have an opportunity to become huge. If there is any such existing service that I am unaware of, then do let me know in the comments.
My Virtual Life, Random | Alagappan | 
May 1, 2011 | 
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