Friday, November 11, 2005
NoScript plugin for Firefox
The NoScript plugin along with the Adblock Plus plugin make sure that you see no ads, popups or run unwanted scripts.
Google Desktop
Recently, I thought of trying out Google Desktop 2.0.. I downloaded the 2.0 beta version.. This was a major improvement over GDS.. Now Google Desktop could not only search (desktop/web), but also had a lot of other important & useful features.. I liked the Google Sidebar.. I can see updated news (I can even choose news specific to my country/region) on the sidebar.. There is also this ScratchPad which I found useful.. I can write/paste any text in it & it will be autosaved.. Very handy tool.. Then there is this weblinks.. You can subscribe to a particular weblink & you can see the updates on the sidebar.. This is particularly useful to read blogs.. I can add the URL of a blog as a weblink.. Any new post on the blog (actually anything updated in the past 7 days or so) would be shown to me in the Sidebar. The entire post can be viewed (by expanding it) within the sidebar itself.. No need to visit any website.. That's cool..
There are also a lot of plugins available for Google Desktop.. I did use the "ToDo" & "TimeWarp" plugins.. The ToDo plugin was quite useful.. I have seen people maintain a Todo file on desktop & updating it regularly.. I felt this ToDo plugin for Google Desktop was much better for such people.. The "TimeWarp" plugin is funky. It displays an analog clock, the shape & size of which is customizable.. Most of all, Google Desktop is light. It takes up very less memory..
I really felt Google Desktop was a perfect tool & a must-have for everyone.. This was until yesterday, when my laptop suddenly slowed down tremendously.. And there was a small balloon above the system tray which said "You are low on disk space on C drive". I was confused as I had not installed any softwares recently. With much difficulty, I could open up the My Computer. I saw that C drive had just 130 MB of free space. Usually I keep over 1 GB of free space on C drive.. I started investigating which folders took up so much space.. I eventually found out that the index files maintained by Google was close to 2 GB.. I did not expect Google Desktop to hog so much of disk space. I had to uninstall the Google Desktop to restore sanity to my system.
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Article about population
http://www.melvindurai.com/population.htm
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Changing times
Also, there are a few functions now.. This time of the year is considered to be auspicious & you'll find a function almost every other day.. Last Sunday was some "Parayana" at my home.. There were about 50 relatives who came to our house. The week before that, it was my cousin's house Grihapravesha.. It was almost a 3 day event. I could attend only 2 days though. Next Sunday is the same cousin's engagement. So, all our relatives are getting together again..
It reminds me of my childhood when I used to go to my relatives' place so often.. Every other week, I used to visit my cousins' places. We used to go out together for movies, parks & such places. In holidays we all used to go to our parents native place & have fun.. During vacations, all children of same age group used to get together at one person's place & spend the holidays together.. During Deepavali, for the 3 days, we use to get together at 3 different places for each day & burst the crackers together in the evening after a nice heavy lunch..
All that remains is memories.. These days everyone's so busy. I would be happy if I could go to a relative's place once a year.. We all get together only at some special functions/occassions (like marriages, Grihapravesha, etc). Even at that time, many people may miss out.. I don't remember the last time all our relatives went to a movie.. I think the last time I went to a movie with my parents was more than 7-8 years ago.. I don't remember the last time I visited a park with my parents/brother/relatives.. The world is changing.. Nobody has time.. How come people had time 10-15 years ago?? What has happened now?
Monday, August 22, 2005
Shivanasamudra trip
The place is pretty closeby to Bangalore.. It's about 125kms. The road is good too. Shivanasamudra boasts of Asia's first power generation plant. Because of rains a few weeks ago, Kaveri was in full flow. Shivanasamudra is a pretty big valley where Kaveri water falls from 2 different points, creating 2 falls - Gaganachukki & Bharachukki. Most people visit only the Gaganachukki falls. You can also view Bharachukki falls from there. I had been to this place atleast a couple of times before (mostly on the way to Talakadu). This time was the best & the river was in full flow. A real treat for the eyes.. We even went near the Bharachukki falls. You can go close to the Bharachukki falls. There is a Darga closeby. The view from this point is also very good. But there are a lot less people on this side. And you can see the full glory of the valley from Bharachukki.
Four of us - Naren, Chandru, John & me went in Naren's car. On the way back from Bharachukki, one of the tires of the car got punctured. Chandru's strength & skills helped us get back on our way soon. We had taken the Kanakapura road on the way to Shivanasamudra. But while coming back, we came via Mysore road. We even went to the Cafe Coffee Day on Mysore road.
Overall the trip was very good & we enjoyed it very much.
Oh.. By the way, my cousins (along with their families) went to the same place the next day (Sunday, 14th). They had a horrible experience as there were just too many people.. The traffic was worse than that in Bangalore roads.. There were so many cars that it took them a Loooong time to get there.. And, unfortunately they also met with a small accident on the way to Shivanasamudra. They bumped into the car right in front of them. And the traffic was so good that the car in front of them banged on to the next car & so on.. They had lunch after 3:30 or so in the afternoon after visiting Gaganachukki. They did not bother to visit Bharachukki.
It's good that we went on a Saturday & not a Sunday.
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Got my car
I'll post the pics of my car soon..
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Santro, at last..
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Monday, July 25, 2005
Santro or WagonR?
I still feel Alto is the best car (for me, ofcourse).. But considering that space also a criterion, I decided to look at Santro & WagonR. Remote Locking & Music system are being offered free for Santro, whose price comes up to exactly 4 lakhs... As for WagonR, the price seems to be 4.2 lakhs. But the dealer offered to waive off the insurance fees & another 9k extra. So, the price of WagonR comes to around 3.98 lakhs, which is essentially the same as Santro. (But accessories-wise, you get a music system extra in Santro). If you look at the engine capacity, the inner capacity, boot space, the dimensions, etc, everything seems to be the same for both Santro & WagonR. There are a few differences though.. Santro is marketed as a 5-seater, whereas, WagonR is a 4 seater (but 5 ppl can sit comfortably). Also, the back seats of WagonR are fully reclinable, which is not possible in case of Santro. Also, if the back seats are fully folded, you get a lot of space in WagonR, as compared to Santro. Both has its positives & negatives. Mileage - Both of them claim the same mileage. So, it's totally a deadlock.. I can't decide which one to go for...
I have heard that the cost of spare parts & the cost of servicing are both high for Santro as compared to WagonR. The dealer dismissed these as just rumours & not just actual facts. But I have been told about this by many people.
Anyway, I have not yet made up my mind. The offers for both Santro & WagonR are valid only till the end of this month. So, I have to atleast book the vehicle (if not buy it) by the end of this month. If I were buying the vehicle entirely on my own, I would have bought it ASAP. But it's my dad who's buying it. And he's very religious & doesn't want to buy until after the end of first week of August, as he believes in not doing any good thing or starting a new work in the month of Aashada. So, I guess, I'll have to wait till the second week of Aug.
A visit to Tirupati
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
A four wheeler?
Sunday, July 10, 2005
The Kodai Trip
Background
This trip was planned for months!!! Originally this trip was scheduled in March. But due to tickets unavailability, we had to cancel it then. Then again in June, when we wanted to go for a 3 day trip, we thought about lots of places. Ultimately, we agreed on Kodai. Me, Srini, Giri, Chandru & Naren were ready to go. (If Sachin was here, he would have definitely come to the trip.) But just before booking the tickets, Naren came up with some lame excuse for not being able to make it to the trip. So, only 4 of us went on the trip.
Thursday - 16/06/2005
The bus was scheduled to leave the station at
The bus started at around
Friday - 17/06/2005
I woke up at around
The bus continued its journey towards Kodai. It was a long climb uphill. We could admire nature's beauty on the way to the top. (Giri & Chan were still complaining about the bus). Finally, when we reached the Bus stand in Kodai, it was
So, by the time we got down, we were hungry & wanted to have breakfast before going to hotel. A nearby good looking veg. hotel was full. So, we went to another "cafe" (Bala Cafe) close by. Initially, it looked a bit shady place as we had to go a bit interior & climb stairs to reach the first floor. Till you reach the first floor, you don't get to see the hotel at all. But once we went in, our impression totally changed. It was a very nice place. Neat & clean. And most of all, it was not crowded. Very few people were there. The breakfast was good. After the breakfast, we planned to take a look at the rooms in the same hotel (Hotel Bala) as the one we booked was too far off. The family room was good & could easily accommodate 4 people. We immediately checked in.
By the time we all had bath & got freshened up, it was almost
After the lunch, we set out for a few places nearby. In Kodaikanal, unlike Ooty, the places to visit are very nearby. You can walk up to many of the places. Others which are far off are no more than 4-5 kms. If we had known this earlier, we could have saved lots of money. Anyway, we set out to visit a few places around by walk. First we went to the Coaker's walk which is just a 5 min walk from our hotel. It is about half a km walk around the edge of the hill, where the view is just amazing. Many of our scenery pictures were taken from this spot. I visited this place on all 3 days. We could see the clouds moving around. We could even feel the clouds as we walked through them. There were also fresh carrots being sold. The view from the Coaker’s walk is just amazing. The landscape looks so beautiful that I can gaze at it for hours.
Once we came out of the Coaker’s walk, we were supposed to go to the Bryant’s park, which was just opposite to the entrance to the Coaker’s walk. It was a small park. But we missed it & did not go to the park. (In fact, me & Srini saw the park on the final day). Instead, we went further to the
We spent the whole of the evening in the hotel room. We had tea & some snacks (French fries) ordered to our room. (Giri & Chan ordered pizza too). We played cards & watched TV. Srini (or maybe I should call him John), slept away very early. We had a light dinner in a nearby different hotel. We all slept at around
Saturday - 18/06/2005
John got up early in the morning (
Breakfast is a memorable story. It so happened that by the time we went for breakfast, there were no other customers. So, the hotel guy started playing Hindi songs for a change. The first song was a popular track from Baazigar. The music for the second song started. The soundtrack was that of the song “Ishq hua, kaise hua...” from the movie Ishq. After listening to the soundtrack, I said that this was the song from the movie Ishq. Giri was of the other opinion. He said that this was a song from Baazigar & not Ishq. But I was pretty sure of the soundtrack. (Even Chandru was sure about it). I bet with Giri about this song. It was decided that the one who loses would have to treat others the lunch that day. And it so happened that it was a song from Baazigar. The soundtrack from a part of this song in Baazigar has been “re-used” in the movie Ishq for a whole song. So, I got that wrong & had to pay for the lunch.
And by the way, you might be wondering why I’m referring to Srini as John. Well, as some of you might already know, Srini is a big fan of John Abraham. He was inspired by John after seeing the movie Kaal. (esp., the scene where John, bare-chested wraps a python around him). He was so much inspired by John, that he started doing push-ups daily. Also, he wanted to grow his hair long & grow a little bit beard (for the rugged look). In Kodai, we found out that he spends a lot of time in front of the mirror, grooming his hair & admiring his looks. Also, he is very photo conscious. I mean, he like posing for snaps. (Maybe he’s considering a career in modeling & films too). That’s why we decided to call him John Abraham, John for short.
Anyway, back to our trip. The vehicle we booked for roaming around, came to the hotel at around
As I mentioned earlier, tourist places in Kodai are very close by. We didn’t know this. Last time we went to Ooty, the places were far off. So we presumed that it would be the same here. The fare for the trip in the vehicle was Rs. 800.00 a day. But a few minutes of ride in the vehicle, we quickly realized that there were not many places to visit. Also, our driver was not only reckless in driving, but I guess he was also trying to catch a plane in the afternoon. He was in such a hurry. He rushed us through all the places. We tried to visit all the places at leisure. But even then, he took us to all the places before lunch. We visited lots of places (I can’t remember the names of most places now) a few scenic locations, a temple (to the right of which was city view & to the left of it was another scenic view, the Kodai Park (it’s not as big or good as the one in Ooty, but nevertheless a good place to visit), the pine forest, the cave, the silver cascade falls, the museum, etc. Silver Cascade waterfalls, looked really very good from a distance. But when we went close by, we realized that the water in the falls was stinking. I guess it was drainage water. This was the place where we saw the 930C again. From the falls, we went to the museum, where we were followed by the 930C. We were dropped back to the hotel by lunch time (
For lunch, we came back to our hotel. Based on our previous experience, we did not have South Indian meals. Instead, we chose to have North Indian stuff (with ice-cream at the end). And since I was going to pay for the food, everybody ate to their stomach full. After lunch, we planned to go boating & Giri & Chan planned to have pizza at a pizza joint. But we decided to have some rest first. But then, none of these happened & we just lazed around in the hotel room, surfing channels, & playing cards. Evening, we had coffee/tea & some snacks. It was in the evening that the John’s SS episode happened. We didn’t let John sleep off at
Sunday - 19/06/2005
Sunday, we planned to go trekking in the morning. Also, me & John planned to get up early & go to the Coaker’s walk to enjoy the sunrise. John & me started towards Coaker’s walk at
We were back in the hotel by
When we started, the streets were full of mist. Or rather, it was not mist but cloud passing through. When we walked through these clouds, we could feel the water drops settling on our face. The visibility was also not more than 100 to 150 feet. We enquired a few people about the way & started walking towards the trekking places. We were totally not sure about the way & we just walked on & on. After about half the way, John started cribbing & wanted to go back. We just wanted to move on. After coming so far, we did not want to go back just like that. After walking about 5-6 kms, we finally found the bear shola falls. One of the people there informed us that the same water, flows down to 2 more falls (3 in total). We did not go further to visit the other 2 falls. We spent some time at this falls & then started back. If we wanted to visit Dolphin’s nose & other places, we had to walk further ahead. But since it was around
Once we came back to the hotel, we headed to the restaurant in the hotel. Chandru ordered for some “software” drink. We all had some soft drinks. Actually, we wanted to have lunch. But till
Well, as I mentioned, our seats were in the last row of the bus. All the way down the hill, we were jumping around. The road also seemed to be rugged. We could experience each & every curve as we swayed to left & right at each curve. Since we were seated in the last row & we were thrown up & down, our stomachs were not in the best of the condition. By the time we climbed down the hill to the hotel for dinner, we were all exhausted. Giri even vomited & cleared his stomach. The break from the journey was a welcome one. We started feeling better, after having some rest. We did not have anything for dinner. Chan & Giri had some ice-cream. John & me chose to skip dinner. Incidentally, the bus had stopped at the same hotel, at which we had stopped for morning coffee, while going to Kodai. The bus started the journey back to
We reached the bus stand in
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
I've been busy
There has been a lot of hue & cry about the details of Kodai trip.. I have a lot of things to write about that.. I'll definitely write about it this weekend..
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Kodaikanal Trip Pics
Maybe I'll post a few more later.