On Tuesday, I met few friends and came to know about two really cool things.
AJAX - I was looking for ideas to implement search on my website (and I don't want to pay for it). So I wanted to load a page in background and have a Javascript search into that page and display the search results. But, I didn't know how to get the page in background. Alternate option for what I wished to do was to have an invisible frame but it wasn't again working for me because I was already using frames and some other scripts which were conflicting with this method.
So from those friends, I came to know about this technology called AJAX (Asynchronous Javascript and XML), which does precisely the same thing. This is used by Google extensively. [Google: ajax, Wikipedia, AJAX: Getting Started]
Picsquare - Another thing I needed was online printing of Digital photos. Numerous on websites but all ask in dollars. So this is the first website that I know of and that is Bangalore based which allows [as of now] unlimited online storage for photos and also sends you by post the digital prints of photographs. Of course, they have things like greeting cards, mugs, calendars and stuff like that. Really cool!!!
Socializing I guess, has it's own benefits :-)
Upadhyay (undoubtedly nerdier-than-thou) has come up with this really cool funda to categorize your blogs. Plain javascript and DHTML. So simple, yet so convenient.
Post your suggestions in the comments.
Try it: www.labelr.com
Suggestions:
1. Include "Show All" label
I heard about a band called Shoestring on Radio City, Bangalore. Was browsing through their website when I found a link on "Learn to play [guitar]". Thought of checking it out.
It's really good. Includes music reading (which I always wanted to learn, but was too lazy). And guess what, the classes are in a pub :-) - Legends of Rock (review 1, review 2).
The curriculum looks pretty professional. And even after 4 years of playing guitar, I'll still be in the beginner. Why? Well, I don't know how to play :-). No seriously, I don't. I can only play some chords (not including the 5ths) and sing along.
And when I try my fingers, it plays pretty much like the Axe-Land ad (probably much worse). And when it comes to playing a Pink Floyd song, ... god help me.
But I might pass through to the intermediate level because the beginners level is only the basic chords (as per the curriculum). Let's see. The teacher, Robert - member of Shoestring - will be assessing. If they ask for theory, I'll go oops! If they ask for lead guitar, I'll go oops again!
Planning to continue this class till the advanced level and learn the studio basics as well. Need to learn everything to launch an album :-). Pranky, keep those words coming.
Starting this Saturday (1-Apr-2006).
John Keogh, a lawyer in Australia, patented a wheel saying that it is a "circular transportation facilitation device".
Google - "John Keogh" wheel patent
He he he, that was funny! But will I have to pay for my car?
This episode happened with the US consulate last week.
Background: Post 9/11, most of the employees from my company get their visa rejected or on hold for a month, owing to the critical knowledge that we have.
This guy seeing that the same happened with the guy immediately before him in the queue, goes to the consulate officer and says that he's working on nothing but a Document Difference tool, and subsequently goes on to describe nothing but MS Word. And guess what, he gets the visa!
So, no one seems to read what's written on the resume, invitation letter and the myriad of documents that are NECESSARY to get even an appointment. Why the crap!
Read an article in TOI about the complaints about the "modern" songs. One of my favourite singers, Asha Bhonsle, says "woh khoobsurati nahin rahi".
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1454057.cms
I've heard such comments a lot many times and I think it's about time the gods relinquish their thrones to the "in" thing. Fine, even I don't like remixes, but I also don't like people generalizing the things based on that alone. How about some of greatest albums of the century Vande Mataram (Rehman's), Rang De Basanti, Dil to Pagal Hai, Devdas, O Sanam (Lucky Ali) and so on.
"Ab gaane ki umar nahin rahi". Ma'am, no wonder you're a great singer, how about some modesty to go on the sides! And when you talk about the current music industry lacking talent, what about talented singers like A R Rehman, Sunidhi Chauhan, Udit Narayan, Sonu Nigam, Kavitha Krishnamoorthy, Alisha Chenoi, Lucky Ali, Palash Sen, Kailash Kher. Fine you had Kishore, Lata, Asha, Rafi, Mukesh, Manna Dey, that's it (no offence meant by using first names).
Talk about lyrics, ok, the so-called RD Anthems. For a minute, forget the tune and read the following:
piya tu ab to aaja
shola sa man bhadke, aake bhuja ja
tan ki jwaala thandi ho jaaye
aise gale lagaa ja
And in our times, we have our own:
sarkayilo khatiya jaada lage
jaade mein balma pyaara lage
which is, I would say, on the similar "theme".
Forgetting "boond boond milne se banta ek dariya hai" (Swades - Yeh taara woh taara) or "bindiyaa lagaati to kaanpti thi palkein" (Euphoria - Maeri) somewhere, are we?
And who says you have to be a classical singer to be good at singing. Kishore Kumar is a renegade from your own era.
No offence meant to RD songs (they ARE my favourite), but what I'm countering here is don't pick on the music industry, if one or two music directors and/or lyricist do something which is apt for the movie. It's not wise to generalize. Good songs and bad songs were made in your time. Good songs and bad songs are made in my time. Let's just fall prey to our ear-drums and SAY that we like THIS song and we don't like THAT song, rather than saying I don't like songs written on or after 32-Monthendary-1651.
About time, I wrote about the ticketing issues that we had in Kodai.
As I said in the previous blog, on the KSRTC bus from Kodai to Bangalore, 10 tickets are reserved for bookings from Bangalore. So if you aren't lucky, you'll have to go to the ticket booth in Kodai and buy/book the tickets.
Now after reaching Kodai, you'll notice that there is no KSRTC booth in Kodai. And if you need tickets to Bangalore, you should come to the bus stand at 6 pm (6:30 pm is the departure time of the bus), and buy ticket from the bus conductor. Obviously this should be in first-come-first-serve basis. Apparently, this isn't the way things work.
You're supposed to book a ticket with an agent, who will charge you more than the ticket amount (266 vs 325 per ticket). He will give you a "receipt" for the amount you've paid. Note, this is not the official ticket as we thought it is.
Now this agent has an understanding with the bus conductor. He'll pay the conductor a certain amount per ticket. So the conductor doesn't sell ticket to any person when the bus arrives at the stand. I guess, he would simply say that all seats are booked and no more tickets are available, even if no one is sitting inside the bus.
Once the agent comes, he pays the conductor his share and gets seats to all passengers as alloted by his own fancy. And takes the "receipt" back. The conductor then issues the official ticket. So in effect, you buy a ticket worth Rs 266 in Rs. 325 (59 minus conductor's commission goes to the agent).
When we realized this, we went to take the receipt back (saying that we want to claim the amount in our company). But he was smart and didn't give saying that we can claim for the ticket amount only (the official ticket which is given by the conductor).
We missed the camera. Wished we could take the picture of the guy and the "official KSRTC board" that he was pointing at.
Click, eat, laze and booze (not necessarily in that order) would be the ideal defintion of a vacation. We had our share of all during the Kodaikanal trip. To add to it, we had a nice and cool weather.
We reached Kodai at around 10:30 am by KSRTC bus (Rajhamsa) which we boarded from Dairy Circle (Bangalore). Thanks to Namit, a perennial organizer ;-). Cost around Rs. 258 per head. Got down to arrange for the return tickets as we couldn't get any from Bangalore (only 10 seats are reserved for bookings from Bangalore; rest are Kodai quota). So we got one agent who was continuously pointing to the K.S.R.T.C. written on the bill-board of his shop. The ticket costed Rs. 325. We tried some logic to deduce why it should be more expensive, but I guess, in the excitement, we just forgot all about it.
Walking back towards the lake that we saw while on the bus, we spotted a cycle shop and after some initial confusions because of the big group, decided to rent 8 bikes for 24 hours. Total cost Rs. 450 - 100% advance, no deposit. One of Namit's friends had suggested to stay in cottages of CSITA (Church of South India Trust Association). And when we found one, it turned out to be really cheap 100 per head for a cottage of two bed-rooms and drawing room with a fire-place. We paid 100 extra for the firewood, threw our bags on the beds, and off we went to get beer ;-).
Boating, roaming and eating consumed rest of our Saturday, and at night, all engineers bent down like the Neanderthals to lit fire. For me, it was the first time near a fire-place so I let the experts handle it. But once it came up, wow it was cool. While I was enjoying the warmth of the fire (and another person ;-)) arbit discussions were going on about German and Indian politics (I don't understand any, so spare me).
Sunday morning was lazy. The sun was so comforting after a cold night in just two very thin blankets and a jacket. Such a sun with a cup of nice tea and puffs to go along is just amazing.
After bath we headed back towards the "downtown" ('cause our cottage was uphill), returned our bikes and went to a trail called Coaker's Walk - a pathway at the edge of a mountain; beautiful but foggy. Moving on, it was a quest to search a waterfall. Intially when we asked it was just about a kilometer from one end of Coaker's Walk. But after 1 Km, it was still 2 Km (such an irony). When we finally heard water, it was a winning feeling. And the waterfall was more than worth the walk.
Clicked, ate, and lazed back into the bus. Confirming our seats in the bus was a little pain in the a**. But don't want to spoil my travel-blog with my anger against corruption. Writing another for the same.
Overall, if you want a nice cool two-day vacation away from the honks and potholes of Bangalore, go to Kodai.
