Grocery (Vegetable & Fuit) Prices in India

Which vendor provides the cheapest grocery around you? The corner kiranan wala or the retail chain? Or the online vendors?  Find out now..

Windows 8 Release Preview - First Impressions

Microsoft (MS) would soon be releasing their new version operating system (OS) that is present without a doubt in majority of the Personal Computers (PC) all over the world - Windows 8.  Microsoft has released a beta version - so called Release Preview - for enthusiasts to try their hands on the new product.  You could download a copy from here http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/release-preview

Though not an enthusiasts, the video on the Release Preview page was very interesting and I was tempted to get a copy & see how innovative the new product is.

The difference between Windows 7 and Windows 8 are many.  It seems Windows 8 has been designed assuming that most of the PCs that will run Win 8 would have a touch sensitive screen.  Like the smartphones of today, most of the features can be used seamlessly with touch.

However Win 7 itself is an OS that is user-friendly for the tech savy users.  It is difficult to explain to others who are first time users of a PC.  Now Win 8 is going to take it such a level that it may very well reach the level of 'impossible' for first time users to understand & start using a PC.  I have been using PCs for more than a decade.  However even I felt there is a learning curve with Win 8.  Also the lack of button and menu's and the dependence of positioning your mouse to activate features is a pain.

Overall Win 8 is slick but not user friendly - first impressions.  May be this is one of those features that is difficult at first glance and later you feel how did I use the old version so long.  Or may be it may go down the Vista route.  Time will tell.

Bangalore Passport Seva Kendra Experience 2012

Recently I had the need to visit the Passport Seva Kendra in Bangalore, Karnataka, India.  I had read a lot about the new & improved services initiated by the Ministry of External Affairs.  And I must say I was very impressed with the results.

The only painful experience is getting the appointment to visit the passport office.  Sadly the appointments are exhausted within 5 minutes of the window opening.  However the appointment booking window opens all 7 days at 6 p.m.  Yes, the booking window opens all day of the week and the booking is for the subsequent working days.

Application Process
Once you fill the application and get the appointment, you need to carry the required documents and the fees to the PSK.  The site (http://passportindia.gov.in) has very helpful tools to determine the fees for your application as well as the documents that needs to be carried with you.

Documents & Attestation
A few information that is not very clear with regards to the documents are;
When you take proof of residence you have to carry documents proving that you were a residence for at least a year.  What I mean by this is, if you are carrying telephone bills or utility bills, you need to carry a latest bill and a bill from last year. 
Another thing is about document attestation.  In some situations you need to submit declarations that needs to be printed on lowest denomination stamp paper and notorised (e.g. when renewing a passport due to damage to the passport).  Samples of all these are provided in Appendix.
And the last point is some documents like you passport copy is mentioned to be self attested.  However for other documents, it is mentioned that it needs to be attested.  It is not mentioned whether 'attested' means self-attested or attested by a gazette officer.  You don't need to attest these document copies by a government officer.  You can self-attest these documents as well.  However don't forget to carry the original of these documents for verification by the officers there.

Total Time & Experience
All in all I was given a 30 minute slot and was asked to report 15 minutes earlier.  I reported on time.  There was a small crowd at the entrance.  People who had reached well before their due time.  However the security folks made it easy to enter inside on my scheduled reporting time.  The whole process is conducted very smoothly.  Instead of the planned 30 minutes, the entire process was completed in 45 minutes.  Very professional managed.

Kudos to change.  Hopefully we would have more & more of our government offices turn like this in future.

GoDaddy Shared Hosting vs. 1and1 VPS

I currently have a Linux shared hosting with GoDaddy.  I wanted to get some flexibility with the server and thought of moving to a VPS.  After much research, I finalised on 1&1 (1and1).  And then started my nightmare.  The basic VPS provided by 1&1, has 512MB 'Guaranteed' RAM and 2GB of burstable RAM.  However once the RAM reaches about 200MB, other resource limits will bring the server down.

The rest of the article has moved to http://blog.sukoonghar.in/2012/02/16/godaddy-vs-1and1-hosting/

1and1 VPS for vBulletin - 1 - Plesk Setup

I recently decided to move from GoDaddy shared hosting to VPS.  Finding a VPS wasn't tough.  What was tough though was to find one that was cheap and gives a ton of features.  Now that took me a while and I zeroed on 1and1.com.  Their VPS Linux L server seemed to fit my bill.

Now started my ordeal.  Nor was I a Linux expert nor had I managed a VPS before.  Then came internet to my rescue.  I found a lot of helpful posts and I've started to move along.  In this blog I'll write down all that I encounter and the solutions I found that helped to overcome them.

Steps:

1. Login to Parallels Power Panel.  Go to "Container Services"--"System Services" and start "mysqld" and "psa" services.  Also enable auto start.
2.  Login to Parallels Plesk Control Panel.  I'm currently on Plesk version 10.1.1.  Plesk version 10.4.4 is available.  So I upgraded Plesk.  For this go to "Server Management"--"Tools & Utilities"--"Updates".  A new window opens and shows that Component upgrades are available.
   
   
   Instead I choose "Upgrade Product".  This will upgrade Plesk as well as upgrade the components as well.
   
   
   Once the upgrade completes, I get a confirmation.
3. Then re-login to Plesk.  You will get T&C to agree.  Click on 'Agree' and if you wish mark 'Do not show again' as well.
   

The Urban Civil War

We hear about recent trends in urbanisation.  The rate of growth of people in major Indian cities has been more than what the administration had predicted.  This brings huge challenges to the existing infrastructure & resources in these cities.  The pushes & pulls finally starts to show in different ways, most of them are not very pleasing.  Take the incidents in Mumbai - people turning against north Indians.  These and other 'sons of soil' policies in other cities are not very pleasant & has the potential to bring India to a near civil war kind of situation.  And by that the growth stories of one of the most promising Asian economy is going to come to a stand still.  There may be a few countries in our immediate neighborhood who would be happy to see such a turn of events.  However it will be a serious blow to us & for the world at large.  With the kind of politics & administration that we have in the country now, it will be next to impossible to recover in a generation or two from such a position.

EconomicTimes Top 5 Picks Analysts Performance

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The stock markets are throwing up surprises everyday.  One thing is for sure that this is not a bull run.  The market is definitely heading south, however there are instances of up trend and everyone starts wishing the markets to continue the same up trend.

In the middle of all this there are plenty of analysts who are trying to guess the market direction and its mood.  You can find these analysts predictions in all business newspapers and websites.  There are even websites fully dedicated to making these predictions and claim to be making money for you.  Or are they just making money for themselves?

I'm not very financially well versed.  I try to read the articles and figure out what is right, what is wrong, when to invest and in which company.  However the innumerable analysts and their predictions makes it difficult to put my trust behind any one of them and follow them blindly.  In my effort to figure out who amongst the many have been able to make the 'right' analysis and who have had more hit rates, I couldn't find just a statistics.  There are many who claim they can predict the market, but no info about how many of them have correct.  I understand no one would be 100% accurate, but who have got it right the majority of the times?

I think since there is no such comparison data available, it will not give much incentive for these analysts to do a thorough analysis.  Not that most of them may not be doing that.  However I'm sure there would be some at least who would be gaming the people.

So I went about zeroing in on EconomicTimes newspaper.  It publishes "Top 5 Picks" of the day and "Mid Term" predictions from analysts.  I created a page where I plan to put in these predictions along with the analysts info.  I have a few scripts that would track the market and see if the stop loss was triggered or the target.  I just started this today and am not sure how the things will turn out.  I'll write an update is about a month's time to see how this experiment worked.

I'm skipping the "Mid Term" predictions as there is no stop loss mentioned only the target price.  My limited understanding is that it is not prudent to enter a stock without appropriate stop loss.

This is no longer maintained.

I would really appreciate if before you switch away from this page, if you could write a short or long comment about your experience as well.

Woman shocked & amused to find British PM David Cameron travelling in London Tube

"Excuse me, are you the Prime Minister?", a stunned 27-year-old Indian woman inquired from David Cameron, who chose to travel in a tube train during rush hour.

Read more at: http://bit.ly/nkZlX9

Human Rights of Traffic Cop & Road Users violated by Govt.

The fines & penalties for various traffic offences currently being levied in India were set in 1988.  These are very very low.  See this example below.

Traffic Fines as per Transport Act 1988, India

When petrol price is around Rs70 and inflation is close to 10%, what is the value of Rs100.  No one bothers to follow the rules.  The govt. by not revising these fines is making a mockery of the people and their lives.  And not just the lives of the road users but the lives of the traffic policemen who have to put up with the people, environment and the polluting vehicles all day long.  Most traffic policemen who man busy junctions are given a surgical mask to protect them from the dust & pollution.

The fines should be revised to at least by 10 times the present rates to be effective.  Again once revised, it may not be revised for another 10 years.  So much for Govt. efficiency.  Does 10 times the current rates seems excessive?  Well, this is not mandatory duty.  Once has to pay this only if one commits an offence.  However in our country the very next thing on everyone's mind would be corruption and bribe.  You would be thinking, well this is not going to bring any of those offences down, but only going to increase the "take home" of traffic policemen.  Thinking that these changes will not bear fruit because of corruption and doing nothing is not going to make things any better.  And the whole corruption angle has to be dealt in another blog.

If over-speeding fine were to be say, Rs2000.00 instead of the paltry Rs100.00, would that reduce more than half the accidents due to over-speeding?  I don't know, just taking a wild guess here.  If the fine for carrying goods more than allowed tonnage were say double the cost of the entire goods that is being carried, would most people try to carry goods more than the allowed tonnage.  This may not reduce accidents, but sure will prolong the life of our not to well maintained roads for may be another monsoon.

Also the fines for offenses committed by autos, taxis, buses and other vehicles that carry passengers should be more than the 'normal' fines by a factor.  These vehicles are on the road most of the times.  Some drivers are plain stupid & some just feel too comfortable on the roads and start using them as race tracks.  They need to be reined in too.

Hoping for a change for the better India and its people.

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Is a certain IQ/Intelligence required to drive vehicles on road?

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You can't be a pilot unless you have a certain qualification and go through a bunch of exams.  You can't be a train / loco pilot unless you again go through a set of exams.  However come driving vehicles on road, there seems to be no qualification - especially in India.  There may be other countries in the world where the situation is similar to here in India.  Please excuse my ignorance here.

Now coming back to aircraft pilots case.  It is understandable why they should have the necessary certification.  You need to handle tons of instruments and it's enough you can read the numbers of those devices.  You also need to understand what they mean.  And in some cases even use what those instruments are telling you and take life saving actions.

What about loco pilots or those who operate ships?  I guess the complexity may be less compared to pilots but they do have manage a vehicle that is pretty big.

Now coming to drivers on road, they seem no qualification.  Kids start driving 2 wheelers on road.  The technical qualification exam or driving test is a sham.  I agree that the vehicle size may not be big, there are no hoards of instruments to handle.  However what the sheer number of vehicles?  What about the fact that pedestrians and bicycles share the road with these vehicles.  What about the different size of vehicles on the road?  Educational qualification may not be required.  However I'm sure some common sense training may be a good.  Also the time has come to makes those "driving tests" to make it more stringent.

Politicians & Conflict of Interest

The Sports Bill was put in front of the Indian cabinet to discuss.  No one had any doubt that it was not going to go down well with most ministers.  Read the news article here http://bit.ly/qkMqHo

The Sports Bill was going to be a game changer.  It was going to bring the all powerful BCCI under the RTI net and was also going to bring in lot of measures that seemed like common sense decisions.  However most of the sports authorities are run by ministers who are part of the cabinet.  And the bill was going to cut their wings or reduce their monopoly on the sports bodies.  Now how are they going to allow that.

When a bill or legislation is being discussed and drafted shouldn't the ministers and people whom it impacts to be kept away from it.  Here there is a serious conflict of interest.  Even though it is the cabinet ministers, if the law being discussed impacts them, they should be able to put forth their opinion but they should not have any say on passing the bill.

It should happen for other legislation as well.  The ministers keep raising their salary and benefits on a regular basis.  And at times many times over the current amounts.  Should they be allowed to determine what the benefits they should receive?

Indian Software Professional Dilema

Indian IT & ITES industry has grown over the years and now constitute a sizeable portion of the country's GDP.  This has changed the employement landscape in the country.  I wonder how many people currently working in this industry grew up wanting to be an IT professional.  Many would have had different dreams, doctor may be or engineer or military or even an artist.  However the lure of the lifestyle that this new profession provides and the ease of entry has made many leave their childhood career dreams and embrace this new today.

In my memory the first kind of jobs that came were Medical Transcription.  Call centres came second and then IT system support and the rest.  So what started this?  I guess for medical transcription it was the kind of work.  May the work was not very appealing to the folks abroad.  However if it had to be done, paying the people in the western world hourly rates would probably have made the entire exercise not very economically viable.  And this is where the English speaking and understanding Indians made their entry.

Over the years the kind of work has changed.  Indian IT companies have grown to become multi-national companies spread across the globe and even hiring local workers in the countries they are now based.  This has changed the IT market with increased competition.  However the people working in this industry are going through a lot of different emotions and thoughts.  Some are struggling to find their identity.  Some have left the search and have decided to go with the flow and see where the industry takes them.

The Indian IT professionals don't get paid the same as their western counterpart for the same work done.  The reason why the cost is low is the starting reason why the job has been given to Indian IT folks.  If the cost were the same then the job may not be outsourced and these Indian IT folks may not have a job at all.  However there are Indian IT folks who are better - more productive & efficient - than their western counterparts.  So shouldn't they get paid favorably?  This thin minority gets lost amongst the majority.  So what does this minority have to look forward to?  Shouldn't the IT industry players recognise this and set in motion practises to change this?  Wouldn't that break some of the people who are going with the flow to take notice make them change?  Wouldn't a more thinking & innovative Indian IT professionals be more productive for the country as a whole?   

26/11 Mumbai carnage & a criminal minister

This past week India witnessed the worst terrorist attack on it's soil. There has been lot of news coverage by all the channels and the press on how it happened and what should be done now. In between all this the Home Minister took "moral" responsibility and resigned. Now that is what caught my attention. The Minister takes "moral" responsibility and resigns and that's it. No hue and cry after that. Well this is not the first time a minster has taken "moral" responsibility and resigned. And that makes me think, is that good or bad. And secondly is that enough.

Let me get to the first point, about good or bad. When a catastrophe of this magnitude happens, it will require a lot of shake up. However is it right to do that change in the middle of a catastrophe. Agreed that the Minister was not efficient and he needs to go. However the hours just around the incident are also the time that requires a lot of quick decision and there needs to be someone at the helm to direct those decisions. But time and again our leaders choose to duck their head, leave the responsibility and run for cover. You can't hide from your responsibilities and run like that. If this is a little extrapolated, if a national calamity occurs, will the Prime Minister too resign and run. Then who is going to run the country. I believe in all situations, the government and the people should wait to see all the evidences to come forth them and then decide who should go and more importantly who should take over. This practice of leaving the post without finding a replacement could prove detrimental to our country.

Now the second part - "moral responsibility". The Minister had the resources and the power to make decisions and do things in a proactive way to protect our country. Well he has failed miserably. No doubt about it. But is this just a "moral" position? Is this just a "moral" responsibility? Was he doing our country a favor by being a Home Minister? Doesn't the the job comes with responsibilities? And doesn't failing in his responsibilities have consequences? Due to his ignorance or lack of decision making power hundreds of lives were lost? Doesn't that make it a criminal offence? When an employee of a company commits suicide due to work pressure, the employer is charged with criminal offence. When an employee of a company is murdered, the employer of the company is charged with criminal neglect. So why shouldn't the Minister not charged with criminal offence for failing in his duties and resulting in the loss of hundred of lives?

US embassy project in Iraq

From the Timesonline. May 03, 2006
In the chaos of Iraq, one project is on target: a giant US embassy

THE question puzzles and enrages a city: how is it that the Americans cannot
keep the electricity running in Baghdad for more than a couple of hours a day,
yet still manage to build themselves the biggest embassy on Earth?..........

Your comments on this......