Hindu Human Rights Watch

After a long time, I am happy to see that someone is tracking the Human Rights problem of Hindus.

I happen to talk to few Hindu people in Pakistan and also saw them in the refugee camp in Delhi. It was painful to hear their pain.

I hope other people also take a note of it and ensure Hindus in Pakistan and Bangladesh get justice and fair treatment. Kudo's to Hindu Post to taking this effort. 

Innovation Driven Entrepreneurship

Yesterday evening, I have having a chat with a good friend of mine about what our big IT companies are doing.

My friend said that the big IT companies are failure because they have not done enough. They have not entered into aggressively into the product development and hence are valued less. There are much smaller companies in other countries with much higher valuation.

There are things that I always think of and so after listening him, I proposed a different point of view.
I believe that the problem is not this 'big' IT companies but actually we are.

India has lot of innovation. The innovations are every where whether you are in the villages or cities. There are many smart and educated people.

Today, I saw an inspiring article from another friend Dr. Abhay Jere here about Innovation Driven Entrepreneurship. And I think it is very timely.

India as a country has not more than 20-30 years to excel. In these years, if we are not in the forefront of the economic revolution then we will not be a very successful and happy country.

In India, I think our problem is less about innovation and more about Entrepreneurship. Our innovations should be taught about basic concepts of entrepreneurship much before lot of time is spent on the refinement of innovation.

In the article, Abhay Jere ji talks about our human capital as main asset of Bharat. And these assets are a great source of innovation. I think these assets are also great source of economic activity where these innovations can be utilized. Innovation creates great amount of value. But this value is not captured in most cases or very little of the value is captured by innovator. Mostly big enterprises license these innovations are very little cost and capture most of the value.

If innovator is also an entrepreneur and can capture majority of the value created, we could certainly help motivating other innovators. This will also ensure innovator will think end to end rather than 'just' innovation part.

If www.i4c.in could actually develop framework and help these people to get venture and create enterprises within the country, then very soon, we will reach our economic target of the country. As the objective on the website says that focus is on the lower end of the pyramid, I believe then the investment also will be of lower scale. We should come up with Micro Venture Capital Strategy similar to micro lending.

Dr Abhay Jere is has been consistently working on this front and I believe these things will be part of the strategy in future.

Punjab National Bank Customer Service

My experience with Banks are not always best but recently with PNB was at worst.

Here is what happened:

I went to the bank to deposit 7K INR in cash.
I took token (for cash deposit below 25K) and waited for my number.
Once my number was called, I went to the counter. The counter person refused to take my money for deposit and said that bank does not take any cash deposit below 30K and I should go to a cash deposit machine outside of the branch and deposit there.

There was no crowd and not a rush period. So, I enquired with him that they should have informed to me about this before hand for which they told me that they had put a notice (in small fonts) somewhere at entrance and they will not entertain my request.

I went to branch manager who also refused to budge to my request. He said he is unable to take cash deposit at counter as if they take any cash deposit then the top management asks question from Center. Well, after much argument he convinced me to go to the cash deposit money.

I then went to the machine which had looong queue (while counters were empty now) with no one able to deposit.

Apparently the machine was not working. We went to the branch manager (who now disappeared) and all the employees refused to take cash deposit. One employee recommended that we come next day to deposit.

While most of the transfers I do it online using NEFT or RTGS, there are times when we need to do urgent cash deposit. Not allowing customers to deposit money is a big loss. While private banks are sending people at home to pick up cash and deliver services at door steps, nationalised banks are not ready to take cash deposit. I hope all this changes soon.

Youtube Video of arguments.

Technology cannot be forced on people. Management of PNB should look into their service.

Did you face anything similar at PNB or at other banks?

Voter Registration Drive

As elections are on the way, we see the problems around us. Especially in Pune where I am in, I hear form many people that they would like change. But then, most of them also don't have election voter ID card or if they have it, it is from their old address and they will not be able to vote this time unless they travel long distance back home.

So, we decided to set up some voter registration drive with the help of few volunteers and currently it is planned that we do this for every weekend in and around Pune.

If you would like to volunteer for such a cause, please contact me and I will be more than happy to coordinate and organise. It does not has to be every weekend. Even one weekend for 4-5 hours would be good.

Prime Minister Relief Fund - Accounts

After all the unfortunate incident at Uttarakhand (UK) and the ongoing effort to provide donations and other benefits, I saw several posts and also in news paper that PM has called for contribution to the relief fund.

So, I checked for past history and this money was utilized. Here is the link to Audited version of the expenses. Do check yourself too.

http://pmindia.gov.in/pmfunds.php

Here is the table copied from the link about.

Year	Total Income (Fresh contributions, Interest Income, Refunds)	Total Expenditure (Relief for Riots, Flood, Drought, Earthquakes, Cyclone, Tsunami, Medical etc.)	Balance
2008-09 (A)	353.49	216.31	1611.62
2009-10 (A)	185.11	120.26	1652.83
2010-11 (A)	155.61	182.31	1625.64
2011-12 (A)	200.79	128.41	1698.00
2012-13 (A)	211.41	181.52	1727.79

 A = Audited

It looks like fund received more money than actually spent. I am not sure whether we had less disaster in the country or we have more generous people. But something surely missing (and fishy)

Any knowledgeable person would like to share insight about it would be great.

Blackberry z10 discount deal

Saw in the news paper that blackberry in India is having discount of up to 11,000 INR for the exchange offer.

At first I thought that it is as lucrative as the deal for SamSung. But on further research it does not seems to be that good.

• It is not standard 11 K discoung. It is upto 11K. So, if you return blackberry curve, you may only get 3K discount
• The price of the base blackberry itself is very high
• If you deduct 3K from 37K, the phone is very costly even at 34K. 
• Galaxy Note 2 was 27K after 10K discount

Here is the related news.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/blackberry-launches-exchange-scheme-for-z10-offers-discount-up-to-rs-11000/403426-11.html

I doubt that in the long run, blackberry will be able to sell more phones.

Also, I am not convinced about paying more for blackberry services when you can get all your email and chat on unlimited internet (EDGE) for 150 Rupees.

The ROI seems to be not just there.

Even though I have used blackberry for more than 10 years, I have moved to android phones. Even 10K simple phone from Micromaxx is much better than what is offered by blackberry.

Last Rites for Alta Vista next week

One time favorite search engine of my early days of software engineering is going to be shutdown next week.

There was no google at that time and we are just amazed at what we could find quickly. Of course, after google, things have changed and I hardly look into any other search engine.

I am not sure if the altavista code base was used to build the search engine for Yahoo :-)

Anyway, for all those people like me who have used it in the past, may feel a little nostalgic for a moment but we are not going to miss it for sure.

India Budget 2013

After long time, I am looking forward to Budget 2013. Not that I have any high expectations considering what is the current situation in India especially Maharashtra. But because this will set the tone for how government will be elected in 2014.

Considering how in Rail budget, UPA states were given preference compared to Non-UPA ruled states, should I expect more for Maharashtra? 

Flexible Display

Future is going to be very interesting if electronics were little flexible. Well, software was very flexible for quite some time. This time, it is the hardware.

There is quite a lot of possibilities. Input using gesture or voice and output in flexible ways will drive future development.

As for software engineers and thought leaders, field of Information Technology provide lot of opportunities. But this will only be available to those who are ready to think beyond what is normal and ready to take some risk.

LieStrong ... l

Today, I was shocked to hear what Lance Armstrong confessed. It is not because of surprise but because he accepts and sometime defends his position.

I do remember Mohammed Azarudding being banned for his involvement in scam. And like any other corrupt politician, he is now a member of parliament. He was most admired cricker at my home at that time after Kapil Dev. Sachin was not yet where he is now. Ajay Jadeja  was another cricker in similar scam.

Such cases are rare compared to all other people who play sincerely. But then, this guy created charity and kind of became motivation for so many cancer survivors.

I am not sure if the American Law or the society has any punishment for cheating. In India of course, Azarudding became a Member of Parliament. Him being so called minority might have helped. Even though he is no minority in Hyderabad. I guess Jadeja was not so luck in that sense. But he gets lot of invitations from TV. In fact, those who something wrong are more liked by media.

Over all, I hope not to see any more such people whom I admired in the past.

In the article on firstpost.com about LieStrong, I was also shocked to see so many support statements and comments for him being honest. I guess liars cannot oppose liars. Kalyug hain bhai Kalyug.

Aadhaar is No Aadhaar ( आधार - निराधार )

कहना बहुत कुछ हैं पर आज की बात मैं आधार तक ही सीमित रखता हूँ ।

जब आधार की घोषणा की गयी बहुत सारी बातें हमें बताई गयी । मुझे जो सबसे ज्यादा याद हैं कुछ कारणों से वह यह की कुछ भी हो ये राशन कार्ड की तरह नहीं होगा ।

एक सप्ताह पहले मेरी सोसाइटी में किसीने हमें बताया की आधार का एक कैंप लगा सकते हैं सोसाइटी में । हमें प्रसन्नता हुवी की चलो कुछ अच्छा हो रहा हैं की सरकारी काम बिना कुछ किये हो जाएगा । मेरी खुशी कुछ पलों के लिए हि थी । हमें बताया गया की आधार कार्ड एक ऐसे कंपनी ने यहाँ करने के लिए जा रहें हैं जिसका आधार से कोई रिश्ता ही नहीं । और यहाँ भी बताया गया की इस के लिये 'पहुँच' की अव्यशाकता हैं इस लिए हम इसे स्वयं नहीं कर सकते ।

मुझे लगा की यहाँ तो मेरा अधिकार हैं की मैं आधार कार्ड मुफ्त में बिना किसी के सयाहता के ले सकता हूँ ।

मैंने आधार के वेबसाईट पर देखा ... जैसे कहा गया वैसे पूरी तरह से नहीं हो पाया ।

जिसको आधार कार्ड बनाने किए लिए अनुमति दी गयी हो वह सब तरह से अपना काम नहीं कर पा रहे हैं । एक स्कूल जहा मैं गया था आधार कार्ड के लिए वह बंद हो गया था जब की वेब साईट पर उनका नाम और पता था ।

जितने फ़ोन नंबर दिए हुवा हैं उनमे से अस्सी प्रतिशत लगते ही नहीं । ऐसे लोग पे करवाई होनी चाहिए  :)

 आधिकारिक तौर पर तो वेब साईट बताता हैं की इसके लिए अनुमति दी गयी हैं बड़ी बड़ी सरकारी बैंक को । लेकिन इन बैंक ने निजी लोगो को यह कॉन्ट्रैक्ट दिया हुवा हैं । यह निजी कंपनियों ने इसे अपने तरह से इसका उपयोग कर रहे हैं । कहा करना हैं और कहा कैंप नहीं करना हैं इसके लिए वह तरह तरह से सौदा कर रहे हैं । इनके बारें में कोई जानकारी आधार के वेब साईट पर नहीं हैं ।

इन सब में ज्यादा पारदर्शिता लानें में लिए मैंने नंदन निलेकनी  जी को ईमेल भी लिखा हैं जिसका कोई अभी तक तो जवाब नहीं आया ।

सरकारी तौर पर कारपोरेशन से कुछ हो सकता हैं इस से भी ज्यादा प्रयास करना चाहिए । यहाँ प्राइवेट (निजी) कंपनिया काम कर रही हैं और सरकारी जगह पर कतार चार चार घंटो तक हैं । उनको और ज्यादा करने दिया नहीं जा रहा या नहीं करना चाहए ताकि निजी कंपनियों को ज्यादा लाभ हो पता नहीं । सरकारी सांठ गांठ नया तो नहीं हैं ।

एक अर्जी तो दी हैं कैंप के लिए सरकारी दफ्तर में ... देखे आगे क्या होता हैं ।

और हा ... यह अब राशन कार्ड से भी बत्तर हो गया हैं ;-) उसके लिए 10 रुपये शायद देना पड़ता था और सरकारी अफसर उस के लिए भी डरता था। अब निजी कंपनिया , सरकारी लोग और नेता सभी इस का बड़ा लाभ ले रहे हैं और किसी को पता नहीं की इसके बाद इसका उपयोग क्या होगा ।

New York & WTC

I was visiting Jersey City last week on way back to India and took this photo from the Jersey City Side.
I had not seen new construction that is work in progress at the same place as world trade center.

If you have not been there, you can see it here.

I hope you all like the photo.

Why I like blackberry

Today, I was asked question by a friend about why I love Blackberry or RIM. I also recently purchased a playbook @ 199$. While the entire world is moving towards Android or iPhone, the question is vey obvious and I would like to explain.


Background:

• I live in India and even though most of the last decade I stayed in USA.
• I used blackberry for 8 years or so
• I own both android (Original Google Nexus) and iPhone. 
• I moved back to blackberry

For my friends in USA, Indian environment is very different compared to USA.


Cost:


We purchase our phone by paying full price and buy unlocked phone. There are vendor locked-in phones but the discounts are not worth mentioning (20$ or so).


We do not have 2 year contract. Most of the people here use pre-paid plans where you recharge as required.


3G availability is limited. Where I stay, I hardly get 3G speed and where I work, I get good 3G speed. 


Approximately, if you have to buy blackberry curve here and compare the price of it with other android phones in INR, you will get the idea

• Blackberry Curve (20,000 INR = ~ 400 $)
• Samsung Galaxy  (25,000 INR = ~500 $)
• iPhone 4S (45,000 INR = ~900 $)

Phone specs and features are comparable. But again, we need basic phone with phone and apps features. Most of the things required work very well in all of them. i.e. Facebook, email and internet.

Most of the features in iPhone like Siri or other features are specific to USA. Most of the apps are now available to India but requires credit card. Not everyone has credit cards and those who have are not comfortable buying anything with credit card. So, the purchase is not at the volume you might see in USA.




Features


Language:


Some of the phones are built for certain category of people. I personally like to read content on the phone in multiple languages. Android has very poor (i.e. zero) for Indian langues. 


Check the issue here: http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=4153 and http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=12981

iPhone has good support but it is out for several other reasons including cost :)


Think about embarrassment when your costly android phone cannot read SMS or email or Facebook post because it is in some other language :) 


Keyboard


I am a heavy keyboard user. I type on computer and prefer keyboard shortcuts and with heavy usage on blackberry. The experience (or expertise) gained, I cannot give away so soon. In the two years that I did not use blackberry, my responses in email went down. My response to my friends either on chat or SMS was slower and not so interactive and even my wife complained that I do not reply to her messages. Touch was a learning curve. After switching back to blackberry, I dont see that as much a problem. 


It also has ability to enter hindi text directly just like on desktop.


Apps

Blackberry is worst in terms of availability of apps. But again, if I see what apps I use mostly, it is limited to my Facebook, email and browser. There are some games that I play, but mostly that will move on to tablet. 


BBM


Cant talk about Blackberry without mentioning BBM. 
Indian government recently had a ban on SMS and you cannot send more than 100 SMS messages. No limits on BBM messages. I save ton of money by not using SMS but by using BBM and talking to my friends and my wife. 


And you can get all these features of BBM including web browsing for 399 INR on Vodafone (i.e. 8 $) without any commitment and prepaid. 


I must say that BBM is addictive. You may have another technology replace this in near future but for now, it is perfect.


RIM should find innovative ways of working with any of the android vendor and it will be amazing.


Service


When my iPhone battery was not supporting up time of few hours, I went to apple store to replace it. They said they wont support it as it was not purchased in India. A local vendor who said he will replace it, charged me a lot more money and still did not replace it with authentic battery. The phone is a brick till I find right tools to open it and do it myself. For some other day but for now, it is useless.


I can get blackberry parts replaced or phone repaired without traveling too far from my home almost within few hours or a day. User replaceable battery :)


Email


I put this at the end as there is no question that blackberry is still the best way to receive and send email for me. I can see and respond in much lesser time thanks to amazing keyboard. And yes, android does not provide HTML email (at least when I used) by default. Apple iPhone did.


Market Share


A market price or market share is not something I look at when I purchase basic things like phone. They are required but there is no financial planning or life dependency on it. Future phone models do not bother me. When I have to purchase, I will make decision on what is available at that time. When I bought Blackberry, I found it good for the price. When I have time to change, I will do my analysis again.


Will I buy RIM shares? That may decide on their future models and growth.


Social


I have four blackberry users in my family. Me and my wife are only into IT. Other two users are no way closer to Information Technology.


For every 10 people who have blackberry, I find may be 5 with android and someone with iPhone. May be I dont meet lot of elite members of the society here :)






Tablet
Without ability to use a tablet without a need for additional data plan or cost, I am thrilled :)


At the cost I am getting, it is good. Most of the places that I visit, do not have wi-fi. 


Alternatives


Nokia or Samsung. If they work within Indian context and provide hardware and software understanding local environment, people will switch.




So, unless my company provides me with discounted iPhone and 3G plan, I am sticking with Blackberry.

Creating Icon or FAVICON that shows in tab or URL bar

I had create an icon that we generally see either on the URL bar or at the top of the browser when you visit certain sites.

Amazon icon in the Tab

What you see here in the left is Amazon logo that is shown in the tab. While it is generally the case that you have lot of sites open, favicon gives quick identification for well know sites that you visit. 


It is little difficult to create icon for all kind of logo but not impossible. If you have to create an .ico file, you can create in any of the icon editor.


I looked up website and found that This Icon Creating Site was very handy at least for the image that I was using. Thanks for the creator of the site.


When creating a logo, you may also want to make sure that non logo part of the image is made transparent. The site provided that feature and it made logo look lot better. This is mostly the case if your logo is not not a perfect square. 


You can also use PNG but I think it is too heavy but may allow more creativity. 


Give it a try and do let me know how it goes.  

ICICI Wealth Management - Bad Customer Service

Today I received an email from ICICI Wealth Management team. I am having recently very bad experience and this email did not help in changing that feeling.

Here is the link that I received for filling up survey.

http://icicibankwealthmanagement.co.in/WM/index.php?refsite=ia&adunit=ia&channel=ia&campaign=ia

Now, In the comments, I could not add more than 30 characters.

If ICICI is not willing to listen more, I am not sure they will provide any great service. At least provide an email address to complain :)


Recently, I visited a new ICICI branch in Pimple Saudagar.  My friend had just visited and received a locker after depositing some money in FD. I am already a wealth management a/c holder and I thought I should be able to get a locker as where my a/c is does not have any locker service.

After visiting the branch, I was told by branch manager that I have to do investment. I asked him several times why I have to do this when I already have a/c and sufficient investment and relationship with ICICI to be in wealth management a/c. He had no answer but insisted that is the only way to go. I tried complaining to my relationship manager and he said he cannot help. When I told them to take my complaint after few days, they mentioned that locker is no more available and they will provide it to me when available (which is not true).

This all is very bad and I am going to leave ICICI bank pretty soon.

Chocolate Room

कल मैं गया था chocolate room कुछ खाने के लिए अपनी बेटी के साथ. वैसे तो जगह काफी ठीक हैं  FC रोड पर और मुझे ज्यादा देर वह रुकना भी नहीं था |

जब हमने खाने के लिए कुछ मंगाया तो वेटर बड़ा ही थका हारा लग रहा था. और जब मैंने पानी लाने के लिए कहा तो उसने जवाब दिया की अगर मैं बोतल लेता हूँ तो वोह मुझे पानी ला देगा नहीं तो मुझे खुद लेना होगा |

वैसे हम सभी किसी न किसी रेस्तोरा में जातें हैं और खाना खातें हैं. रेस्तोरा बड़ा हो या छोटा, पानी देने के लिया कभी कोई मन तो नहीं करता. पर इस तरह खाना लाकर देने के लिए तैयार पर पानी के लिए जाकर लेना मुझे कुछ अटपटा सा लगा |

मैंने बैरे से कहा की भाई पानी मेरी बेटी को चाहिए तो क्या अब उसे भी खुद लेना होगा? कुछ सोचने के बाद और कुछ सलाह मशवरा करने के बाद वोह बंद सिर्फ एक गिलास पानी ले आया |

इस अनुभव के बाद मुझे लगता मैं वह जाने वाला बहुत बार या किसीको वह जाने के लिए प्रोस्ताहित करूंगा|

जिसने भी इस रेस्तोरा में ऐसे करने के लिए कहा हैं शायद उन्हें भारतीय संस्कृति का कोई अनुभव ही नहीं|

बात संस्कृति से और भी बढकर हैं की यह लोगो को महंगा पानी और जो जरूरी नहीं उसे दे रहे हैं| 

आप होते हो क्या करते? 

Blackberry Playbook Launched in India

I am very happy to see add in the news paper today for blackberry playbook.

While it is great news, when you try to go the link that is mentioned in the ad, blackberry site shows 404 error :(

How am I supposed to buy this blackberry. I hope your marketing and web department is well coordinated so such simple mistakes can be avoided. I love blackberry products so sad to see good company making so many mistakes from delayed product launch to website issue.

If I get to play with it, I will let you all know how good it is for Indian environment.

Windows 8 or Windows Mobile

I am little surprised about new windows user interface. It looks almost like windows mobile operating system.

I liked the bold move taken by Microsoft. I am sure there is going to be an option to have base UI look like windows 7.

Ergonomic keyboard for those big touch screens.. there is some time. :)

What would be great if Microsoft can integrate Kinect technology by using camera on the screen so rather than using those finger touch screens, we can have slight node or eye movements that will help operating system switch apps or move next/previous. It would be great in some of those apps like Internet Explorer and while reading documents.

Official Microsof press release is here.

Fedora 15 & VMWare tools

After long time, I was installing Fedora today (Fedora 15) and something surprised me on Terminal Window.

I tried to check whether gcc exists by typing gcc on the shell and it automatically recommended installing gcc. Great new feature for new linux users even though not a lot useful for experts. here is output

$ gcc
bash: gcc: command not found...
Install package 'gcc' to provide command 'gcc'? [N/y]

No more long hours to figure out how to use linux.

Beyond this, I also had issue getting current version of header files to install vmware tools as yum was installing latest version of kernel files and not the one that is used by os currently.
This command might be handy for you all in future.

$ sudo yum install kernel-devel-$(uname -r)


That should install and allow you to run vmware tools configuration. All the best. Let me know if that works.

Finding PG accommodation in Mumbai

Recently, over the weekend, I had a task of finding PG (Paying Guest) accommodation in Mumbai. I talked to many friends but found it amusing that those who live there for ever, dont necessarily know how to rent such accommodation.

So, anyway, reached out to some of my friends who are not from Mumbai and who lived there on rental and through them was able to find a suitable PG accommodation @ Goregaon.

Facebook was very helpful in connecting with friend which otherwise would be very difficult. No photos from the trip as I was a hectic task to be completed in one day.

Thanks to my friend who accompanied all day. :)