Zygon's Blog

My fav Nokia apps

2011-03-21T03:57:00.000-07:00

My Nokia phone runs on Symbian S60 OS. I like it even though there are many other interesting OSs available like Symbian 3, windows phone 7, Android. I am very much used to my phone right now and I feel very comfortable.

Ovi store by Nokia is where I download apps from. It has loads of apps to download and try. I usually log onto Ovi store and check out apps. Sometimes I find some really useful app and most of the times they fail to impress me. I download and try if it sounds interesting and later uninstall if I find it useless. I am not saying the apps are not good, I don't find it useful for me to use! I'm not too much into games, but if I find some interesting game, I don't hesitate to download!

Let me write about some of the applications which I have liked and which I have found them to be very useful. I will write about one app today and next time I'd continue writing about a different app. But now I'll write about Nokia Situations

Nokia Situations is a very useful app by Nokia. I change the profile of my cell phone to Silent as soon as I reach office. Sometimes I forget to do so and during discussions or meeting the cell phone starts ringing. It lands me in an awkward situation where I should reach for my phone and press the silent button! I know some people don't bother about such things and wouldn't mind if their phone rings loudly! But not Me, I don't like it that way..

So when I read about Nokia situations, I thought this is one app that would be very useful. The description said it will be useful under various situations. I downloaded right away and started checking the options. At first look it just looked like normal Profile explorer. After finding out the Automation option, which would automatically change the profile as per some automation rules, I started realizing how useful it could be! I immediately automated the Silent profile to be activated on weekdays from 10 AM to 7 PM! So at 10, it switches to silent and at 7 back to the General mode! I no longer have to worry about changing to silent mode when I reach office! :)

Automation can be based on many other rules, so far I have tried automation based on time and based on WiFi location. If my cell phone detects some WiFi and if i want some profile to be changed at this location I can do that. Like I'd set the Home profile to be changed as soon as I reach home! But I found that this would drain battery too much and I don’t mind about having particular profile at home! Also automation can be based on GPS location and calendar events. These I haven't got a chance to try out yet. , I know I am not using it to its full potential. As far as I am concerned, as long as it switches my phone to silent during my office hours it’s more than enough for me!

That's it about Situations, I'd write about some other app which I like in the future!

Iron Maiden - The Final Frontier!

2010-07-29T11:06:00.000-07:00

I am eagerly waiting for Iron maiden's new album to be released! I can't tell you how excited I am at this moment! There is nothing like looking forward to listen to a new Iron Maiden album. Ever since I got this news, I've been way too much excited! Come August 16th, I will be having the CD in my hand and my ears will be pleased to hear new maiden songs!

Its time to go back a few years. It was in 2003, when I first heard Iron Maiden. It was because of songs like "The Sign of The Cross", "The Trooper", "The number of the beast", I got into maiden! I started loving maiden from the first time I got to know about them. In 2003, they released Dance of Death and when I got to know about this and when I saw the album art of this album, I was like I need to own this album for sure! The title itself had made me go crazy! I went on to buy a audio cassette of Dance of Death. I loved each and every song from this album, especially Dance of Death song! I even remember giving the cassette to a couple of my friends so that they can get a taste of maiden!

In 2007, it was A Matter of Life and Death. By this time, I had heard almost every maiden song. I remember that span of time I spent waiting for the album, talking to people about the album, about the album art, about Eddie in a war field and other stuff. It was the time when my semester results would be announced, AMOLAD made me forget all the tensions! I remember the day when I went to the music shop with my friend to get this CD, I was all excited with a broad smile on my face! I got a key chain with Eddie on it! wow, it was like a icing on the cake! Came home, listened to the album and I liked this album! I was in the maiden mood for quite a long time after getting this CD!

Soon after this I got a chance to see Iron Maiden Live in concert for the first time in my life! It was Ed Fest and their first concert in India. How lucky am I? Until that day I had never thought even in my dreams that I'd see them Live!

In 2008 February, I saw them Live in Mumbai. It was the opening show of the Somewhere Back in Time world tour. And in 2009, they played in Bangalore and it was the 2nd leg of Somewhere Back in time world tour I believe! Three times in three years!! :) Space is not enough to pen down the memories I have from these 3 concerts.

August 2010, Iron maiden's 15th studio album is scheduled to be released. I am as exited as I was back in 2003 and 2007. I am sure the album will be one of the best. I liked the single "El Dorado" and the Video of " Satellite 15..The Final Frontier".

I am hoping that I will get a chance to see them Live again soon. Hope they play in Bangalore! keeping my fingers crossed!

Just 18 more days!! Damn, time moves slow!

Thanks to images.google.com for the pic!

ನನ್ನ ಸೈಕಲ್ !

2010-07-11T11:29:00.001-07:00

Today, after a long time I rode my cycle and I felt very nice. I remembered the day when I got my bicycle and rode my bicycle for the very first time! Until today it was down with flat tyres! For some reason I was not able to get it fixed! Today I and my friend had gone to check some hardware stuff. My friend spotted a guy selling hand pumps along with other accessories like screwdrivers, hammers. I had told my friend some time back that I wanted to buy one blow pump for my cycle, having remembered that he told me about this guy selling hand pumps!

We went immediately and enquired about the price. He quoted 150 Rs and I thought it's reasonable. He showed us how it works. Later I asked for 120 Rs and he came down to 125. I was all OK with it and bought it straight away! :D

I came home and tried it on my cycle, it was working fine and my cycle's tyres where all pumped up! ;) I went for a ride and it felt nice. I was excited! The breaks are shitty, I should get it fixed or if possible I will try to fix it myself! ;) Because of this I had to come back soon. I must say I felt really happy, just like when I was a kid! :P

Laptop!

2010-06-22T11:16:00.000-07:00

After spending a month or so researching on Laptops, spending hours discussing about laptops with cousin, checking out models wherever possible, I finally have bought a Laptop! It has been a great pleasure using it! I’m using my laptop right now to write this post! My fingertips love it!

It was about a month ago when I saw a Sony Vaio Laptop at a shop. I fell in love with it and wanted to get it for myself! My desktop badly needed an upgrade. So a thought came to my mind, “why don’t I just get a new Laptop instead?”. That’s when I decided to buy a laptop. Having made up my mind, now the big question was which one to choose! Though sony vaio was a love at first sight, later I learnt that it costs too much for just a decent configuration. So the big task was to research which model was the best and worth paying money! So I started searching on internet, reading reviews and stuff. Also whenever I got a chance I’d pay a visit to a computer shop and check out some models. This I’ve done around 3 times and it helped me to shortlist few models. What really helped the most was discussing with my cousin Nikhil about laptops. He has great knowledge on laptops and the discussions helped a great deal!

My requirements were: 15’’ screen, 4 GB of RAM, Intel core i3 or core i5 processor, Hard disk wasn’t a concern neither was a video card. (Later on I decided to go for a dedicated graphics though!).

Lenovo and Acer were ruled out in early stages. To be frank I didn’t like them from the start, I don’t know why! So following models were the shortlisted ones:

Dell™ Inspiron 15R New Laptop (T540506IN8) with intel core i3
Sony vaio VPCEB14EN
Hp Pavilion DV6 (with core i3)
Dell™ Inspiron 15R New Laptop (T540505IN8) with intel core i5

Out of these lots Dell had better specifications and I felt like it was worth spending every bit of money on it. I liked HP pavilion too, especially its outer design but the cost was little more than of Dell’s and had lesser config! Like Dell has 4 GB of RAM whereas HP has 2 GB but HP costs 5000 Rs more! I got good reviews on Dell Inspiron laptops, also one of my colleagues had bought a Dell studio laptop recently, I saw his laptop and liked it. So it was Dell!

Having decided on Dell, now I was confused whether to go for core i3 or i5 processor! I started reading about these processors, about the differences between them and technical stuffs too. I found out that the only difference between i3 and i5 other than clock rate difference is the turboboosting technology. I3 doesn’t have Turbo boost. Cost difference was around 4000 Rs. I felt i3 is good enough for my usage. Thus, I decided on Dell Inspiron 15R with core i3 processor.

Main specs:

Intel Core i3, 350M – 2.26 GHz, 2 Cores, 4 Threads, 3 MB Cache
4 GB DDR3 RAM
320 GB Hard disk
Video Card – ATI Radeon 512 MB
6 Cell Battery
Windows 7 Home Premium

I ordered at Dell online. It took around 5 days to reach me!

How’s it: Well it’s been only 4 days since I started using the laptop. It has just been normal usage till now, to browse internet and to check out stuff on the laptop. I must say I’m loving each and every second of it. I’m glad I made the right decision to buy Dell!

This model has a num pad, something which will be useful for sure.
Sound is pretty decent; you can’t ask more from a laptop!
Battery back-up is pretty decent too. Gives around 3 hours backup for continuous use.
Has 4 USB ports – 2 on the backside and 1 each on left and right side.
Screen is super. 15’’ screen and it’s crystal clear! Haven’t watched a video on it yet, will watch a movie when I get time! J
Webcam is nice and it has Facial recognition software. So I don’t have to enter my password every time I want to login!

Final words: I’m glad I bought this laptop. I’m sure it’ll be a good companion of mine. If anyone ever asks me suggestions on buying a laptop, I’d undoubtedly recommend Dell Inspiron! I’m hooked to my laptop! :D

My blog, spam?

2010-04-05T22:57:00.000-07:00

Aww after a long time I log in to my blog, just to see a warning message that my blog as been flagged as spam blog and it'd be deleted in a few days! I was really shocked. I'd really hate to see my blog being deleted, coz I love this blog so much and though I am not so frequent, I am very much attached to it :). I followed the link to Request Unlock. Well, I have done that now, of course.

I really am not sure why this has happened. I just now went through the Terms of Service and other links, and came to know about "link spamming". hmmm.. some days back I had participated in a site to save tigers. There was an option to spread the word through various means. like in my twitter account, facebook or blogspot. Oh, I thought, I can spread the word about this good deed in my blog and I did publish it in my blog from that site. The post has a link in it. Maybe this is the reason for my blog to be termed as spam? I don't know really. If this is the case, then why allow third party websites to give options to publish their contents in blogspot directly?

Save Our Tigers | Join the Roar

2010-02-18T03:05:00.001-08:00

Title: Save Our Tigers | Join the Roar
Link: http://gotaf.socialtwist.com/redirect?l=182317727647062330631

A Drive to Mahadevpura and to Mysore and a Ranji Match

2009-12-27T09:13:00.000-08:00

I'd been to Mysore yesterday just to watch Ranji Trophy Quarter Final match between Karnataka and Punjab. I wanted to watch this match because Rahul Dravid was playing! Me and my friends had been on a drive to a place called Mahadevpura near Mandya and decided to head towards Mysore and watch the match for sometime before starting our journey back home.

Well, it was around 2 in the afternoon when we reached Gangothri Glades, where this match was taking place. It was Tea when we reached, and no player was on ground. Only some young boys with white and white outfit were practicing. The stands were almost full. It was quite surprising to see people coming in such numbers to witness a domestic cricket match. I have read somewhere that people usually don't turn up to watch Ranji Match and all at places like Bangalore, but that wasn't the case here in Mysore. We were very happy to sit amongst the crowd there!

The score on the board was 92/1 Punjab. Earlier Karnataka ended their first inning with a lead of 78, with an awesome century by Manish Pandey. It's shame we couldn't watch Karnataka batting. Also I'm very disappointed that I couldn't see Dravid batting! Anyway, 10 minutes after we arrived, the players started to come back to the ground. Karnataka team, led by Dravid held a small discussion, about the strategy I guess? Fielders took there positions. Dravid started to look busy, adjusting the field position, talking to bowler. Dravid wasn't standing in the slip. Pandey was in the first slip and Dravid was at Mid Wicket.

There were two missed catches and no wicket fell in the entire afternoon. Crowd was very encouraging. They acknowledged every good effort by fielders and good shots by batsmen. Sitting there what I observed the most was the intensity in which Dravid was playing. That commitment, that involvement in the game is unmatched. He played with the same commitment as he'd have played in any international match. Respects to him! This is the second time I saw him play. I'd been to Chinnaswamy stadium to watch a Champion's League match. I am so happy I could see Dravid play, that I could watch a Ranji match. Now that they have entered Semi finals and the semi final match would be in Bangalore itself, I've a very good chance of going to that match! It was a satisfying day, enjoyed it to the core!

2009-12-18T10:35:00.000-08:00

I wrote this on 24th Sep 2009, few days after I started going to work.

As i sit here and observe all the changes that is happening around me, I'm feeling strange! I'm not able to cope up with this change which is happening at such great pace! But i am glad it happened! All I can say is change is inevitable and this change is like what will be a laying stone for something big in the future!

2009-09-15T11:02:00.000-07:00

I can fly, above the sky.

I don't see you, why?

'coz I don't need you, that's why!

A Trip to Melkote and Mysore

2009-09-15T10:53:00.001-07:00

A short trip to Melkote and Mysore (KRS Back waters). (31-07-2009)

Distance: 380 Km (total)

No. of people: 3

Mode of Transportation: Car ( Vinay's Zen)

Route: Bangalore->Mandya->Melkote->Srirangpatna->Mysore->KRS Backwaters->Mysore->Back to Bangalore!

We wanted to go to Melekote from a long time, sinc

e the exams got over. But the plan kept on postponing and the no. of people who wanted to come to the trip initially also got reduced when we finally decided to go to Melekote! So it was just the 3 of us and we had to go by Car since the second bike wasn't available!

So we left here at around 7 Am, filled the car on the way and headed towards Mysore! We didn't stop until we reached Mandya. It was a quick drive and within an hour and a half we reached Mandya. We decided to have our breakfast at Sha

rada Restaurant, Mandya! Masala Dosa tastes so awesome here, heavenly!

After the short stop we started our journey again. We have to take a right deviation from the Mysore-Bangalore Highway in order to go to Melekote. Its around 40 Km from Mandya. It was a little difficult to find this deviation but soon we found it with the help of locals. It was a smooth drive from here, roads are so good and with very less traffic! The captivating Green fields with cattle ploughing the fields was what we were greeted with! It was such a great sight, I did even capture a few snaps quickly!

The road was so attractive that I decided to try my hands on the wheels! So far only Vinith was driving and me being still new to car I was a little skeptical about the idea of driving an a place which I am not aware of! Nevertheless I did decide to drive. I guess I did a pretty good job at driving and it was Vinay's turn next, Vinay is new to driving too! After sometime, the temple on top of the hill was visible to us. It was a pleasant sight I must tell you. We finally reached the temple. There was only one car apart from us and we were happy that there were not too many people!

The Yoganarasimha Temple at Melkote was built by the Hoysallas, is at the height of 1,700m from the sea level. The Scenery is awesome! A painter would love this place and he would spend his entire life here!

It is hard to find words to describe the beauty of our temples! Like any other ancient temple, the Gopara is intricate with the statue of Narasimha. I kept to myself for a while in the temple. The sight of god was striking that I felt releaved of all the worries. It made me feel at ease. I was flying, flying away with no thoughts! I can never forget this moment! I never felt like leaving that place!

And there were monkeys of course! So many of them! I was shocked to find that these monkeys were very friendly. They were playing among themselves and most of them were sitting with a partner. Some of them had young ones with them too! One of them touched vinith's leg and later he told us that the palm of the monkey felt like velvet!

It was just around 11:30 after the temple visit. We spent some time there and started making plans as to where to go next. Finally we decided to make a short stop at a lake which was visible from the top and later head towards Ranganathittu.

The lake had visitors in the form of birds and new Human beings were to be seen around. We spent some time there and started our journey. I drove for a while, it was a great drive. The road is so awesome there. We took Pandupura-Srirangpatna road. We reached Ranganathittu but we were told that it was off season and its not worth a visit. We were kinda disappointed. We decided to go to Mysore since we had a lotta time in our hands.

At Mysore, I met my cousin and we finished our lunch at a good Hotel. My cousin suggested a couple of places we could visit in Mysore. We decided to go to Blue Lagoon ( This is what the locals call KRS Backwaters). It was bumpy drive and we finally reached. All of us were suprised to see a place like this. It was as if like we landed on an Island suddenly! There was not a soul apart from us. It was as if we were in a beach! It was so peaceful there. I took a some quick snaps.

We had some interesting conversation and soon we realized that it was getting late! We couldn't keep track of time! I'm sure none of us wanted to leave that place but we had to.. We reached Mysore and dropped my cousin. We were on our way back home, I was slowly drifting away with all the thoughts. As we were driving back home in the night, I started wondering- "How soon the day got over!".

Fake

2009-08-26T12:24:00.000-07:00

I was overwhelmed by your care,

I didn't realize it was all fake.

Now I do, I feel cheated.

But its not something new,

Its been the same ever since I met you.

Untitled

2009-08-02T22:54:00.001-07:00

From where it comes and where it goes,
I don't know.
It keeps visiting me,
I don't like it, no.

Online jobs- Make money!

2009-07-11T13:29:00.000-07:00

How often have I not come across such statements, all flashy and all! I keep on getting mails claiming that I could make lots and lots of money just by spending few hours in front of the computer! I keep getting such messages from fake profiles in Orkut! I've come across that most of such online money making things are fake and only they make money by tricking others! Internet is a strange thing anything can happen! Some programs even asks us to pay some amount to get registered and later earn money! What? which fool would do that? I mean, to my knowledge, it's just a trick. By putting flashy photos with $$$ everywhere and with a lot of crap written about how Mr. A earned so much money in just a few days and many other over-the-top stories! Eventually one would start wondering if its real and if they could be a Mr. A too! As for me, I think it's all fake.

Well, I spend a lot of time in front of the computer everyday. ( Doing nothing at all). So this thought came to me once, "Why not try these online money making stuff and earn some money". I did check out some of the sites and I even joined some! Believe me I've joined few. Of course I've unsubscribed after realizing the real idea behind such sites! You make no money! If at all there are such genuine sites then I've not come across! If there are such sites then I'd not hesitate to try my hand. If it takes a little time of the total time I spend online and i happen to get some money then why not?! :D. AFAIK, Google Adsense is the only reliable way to earn some money online. No much hassles. Back in those days I'd even tried my hand on Google Adsense. If you happen to notice, you'll find the ads here on Zyg1 too. At first it was going on well ( in one of my earliest blogs) but slowly my online time kept on reducing and the interest on that blog too. So Adsense got hold and I end up earning nothing! Well, you've to have a minimum of 100$ to get the money don't you know that? Since I've registered to Adsense i use it here and in my other blog. No money making intentions, for I've lost hope and patience to do so. I've also grown, from those days as a desperate college going kid who wanted short cuts to get his hand on money to a person who can analyze what's fact and what's real and what's not. I'm not a fool anymore to try the flashy stuff! If only i could get my hands on those who send such mails/messages, I'd hit on their head so hard that they will forget how to even use Internet ! ;)

All's well that end's well

2009-07-01T00:23:00.000-07:00

If I read some of my previous posts, I'll find quite a few instances where I've mentioned about my 8th sem project. Yeah it was one hellova experience. Mostly bad experience, but I'm glad it didn't become such a big problem! Even today if remember all the things I had to go through, it gives me shiver! Partly I've to blame myself, for I didn't take smart decisions, but under those circumstances I didn't have much options. Well, now that its over, I don't want to think too much about it! It's over now. I'll be getting my results in a few days, i hope I get through and get through well!

Stuck in a Labyrinth

2009-05-14T23:05:00.000-07:00

Some kind of bad feeling has engulfed me from yesterday. It has stuck on to my mind, I'm unable to get it off my mind. I am trying to distract my mind but in vain, I get back that ill feeling in no time. I used be in the similar state when I was in II PUC and also remember passing the same state when i was in 5th semester. It gives me such a hopeless feeling. Makes me feel like a loser and takes away all my confidence. Fearful thoughts come into my mind. I am just feeling low, unable to overcome it. As if I've lost all the interest but this thought keeps haunting me back. Its like you're stuck in the middle of a Labyrinth and you know you'd come out of it, yet your mind keeps on telling you that it'll be difficult to come out and fills you with lots of ill thoughts. A cool mind takes you a long way even in desperate situations. I'm underestimating me too much, I feel. Because I am not in such a bad situation at all! Probably a problem or two like everyone face in their lives. What I'm feeling happy about is that I haven't lost my confidence even in this situation. A bit of focus and determination is all I need to crack the maze!

I'm feeling low: A samall piece I'd written which relates to the current state.

what?why?!

2009-05-03T02:52:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I pass though a strange phase. Just like how I'm now at the present moment. Totally baffled and have no clue! I'm not able to focus on any particular thing and nothing seems to be interesting! Its strange because I am not able to overcome though I know exactly what's going on in my mind. I'm trying to indulge myself into something but nothing seems to be encouraging enough. Every time I think of doing something, something holds me back and the next moment I lose interest in it. It's like you're caught in a place full of cobweb and your vision isn't clear, you try hard to clear off the web so as to get a clear vision but end up getting into a much worse situation with cobwebs on your hands and you realize you are still in the same place and stuck in the same condition. Been in this kind of situation before, I've always failed to perceive the reason for this. I know I get better after a little while but i wonder why I've to pass through this phase. It is sick.

I'm not able to sit at one place, not able to watch TV for more than 2 minutes. I'm not getting an urge to read a book or something nor feeling like going out for a walk or ride. What's wrong? Why am I feeling so? I'll be meeting my friends in a few hours and I've to be happy about this fact. But I'm not able to put my mind on focus. The thoughts are switching at great speed and I'm sure I end up confused. So I decided to switch on the comp, played the song "Losing my Religion" by REM and checked my mails and also logged into orkut. Orkut didn't amuse me nor did the forwarded mails in my mailbox but the song made me feel better. I like this song very much and I was glad it was being played in the background! I decided to write something so I logged in here. By the time I started to write this it was Yves Larock's 'Rise up' on my winamp player! Exactly what I needed at this moment, I love the video and gives me great feeling every time I watch it! As I write this last line it's holiday by Scorpions now, how I long for a nice holiday to some far away place!

The National Language

2009-04-18T00:15:00.000-07:00

Being an Indian I accept Hindi as our national language. But that doesn’t stop me from asking why only Hindi was considered to be the national language of this country, when there are so many languages spoken by people living in different parts of the country. Are not these Indian languages as important as Hindi is? So I feel each language should be given equal importance.

I know there should be a common language for communication and all that, but seriously how many people coming from different parts of the country converse in Hindi? What were the criteria for choosing Hindi as our national language? As far as I know it is not the most widely spoken language. Anyway, I am not a person who would criticize someone for making Hindi as the national language, nor I’d disagree. Personally I’d find it hard to communicate with someone in Hindi. Though I’d Hindi as one of my subjects in school, there never was a situation where I’d have to use Hindi for communication. I mean I could do away with bits-and-pieces of Hindi.

I am just trying to analyze the facts that may or may not be the reasons for making such a decision. Did they want to push Hindi down the throats of non-Hindi speaking population? They wanted to prove their might? I know all these are negative and may not be correct from any angle and it’d be bad on my part to think on these terms. What makes me wonder in those lines is the fact that Sanskrit being the oldest language and Sanskrit being the language spoken by almost everyone in this country before the invasion of foreigners and Sanskrit being the most grammatically correct language and Sanskrit being the language which has its influence on all the languages and with so many other reasons still was not considered to be the language representing India! Why was Sanskrit sidelined? People say it’s a difficult language; it’d not have been so difficult if we had Sanskrit as one of the main language in schools and in 60 years there would have been so many people communicating in this great language. Other stupid reason, that I can think of, for not giving Sanskrit the respect it deserve is the stereotype that’s been attached to it as the language spoken by upper class people of India! Give me a break, why would people want to associate a language with a particular class of people? I had a poem in High School which had this line- “ Bharathi Iykytha Sadhakam Samskrutham” (Unity among Indians can be achieved through Sanskrit)- and people talk all kinds of unnecessary crap about the language! There are so many things I’ve to learn about this language and I have great respects for the language and one day I’m sure I’ll be able to fluently speak this language.

Saying all these I’m not trying to say that I’m against Hindi or any other language. I’ve all the respect for Hindi as well and I feel proud that I know Hindi along with other languages and I’m sure I’d be able to fluently speak in Hindi too in the future. I just wish people at least give little respect to the Sanskrit language and encourage young children to learn the language at school. Sanskrit doesn’t need our help but we need Sanskrit to understand so many things. Sanskrit has so many unknown (unknown to us-ignorant people) gems and richness and knowledge which would help us in a great deal.

Microsoft Offfice 2007

2009-03-28T03:50:00.000-07:00

Well, till today I used to use Office XP and was using office 2000 before that. I never got hooked to Office XP and I’m not sure why Office XP did not impress me. A month back I had to format my system and reinstall my OS. Before this uneventful thing happened, I used to use MS Office 2000. Though it’s old and it had fewer options and was not easier to use than the office XP I was very much used to it. And I admit I wasn’t at ease while using it, yet I was still using office 2000! Since my admission to college back in 2005 I have been using MS Word extensively. Back in my first year we had a lab on basic computers and C programming. Major part of the lab was for programming. In the basic part I had to learn to use MS Word and had to prepare an envelope and write a letter. I remember skipping the class when the teacher did this part! Come on who the hell would want to go to lab just to listen to the teacher telling about MS Word and write a letter! Few lucky people would get this question in the final exam, in the exam also we had to write a letter and give them the steps! I’m not good at working on Word even today but had I got it in the exam I’d have done it easily. But unfortunately I had got a program to execute and I did it easily, something which I love.

As I said I’m not so used at working on the Word, I always prefer Notepad for minor things. But MS Word is pretty much an important thing in a student’s life. I discovered this truth two years back when I had to prepare a report for my mini-project on Lexical Analyzer. Even today I find it hard to maintain the same format throughout. All thanks to my old Office 2000, I found it harder to work on it. I guess someone had changed the default settings due to which I had to spend a lot of time adjusting the alignments and margins as per my department’s requirement! Last week I prepared a report on the topic which I’ve chosen for the technical seminar. I found it quite easy to work on Office XP’s word. Probably because of the immense experience with the Office 2000!

My classmates started using MS Office 2007 from a long time. They had recommended me also but my mind was firm on 2000 and nothing could have made me to install anything other than 2000! Because of which I had to face a lot of trouble. I guess in Office 2007 the default format is docx. My lovely word 2000 could never recognize this format! Even after repeatedly telling my friends not to save the document as docx while sending me, they used to continue to do the same! It’s a painful task to convert a docx document to doc format. Only solution was this website www.zamzar.com , which gives free online conversions.

After reinstalling my Operating System, I made up my mind that it’s time to move on and decided to install Office XP. I had the CD with me and I installed it. I’ve been using it from that day. I was amused to find out that most of the people are using Office 2007 these days. Not just my friends but even the cyber café guys use Office 2007! Well I might be exaggerating a bit (of course why would anyone use office 2000 or xp when a better and new stuff is available? They are not like me, are they?) But the fact is I found it hard to use this new stuff at the beginning! I felt there are too much options and I thought I’d get confused. Later I discovered that the interface is great and very much user-friendly. I instantly loved it and I started feeling comfortable. How easy it’ll be to work on the new MS Word! (Well, it’s new to me). So I finally decided that I’ll replace the old office XP with the new office 2007! And I could manage to get my hands on the MS Office 2007. A friend of mine had told me that 2007 would eat up all the memory and slow down the comp. with my very outdated computer I was naturally worried about this. But this didn’t stop me from going ahead and installing it on my computer! After installing I tried out all the packages. I also discovered many short cuts in Word that I never knew. I so wanted to type something so I decided to write this thing now! And I’m loving it! I don’t feel like stopping at all! I wanna type more!

Into The Wild

2009-03-16T03:07:00.000-07:00

From the past 20 minutes or so I've been left wondering. Pondering about what happened to the life of Christopher McCandless. After watching this movie I was taken away, lost track completely of the surrounding and i headed towards my room. I switched on the fan to full speed and sat on the bed, still thinking. I was pretty much confused, I was left dazed by the fact that I was not able to interpret what's on my mind. It's really a very hard thing when you know what's on your mind but you are not sure if its what you really think it is. Lying on my back I kind of felt like crying, I didn't cry though. I removed my specs and kept it aside on the bed. I started thinking, slowly, the entire movie came like a flash. Why? 'Why did it happen like this', was what I was wondering about. I finally was able to understand but it was all still obscure. I rolled on the bed. Lots of thoughts came gushing into my mind. I couldn't relate them at the start but slowly I could sort them out. All these happened so quickly. I must agree that i started feeling great! Yeah whenever things like these happen to me and whenever I pass this kind of phase I kind of spend time thinking and in the end I feel glad and happy. But in this case i'm not sure i'd feel happy about the tragic story of the protagonist. I just wanted to make an account of how i spent the last 20 minutes or so in a haze, so i'm writing this piece here. I'm still thinking though, about the movie. It's there at the corner of my mind somewhere and it'll be there for quite sometime.

Now that i feel somewhat better I decided to write this- write whatever comes to my mind. I feel I just get involved too much whenever I watch a movie or read a book that interests me. About Into The Wild, I had this movie with me from a long time but hadn't got a chance to watch it. It had been quite sometime since I had watched a movie. From what I'd gathered from a friend and my cousin, I was sure this was a movie which I'd love to watch. I did enjoy it. This is really the kind of movie I'd love to watch.

To think of a person going alone into the wild leaving everything and everyone behind is great. I love this sort of things and if I do get a chance I'll spend sometime all alone in a forest or a mountain with no contact with outside world, with no modern gadgets and spend some time there with the nature listening to the music mother nature plays! I used to think of this as a teenager and even as a boy i had this 'wild' dreams. Will my dreams be fulfilled is a completely different question, the fact that the protagonist of the movie goes into wilderness all alone made me more interested. People he encountered on his journey, the kind of relationship he developed with them and the fact that he could resist not getting attached to them is incredible. Well, i'm not going to write a review about the movie, it's best watched without knowing much about it. I admit that I'd have loved to read the book by John Krakauer before watching the movie. I'll try to lay my hands on it sometime in the future.

This is not the first time, I remember I'd spent the entire evening in the similar state after watching 'The Shawshank Redemption' and 'Touching the void'. There are some unforgettable moments, the moments I spend with myself thinking and wondering about facts, thoughts and so many other things. The movies, I guess, gave me a channel or a path so that i could reach there, inside my mind, and to realize and rethink about so many things. Its like going into the wild. alone with no one but myself! I always felt better. I feel better.

Today's write

2009-03-09T23:20:00.000-07:00

The incidents that happened from the past few days are still clinging on the back of my mind. The series of events did hurt me a lot. And the people involved I daresay I'd never want to forgive for what they did without considering their position and forgetting that their contributions were none in that situation. Anyone can blabber anything at the given moment, they tend to forget to evaluate their worth before speaking. Speaking nonsense I must say. I may have also done this but I'm someone who can know my position and have the capabilities to retract from that situation and make a better one and make sure no one has been hurt. But people I've encountered have failed to. I care the least of their capability or I give a damn about their presence no more. I wont forget what had happened to me. I do forgive others for their ridiculous self for what they might have done. I forget, or may i say i ignore them and their deeds? Their presence may not matter to me any more. I am now more inclined to complete my work-on-hand on time, complete it with great results. I have learnt if one does his part of work with full grace and with a good intention and to make himself happy-He shall for sure achieve his task! I hope I'll find my lost attitude of tackling undesired situations where i used to convert everything to the way I wanted to. Which I feel i've kind of lost some part of it since joining graduation. I also would like to say I'm starting to feel like my old self is waking up-waking up fully! Since the concert a month back, after the weekend stay at Devarayana Durga and all that have given me a new sight to see the same old stuff the way I used to see back then (so many years ago).

Somewhere Back In Time

2009-03-01T23:11:00.000-08:00

It's been 3 weeks since The Somewhere Back In Time concert and the images of the concert are still fresh like it just happened yesterday. The memories flashes back. Many a times I'm just taken back revisiting the day of the concert. I wish I can really go back in time just to have a few glimpses of Iron Maiden playing!

Yes! It was one hellova day and an awesome concert! When everyone were whining about how they can't enjoy the Valentine's day because of some incidents ( crap!!), me, my cousins and a couple of friends had a wonderful time watching metal bands play amidst some 15k metal fans! Iron Maiden was a treat. It was an awesome experience foe me watching maiden play those classic songs for the second time. The set list they played were almost similar to the one played at Mumbai in the first leg of the Somewhere Back In Time world tour. This time around they played Phantom of the Opera! How could I explain the joy of watching this great song being played? I remember few years ago when I first saw the Live video of this song I had wondered if I could ever witness this song Live. Now that dream is fulfilled and now I wonder when can I witness this song Live again!

I can never narrate how happy I was. It's really hard and i'm sure many might not understand. Who cares, I just had a wonderful time. Many a times my memories drift back and I just can't keep track of the time I spend thinking and enjoying the memories!

Its been more than 3 weeks now. I am hoping that I will be able to see Maiden Live again in my city, along with my cousins, along with my friends. Hope it'll be much bigger the next time ( not that it was smaller this time!). Bruce Dickinson said Iron Maiden would be coming out with a new studio album next year and a new world tour would follow up the release!! All I can do now is to wait for the album and hope that they play in Bangalore again in the new world tour! As for now I have the memories from the three previous concerts and I am glad I can revisit those times whenever I need!

Iron Maiden-Somewher Back In Time

2009-02-09T20:49:00.000-08:00

Iron Maiden's Somewhere Back In Time Concert is just 5 days away and I just can't wait for that moment! It's been exciting from the past 2 weeks. Of course the fact that I'll be witnessing my all time favorite band for the 3rd time in 2 years is something very big for Me! My last two experiences at Maiden concerts ( In Bangalore-2007 and in Mumbai-2008) were just unbelievable and I can't find words to describe the pleasure. Of course I had to make so many sacrifices and had to bear a lot of things but the concerts were worth every bit and I don't regret! Each and every time I think of those two concerts I'm gushed with pleasures and happiness that comes from i don't know where! It's like in my dreams i saw them live and I'm going to dream that dream again in a few days time!

Come this Sunday, 15th Feb-2009, Iron Maiden will be playing at Palace Grounds. It's their final leg of the on going Somewhere Back In Time World tour and they are going to be a part of this year's Rock In India, Bangalore's very own Rock festival! :D

The fact that I've the tickets in my hand now adds more to my excitement. yeah, my friend yogezh and I bought the tickets yesterday from the Planet-M outlet in Brigade Road. Now all I intend to do in the coming days is to be lost in my imagination and create my own world where I can forget all the worrying things and do things in the way I always wanted to do. Just like in the old days...

What's Maiden and the gigs got to do with me? -> Me,Maiden and the gigs!
I also blog@ Vryte.wordpress.com

"Advani for PM"

2009-02-07T01:33:00.000-08:00

This morning as usual I was checking my mails and some of the blogs. I also checked this blog and one of the ads on this page flashed the following quote "Advani for PM". The link I clicked took me to L.K Advani's web portal. http://www.lkadvani.in .

I feel happy that politicians are using technology to show case their views and I also feel it's a great way for campaigning. I had never come across a website created by a politician. I happened to learn a lot of things from this website and it only added more to my growing respect for Mr. Advani! This move is something I very much appreciate, one can get to know everything from the site. The contents in the site might also clear the doubts in one's mind which might otherwise give a false impression.

The above website contains a collection of speeches, related news. Some of them were very encouraging to read. His speech in Tumkur, on account of Sree Shivakumara Swamiji's centenary celebration was indeed thought provoking. The way Mr.Advani has attributed Swamiji's self-less work shows what a great personality Mr.Advani is. I also read a couple of posts in his blog. Most of the posts are about the current events and it's nice that many people are ineracting. It was indeed a great experience to read those.

I am happy that Mr.Advani has expressed his concern to promote Sanskrit: "it will be our commitment to give Sanskrit its rightful place in our education system and in our national life."

I support Mr.Advani and I'm hoping that he'll be our next PM because I feel he has got everything in him and is the best person to take up the most-challenging job! I've come across people saying we need young politicians and all that but I feel Advani is as Dynamic and as Active as any youngster. With his experience he can deal with any situation and he can fulfill the dream of better India. I'm a kind of person who believes age has nothing to do with what one does. Be it cricket, politics or any other thing for that matter..

Hogenakal Falls

2009-02-04T21:23:00.000-08:00

(click on the thumbnail for large pictures)

Had been to Hogenakal yesterday. I had not planned to go for this trip but my friends had better plans and I just couldn't say no! Well, In the end it turned out to be one heck of a trip! Exhausted, elated it was like going to some distinct place like in my imagination and coming back.

Hogenakal is one of the favorite tourist destination in south India. This place was in news last year, not for tourism related stuff but for something more serious, political issue between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Nevermind all the issues now, this place is plain beautiful. One place to Enjoy with your buddies. well, I did it. Being someone who loves to swim I had an awesome time 'playing' in water. Cavery River flows here with all her beauty. Though it's not the appropriate season to go still enjoyed to the max! Best time to go is in the rainy seasons during August and September. One ought to go there during rainy season to witness the furious cavery flowing, falling from heights!

I always like going for a long ride in bike( pillion or otherwise). Best thing about this trip was we went in bikes ( 3 bikes and a car to be precise). Going for a ride in bike for 150 odd Km is something I always fancied and that's one of the main motivation for me to make it for this trip! I must admit I was damn exhausted in the end but it's all part of fun, isn't it?

My friends had read everything about this place in random blogs. Also one of my friend(vinit) had been to this place some months back. So we had a fair idea about this place. We had learnt that there are two routes to this place from B'lore. The route which we took is a shorter one than the other. It goes like this.
Our place->Hosur Road->TVS motor company( everyone knows about this, its a fairly big one and could be used as the best land mark in and around)-> A right deviation at the first cross road. Hosur is 6 Km from this cross road.
From here we crossed a couple of villages. I must admit it was confusing to decide on which crossing to take every time we encountered one. Local people helped us a lot in guiding the way. They could speak Kannada. So in the end it turned out to be not so difficult.

The other route I was telling about is longer and it's 180 km from B'lore. We avoided it for saving some fuel considering the fact that we had limited budget.

After reaching Hogenakal we paid parking fee 5 Rs and toll fee( 10 for two wheeler and 50 for car). There was a large board with rules painted on it. According to the board the boat fee is 50 Rs and 10 Rs per head. We were glad because we had learnt from one of the blogs that it'd cost 500 or so for one theppa! But our gladness was short lived. We found that the boat riders are hard to crack! First a couple of guys approached us near the parking lot and he stated some price. We didn't agree and finally we came to an agreement for 100 Rs. He took us to a place where there were so many theppas and theppa riders were sitting there spitting, smoking and talking as the no. of tourists were less(for the fact that there was a Bandh in TN). Now the theppa guy started demanding more quoting different options and finally he asked us 200 per head for taking us to the falls and getting back after 2 hours. We didn't go by so easily and after much talk he finally agreed for 100 Rs.

Theppa riding was great fun. I've had traveled in boats before and I love it every time. Riding in the boat with rocky mountains covered on either side was just awesome. To our bad luck there was no much water in the falls and the theppa guy took us to an island-like place. It was covered with flowing water all around alright but it was also surrounded by people who sell fish food and give massages! It was very annoying, I had to say No to everyone and they never retracted but instead forced us more. i don't blame them it's their job.. It was a great afternoon. I soon went into the water and i was lost for a while! It was fun splashing water on others and dragging them to water. Sheer pleasure! Just like how kids like to do! we played a lot of innovative games as well. One of which was 'The Death Sentence Game'! Rule is simple you gotta pretend you're dead and keep floating and if you open your eyes then you are gone. one who remain last to open eye or one who floats farthest remains the winner! Name is not appropriate? Who cares! we had fun and that's what matters! Maybe you should try this game too!

At 3'o clock, we came back, again by theppa of course. A large group of college students had arrived then and i was thankful they had not come before! We paid the theppa guy and started our journey back to Bangalore. With no food to eat I was survived with just a couple of biscuit packets and a coconut. I was damn exhausted. It was difficult riding back in dark. We had to waste a lot of time to decide which path to take at crossroads. A sign board would have done us a lot of good. Finally reached B'lore at around 8:20. The traffic was the usual at Electronic city. I reached home at 9:30! Took a hot bath, ate stomach full and slept. Even if you had blown horn near my ears I'd have continued sleeping soundlessly!

Highlights of the trip:
-> Great for riding. Could cover a fair amount of distance in one day and I loved it!
->Nice place if you like water which I very much do.
->Roads are pretty good except for a patch of rough road. This patch were being tarred so the next time I'm sure of a smooth ride!
-> Fish lovers would really love it! But Not for Me! There're no good hotels nearby.
-> It was disheartening to see the place being littered everywhere. People throw plastic covers, water bottles and what not into the water. I wish someone take care of this and try to stop this. One would love to go to a beautiful place but fails to keep the place beautiful? That's bad, is it not?

Last say: It was an awesome journey and a wonderful place. Something I'd treasure for a long time. Perfect spot to spend a day with friends!

First word

2009-02-04T20:11:00.000-08:00

To be frank I'm not new to Blogging. I've been blogging since 3 years now. I have a couple of blogs, not that I'm a great writer but I feel it's a great way to express myself. Mostly the blogs are Music centric. Yeah Music is what keeps me interested all the time. Coming to this blog, I've named it as "zyg1". I'm sad because "zygon" is already taken! Zygon is a name I conjured out of thin air. This word was lurking behind my thoughts somewhere, just an anonymous name I wish to use while here. If you know this then its like knowing me! I'll take this opportunity to tell that "zygon" is not related to anything/anyone, living/dead, real/artificial but just to myself! zygon-> Me here.
In this blog I wish to write about things/people/places/events that impresses me! Welcome to my world!

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