Six months in Shillong

It is hard to believe that I have already spent six months at Shillong. Time passes so fast. These six months have been so much fun. Thought I would share a few good pics here.

Before I do so, I should say that not just Shillong, but the entire North-east is filled with so much natural beauty that it is worth buying at least a basic SLR camera (if you don't already have one). Flipkart always comes up with some exclusive deals. (Click below to see what is on offer currently).

Anyways here go the select few pics.

On the way to Cherrapunji

On the way to Cherrapunji

On the way to Cherrapunji

At Cherrapunji

Cherrapunji Waterfall

At sacred forest, Mawphlang

Elephanta Falls, Shillong

Shillong Peak

On the way from Shillong to Guwahati

At Kamakhya Temple, Guwahati

The glass is one-third empty, but there is still two-third left. And these remaining days at Shillong are going to be legen-wait-for-it-dary! Looking forward to it!

Maths Questions for 10th Std

Just came across some Maths questions I had framed for teaching my sister in her 10th class and magnanimously sharing it here :)
P.S. Click on the question to enlarge it .








For any doubts, feel free to drop a mail to bhatchimu@gmail.com
Search for some really good books on Flipkart if you are interested in solving some really good puzzles.
Here is a link where you can get some good offers:

SPICE MOBILE QT-55

This is a pretty old blog post. If you are searching for some new phones, then I would recommend Flipkart as they always come up with some awesome offers.

I checked out this cellphone of SPICE three days back.

Model No: QT-55
Came home and googled for customer feedback and surprisingly found no mention of this model, not even on the SPICE mobile website. The features were however appealing, considering that one can get it for only 3.5k (MRP is 3699/- but can be negotiated to 3.5k or more if you are good at it).


I fell in love with it at first sight, not when I first saw the model but when I first saw the MRP! :P
Finally I bought it and have been using it for past two days and it feels great to possess it, especially when people who know, that you have been using an old fashioned nokia 6020 model for past 3.5 years suddenly start staring at you! It looks great, at least to my eyes. And buying the cellphone out of my own 'hard-earned' stipend, makes it even more special :)

As far as features are concerned, I would say, they might slightly fall short of NOKIA (E63 costs 11.4k) or SAMSUNG (Corby costs 6.7k) but considering that the cost is just 3.5k, features provided are cool... Point is this difference in price I would attribute more to the fact that NOKIA has better brand name than SAMSUNG and it in turn has better brand name than SPICE.

Salient Features:
1) Qwerty keyboard \m/
2) Dual simcard (now onwards both my simcards are active); well this was my primary motivation to buy this phone
3) Mobile tracking if cellphone is lost (recent high end models have this feature wherein if your cellphone is stolen and the thief inserts his simcard, then his simcard sends sms to 5 numbers you had stored before, which makes tracking it easier)
4) Inbuilt FM antenna (means you don't have to carry your headphones everywhere), plus FM recording (scheduled FM recording also), which is also great quality to a non-critic's ears
5) Awesome speakers (loud and clear)
6) Motion games (rolling dice on shaking)
7) Ebook reader (But only .txt format)
8) Torch: quite powerful
9) Long battery life (1200 mAh, 5 hr talktime or 12 days on standby mode, normally lasts for 5-6 days as I use music player often)
10) Two slots for expandable memory (I am using a 2 GB card that cost me extra 300 bucks).
11) 1 year warranty
12) Bluetooth
13) Screen display is cool :)
14) Camera (well can't zoom while clicking photos and it's not high resolution, about this feature I would say "just fine")
15) Videoplayer (plays only few formats, I am yet to figure out which all formats work). In audio files, most common formats like mp3, wav are supported.
16) Screen display is cool :)
17) Melody composer, which used to be provided with only low end cellphones is present. We also have some stuff which is of not much use to me: Ibibo, Nimbuzz, mGurujee, email2sms, rueters, spice gang, job search, weather, cricket updates and mms.

18) What is lacking is USB file transfer, you have only bluetooth to transfer your files. But I already had a card reader, so I thought I could manage the limitation of USB. I had heard from my friend, that USB connectivity is bad for most SPICE cellphones, so I guess they removed this feature completely in this model
19) Also no Wi-fi connectivity, but I hardly use my cellphone for browsing, as I can use my lappy when I am at home. It's GPRS enabled though!
20) If you are looking for GPS or touchscreen, then these features are absent. Finally few minor features like keypad password protection, when you unlock your keypad, are absent. Also I am unable to figure out how to insert smileys in smses yet!
21) Speed is not as good as nokia phones, but still manageable.
(Obviously you can't expect everything in 3.5k)

So overall, based on my needs, I would say this phone \m/

But I can't comment about the reliability/ durability until I have used it for a few months. Also this is not an advertisement for selling this model, they are just my personal opinions. I don't take the responsibility for any kind of dis-satisfaction caused to you if you purchase this mobile. Please check the features yourself before buying. And also don't comment saying "bakwaas phone hai!" Rather suggest a cellphone with better features for same price :P

Animal lover, am I?

Ten days of PS2 in Bengaluru were over; work in Mercedes Benz had not started in full swing yet and just when we felt that we were well settled in our rented apartment, the army of bed bugs marched out from their hide-out one night, and killed our night's sleep. Bed bugs, bad bugs!

We had made up our minds to dispose the old mattresses and buy new ones, but I was in mood of a treasure hunt. Bed bugs usually hide in the dirtiest corners of the mattress and are about 5-6 mm in length. So in 45 mins, I managed to find and kill 10 bugs, from my bed and sprayed Baygon too. Later that night I had a good sleep without a single bite and sweet dreams about hmmm...

On Thursday, we went to Ulsoor lake and did a bit of paddle boating. The lake is beautiful. Though we reached after the closing time, I was able to convince that guy to allow us boating for 10 mins, which we later extended till 30 mins :P

On Saturday, we planned a trip to Bannerghatta National Park. The Grand Safari ride of about an hour, was fun. Though the rightside window seat was claimed by Pintoo, luckily for me most animals were on the left side of the bus, Left-side rocks! Teasing me backfired for Pintoo! The bisons, deers, bears, lions and tigers awakened the animal lover inside me. And later we checked out the beautiful butterlies too.





The zoo was legen-(wait for it)-dary. I borrowed Pratik's mp3 player and finally succeeded in convincing Vidyadhar to give me his mobile camera and took some awesome pics. Earlier that morning I had not taken a single pic as I had left my DIGICAM at home. I loved the birdies so much that I ignored the chicks for a moment! :P The golden pheasants, the hornbill, peacocks, grey partridge, heron, pelican grey, eagle owl, pigeons and the russel viper, python, zebra, iguana, emu, porcupines, hippopotamus were just few of the beautiful creatures about which I had until yesterday only read in textbooks. The lion tailed macaque started jumping when we reached there; understandable why it got excited!













Pratik, Anand, Antony and Sandeep went on the Elephant Ride. I saw tears rolling down the elephant's eyes and could feel how much he was troubled, so I decided not to trouble it more. Anyway I have been on an elephant ride before, so I only took pics and yeah, we touched the elephant's trunk! :P

Aerostat Recovery Device (ARD)

Well, when I began writing this blog, I had promised to post some random stuff here. And it would be like throwing a biased dice if I don't include any technical GYAN.

So here it is- the fruits of my 2 months arduous efforts in IIT Bombay during summer 2009 The project title- "Design of an Aerostat Recovery Device (ARD) in case of accidental breakage of tether". Full pdf is available for download. Do check out this link, and refresh as many times as you like ;)
http://www.casde.org/index.php/casde/article/view/4

Well apart from that nothing much to share. Well yes, we said tata-bye-bye to BITS, our home for the last 3.5 years. It was a little sentimental moment, but considering that there is lots more in life ahead, I didn't feel that bad. Lots more includes Mercedes Benz PS in Bengaluru and job at John Deere. But yeah, I will miss DC++ badly :(

Anyways life has been great and will continue to be, Merry Christmas and a Happy New year!

A week in Bengaluru

Finally I am home, and I can pour out all that I am holding inside for the last one week. I haven't felt the need to blog more desperately than I am feeling right now and this post is going to be a long one. So prepare yourself, while I take a deep breath and start from the start!

I had booked my slot for online CAT 09 on the evening of 30th Nov.

Saturday, 28th Nov
We took the Yashwantpur train at night. I had slight cold and so had stuffed my pockets with HALLS chocolates. I had decided against carrying my laptop, for preparation on the day before the exam. (I had just carried one notebook of Quant questions just incase I suffer from boredom attack). My priority was to chill out. However, one important thing I did was to copy some rock bhajjans and relaxation music from my lappy to my father's mobile. I knew this would come handy on the night before the test. The journey was good, slept better than expected.

Sunday, 29th Nov
We received a warm welcome from our relatives in Bengaluru, after which we settled in our room and had breakfast. I loved the house. I found a novel about the History of Philosophy, it was called "Sophie's World". I decided to read it, as it would help me with relaxing and with the RCs in CAT paper. We visited my center of CAT exam in the evening. There was a lot of news about chaos the online CAT had created nationwide, so I was more worried whether I would be able to answer my test than about my performance in the test. Luckily, Iskcon temple was quite close to the place we were staying. So I could go into the "sharan" of Lord Krishna.

Iskcon visit:
The atmosphere helped me to relax. I entered into a conversation with Lord Krishna. I asked him how do I avoid stress while answering the paper? Then a thought emerged from within . (It must have been Lord Krishna). "Karma karo, phal ki iccha mat karo". This was the answer to a lot of my queries. If I was able to trash the thought of "results" out of my mind, it would help me to focus, give my 100% as well as keep my mind in the present. Next, I asked him: how do I avoid the anxiety that I felt before the test? He advised me "Karma karneka uchit samay hota hai." So there was no use worrying about the future. These two replies changed my mood drastically. I felt like I had attained nirvana. :) By the way, the temple is beautiful, definitely worth a visit.

That night, I was not much tensed, but still sleep eluded me. So I remembered the songs I had copied on my father's cellphone. I must have listened to them from 12:15am to about 3am, when I must have finally fallen asleep.

Monday, 30th Nov (C-DAY)
I woke up at around 9am after a good night's sleep. I had deliberately chosen the evening slot, keeping in mind my sleeping pattern during the semester :P I had a good breakfast as I had decided to have a light lunch. Also I had a long hot water bath under the shower, which was comforting. (Begaluru is cooler than Goa). I did feel a bit anxious, but I was in a better state of mind than expected. I had lunch and left for my center, listened again to the meditative bhajjans and kept reciting them all the while.

CAT Experience
After a brief security check and all the procedures of fingerprinting and photosession, I finally sat infront of the computer screen that would decide my fate at around 2pm. My test was scheduled to start at 3:30pm. This 1.5 hrs were the hardest to pass. I tried to take a nap, but then heard one of the invigilator say, "this guy has fallen asleep or what?", so quickly opened my eyes and sat down. I smiled at him and he smiled back. On my left side was seated a beautiful girl, another CAT aspirant. Unfortunately we were forbidden from talking inside the lab, with video cameras fitted for surveillance. We were not even supposed to look anywhere except the computer screen, but I managed a look on my left, a few times :P Even she looked at me sometimes! Blush! :P Actually I was not sure, whether to look at her so as to pass my time or to stay focused on the test. Before I could decide about that, I decided to use the loo. (This was allowed only until 30 mins before the start of the test, i.e. till 3pm). I drank some water too, just a sip and was seated again in front of the computer screen.

Finally it was time to start the test. I started with my strongest section, Quant and did well in it, then moved on to DI and last Verbal. Time just flew past. This is what I guess Einstein calls relativity. After coming out of the center, I was overall happy with my performance. It stayed that way for a couple of days more, until I realised that some CAT aspirants had attempted almost the entire paper. The paper was simple but that simple? Had the CAT standard diluted so much? Only time will tell.

Nevertheless, CAT09 was over and I decided to enjoy the rest of the stay in Bengaluru. We were invited for dinner at my cousin's place. That night, I had ice-cream without even caring that I hadn't fully recovered from cold.

Tuesday, 1st Dec
I had two discount vouchers of Westside, thanks to Girish and Pratik, so I decided to do a bit of shopping. At Westside, on the commercial street, I purchased two formal pants and one jeans for myself and some stuff for my sister. My mother also did some shopping in FabIndia and then it was time to do what I had been long waiting for. We brought 3 zinger burgers from KFC, out of which I had one and a half. Had lunch at home and a nap after that.

When it was evening, it was time for the grand dinner at 'Coastal Express' as promised by Chhaya Aatya and it was really a grand one. Thanks to Aatya and Uncle for such a wonderful treat. We ordered so many varieties of fish and chicken dishes there. Aah, and the Virgin Mary drink! Later that night, I got boils on my hands and legs, I wonder whether it was due to the drink as I was the only one to have that drink and those boils. Anyway, after I applied the lotion, I was okay next morning.

Wednesday, 2nd Dec
We again did a bit of shopping at Maleshwaram street, two sarees for mammi and some handicraft idols of Krishna and Radha. E-zone disappointed us as the 1 Tb external HD, I was searching for wasn't available at a reasonable prize. Nevertheless, at lotmart we bought 3 formal shirts, well actually just bought one and got two free!

In the evening we went to the chemical plant owned by my relatives for the inauguration of a new lab there. My mother and I both loved to see the plant and had a good discussion about the process with the main supervisor. Then there was the pooja and the dinner. I loved the drive home when Aatya was driving.

Thursday, 3rd Dec
We returned to Goa by flight. It was the first 'international' flight I had boarded, well it was Bengaluru-Goa-Dubai flight! :P I enjoyed the take-off as much as I have always enjoyed. As we rose above the clouds, the scenery was b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l. My faculty of wonder perceived the clouds to be similar to waves of snow on a vast ocean and a little further, I felt they better resembled a softee ice-cream and sometimes plain vanilla icing on top of a gigantic cake. I was busier enjoying all this, than 'Kambakht Ishq' on a small screen in front of me. The flight was smooth and in about an hour we landed safely at Dabolim.

It was a fun trip to Bengaluru, though my DIGICAM went unemployed. I did not find time to click even a single pic in Bengaluru, and also it was stored safely in the cargo luggage, during the flight, when I actually wanted to take a few shots. Nevertheless, it was a great trip!

Blitzkrieg '09

Well the story has grown old... So let me just upload the pics and avoid the bak-bak!!

Celebrations at domino's after winning Around 7k.
"Office Office", the event Girish and I won... :)

Thanks for the treat @Girish and Pratik, the megawinners!!

Prizes bagged by our group were Paper Presentation first and second place, Quiz second place, Office Office FIRST place, Sudoku second place... \m/ BPGC rocks!!