Last Saturday I was near Andheri Station on the East side heading towards a Christmass Party at Chakala. When I was just moving away from the Station Road, I found many people had gathered at 2-3 places in large groups. On approaching closer to one of these groups I found Pirated Audio, Video & Software CD's being sold. In India Piracy happens in a rampant manner, but what bewildered me was that there were large number of Police present in uniform who were appearing unaware about the illegal sale of these CD's. I don't think that they were anyways unaware, it was all intentional. In India there is a very common term used, "Hafta". So these local Policemen are paid huge amount of money to allow such illegal activities. Sale of Pirated CD's is just one among the list of illegal activities which are permitted on account of "Hafta Vasooli". I had infact seen Traffic Police buying Pirated Audio CD's near Lower Parel Station.
With the legal system failing so miserably to control Piracy, you cannot hold common man responsible for this flurishing business. I will definitely try to post some pictures on this blog showing Police Officials permitting this illegal business.
Movie Marathon
Yesterday was a day of Movie Marathon. "Khosla Ka Ghosla", "Phir Hera Pheri", "Bas Ek Pal" & "Fanna".....all new flicks queued up one after the other. I happened to be a successful participant of this Marathon completing 3 out of the 4 screened on TV.
The day began with "Khosla Ka Ghosla" premiered on Filmy at 10 am. It was a comedy cum a real life story which happens with the Realty market especially in Delhi side. Now I realize the entire MCD sealing episode happening in the Capital. Couldn't catch-up with "Bas Ek Pal" as it started at 11 am on Sahara One & coincided with my previous movie timings. The next to come was "Phir Hera Pheri" at 4:30 pm on Zee Cinema. This was a typical Paresh Rawal comedy flick. You can say a mixture of "Hera Pheri" & "Hungama". Anyways enjoyed it. And the final one was the Amir-Kajol starrer "Fanaa" screened at 8 pm on Sony. This seemed to be a typical Bollywood flickr & had all the flavours you expect from such movies. Nice picturisation & some cool Music made this one too the icing on the cake on a day which began with "Khosla Ka Ghosla".
This was all about movies. Guests were also lined up in my place yesterday & spent my entire day gulping & gazing on the TV screen.
The day began with "Khosla Ka Ghosla" premiered on Filmy at 10 am. It was a comedy cum a real life story which happens with the Realty market especially in Delhi side. Now I realize the entire MCD sealing episode happening in the Capital. Couldn't catch-up with "Bas Ek Pal" as it started at 11 am on Sahara One & coincided with my previous movie timings. The next to come was "Phir Hera Pheri" at 4:30 pm on Zee Cinema. This was a typical Paresh Rawal comedy flick. You can say a mixture of "Hera Pheri" & "Hungama". Anyways enjoyed it. And the final one was the Amir-Kajol starrer "Fanaa" screened at 8 pm on Sony. This seemed to be a typical Bollywood flickr & had all the flavours you expect from such movies. Nice picturisation & some cool Music made this one too the icing on the cake on a day which began with "Khosla Ka Ghosla".
This was all about movies. Guests were also lined up in my place yesterday & spent my entire day gulping & gazing on the TV screen.
Tech Review: LG-K9250A - Home Cinema System
Ah !!! atlast I am blogging on something which I always love......Gadgets. I'm currently talking about the new LG-K9250A Home Cinema System that I've just purchased. 1 word to describe the System - AMAZING. So whats so amazing about it ???...I'll tell you.
Let me discuss all the features point-wise:
- Output - 5000 Watts PMPO & 500 Watts RMS
- Formats supported - MP3, WMA, DivX, Xvid, JPG, MPG
- Media supported - DVD, Audio CD-RW, Video CD-RW, MP3 CD-RW, DivX CD-RW, USB 2.0 (MP3 & JPG only)
- Various Surround Sound effects - Cinema, Theatre, Hall, Church, etc
- Various Equaliser settings - Rock, Pop, Jazz, Salsa, Musical, Flat, etc
- Other additional Sound effects - XDSS, OAE, Dolby
- FM & AM Radio support
- AUX support & Optical Output to cascade to an amplifier
Rest all the features seem to be quite common with almost all the Sytems normally available in the market. The place where this Sytem scores above the rest is itss USB support. Just transfer your favourite Music & Photo albums to your Pen drive or MP3 player & pluggin to this System.....your done. You can show all your Photo albums directly on your TV & believe me even low resolution images look excellent on the TV. I guess LG could have done a little bit of tweaking & enabled other formats to be played through the USB. Unfortunately it currently supports only MP3 & JPG formats. The remote is also very user friendly & if you are little bit tech savvy will get accustomed to the remote very easily. With regards to CD-RW (Rewritable) discs be sure to check "Finalize CD" in your CD burning software before using it on this System. The System doesn't recognize Multisession CD-RW discs. Rest all features of Subtitle, Surround sound effect with regards to DVD playback prevails with this System. The System has an AUX port for connecting your TV or any other player to the System for amplification. In case you also have another high quality amplifier with Optical Inputs, you can connect the Optical Ouput port of this System to the amplifier.
One thing you should be careful while installing this System is with regards to the installation of the Speakers. Believe me the Speakers are really very heavy.....about 9 Kg / Speaker. Also install the Speakers at a minimum distance of 30 cms from any nearby AV System to minimise EMI effects.
Now lets come to the main question "How much will I have to shell out to procure this ?". Don't worry, though its printed MRP is Rs. 28,000, you can get this at a very very competitive price of Rs. 16,000 from Hypercity Mall. For the Samsung lovers there is a good news. Samsung also has a same System with the same price tag, but sorry I don't recollect the Model number. So what are you waiting for ???.....get ready with your Credit Cards & bring this new System to your home in this festive season.
Thats it.....these are the things which I've tested with this System & will continue to update this post as & when I discover something new. Remember that my learnings are exhaustive enough & will tell you features that are not properly documented in the Systems' User Manuals.
So please feel free to contact me if you have any queries on this or any other Gadget.
All in all I would rate this System 4 on 5. Would have rated 5 on 5 if DiVX & MPEG files could have been played from the Pen Drive.
Gold won & lost in Indian Tennis
13-Dec-2006 was a great day for Indian Tennis. India won 2 Golds & 1 Silver in the Tennis category of Doha Asian Games 2006. Unfortunately all the happiness was lost after the news broke out in the Media about the permanent split of the famous LEE-HESH duo. Due to some miscommunicated comments to Bhupathi by the media from Leander, Bhupathi publicly made it clear that he would never ever pair up with Leander for any doubles tournament.
This brings us to a big question, "What is the Media there for; to communicate or miscommunicate ?". Media is supposed to do sensible reporting. Right from the day the pair first time split I always suspected the Media. Infact even Leander said that there was some kind of miscommunication by the Media due to which such unwarranted comments were highlighted in the Media.
I have always been a big fan of the Lee-Hesh duo. I guess all of us are big fans of them. Don't forget the number of international events in which they have made our country proud. Even the fantastic spirit they display on the court is worth appreciating. Should such a wonderful pair split ????....defnitely NOT. I guess both of them should re-think & plan for a reunion very soon. I would eagerly wait for that day.
In the meantime the Media should also do its best to reunite Lee-Hesh.
This brings us to a big question, "What is the Media there for; to communicate or miscommunicate ?". Media is supposed to do sensible reporting. Right from the day the pair first time split I always suspected the Media. Infact even Leander said that there was some kind of miscommunication by the Media due to which such unwarranted comments were highlighted in the Media.
I have always been a big fan of the Lee-Hesh duo. I guess all of us are big fans of them. Don't forget the number of international events in which they have made our country proud. Even the fantastic spirit they display on the court is worth appreciating. Should such a wonderful pair split ????....defnitely NOT. I guess both of them should re-think & plan for a reunion very soon. I would eagerly wait for that day.
In the meantime the Media should also do its best to reunite Lee-Hesh.
Titanic 2 - WATER WATER EVERYWHERE
"WATER WATER EVERYWHERE, NOT A DROP TO DRINK". Have heard this saying many a times right from my childhood. But...but...but on last Saturday i.e. 9-Dec, I actually was in a similar situation. Except for the phrase "NOT A DROP TO DRINK" everything else happened in my flat. So I guess you got it.
I have actually shifted to my new purchased flat a few months back (July'06). As usual, lot of pending mason & carpentry work was going on since then, which ended just a month back. But one activity which still remained pending was proper installation of my UV water purifier. What my Builder had done is just my terminating the direct water connection to the water purifier using a big nut. My duty was to get the complete connection done. Unfortunately I don't have an option of stopping my Kitchen water connection from the window outside. In case of the Kitchen there is a central valve in the terrace to stop water for all Kitchens. To avoid inconvenience to other residence I thought of fixing the tap for my water purifier without closing the valve......you can understand how foolish I was.
It was 12:30 pm with my Ma completing her usual puja. I told her about the activity I was about to perform. Though she was a bit sceptical about me doing the plumber work, she still was ready to assist me in doing the job. So I handed over a big towel to her & told her to cover the pipe where I was about to open the nut & fix the tap. So I got ready with my toolkit ready to do a DANGEROUS job. Everything started smoothly with the nut unwinding quite smoothly. Then.....it was the last thread of the nut unwinding & theeeennnn......BOOOOOOOMMMM. The force of water was beyond our imagination. And since we stay in the 2nd floor the force was even greater. I tried to connect the tap.....failure.....tried the nut again.....failure. All my efforts were going in vain. And when I looked back I saw my entire Kitchen weat & water upto 4 inches in the floor. Excess water started draining out from my entrance door into the staircase.
I then told Ma to cover the opening with the towel & ran helter-skeltor to get someone's help.....no one there. Ran upto the 8th floor terrace & turned off the Bathroom valve & returned home thinking everything had calmed down. Then realished that I had turned off the wrong one. Then my Ma (fully drenched in water) handed over the towel to me & screamed for help. Finally she got some relief when she found the local helper boy. He immediately ran upto the terrace & turned off the Kitchen valve.
Ahhhhhhhhh......a sigh of relief on both our faces. Some other workers working nearby came down to our flat & were stunned to see our TITANIC flat.
As you all know that it was my mistake, so I spent the next 1 hour flushing out 8-10 buckets of water. 1 hour.....surprised......I have become an expert flushing out water, since I have done a similar activity in my previous residence @ Lower Parel during the famous 26/7 period. Then by around 3 pm or so everything seemed fine & I switched on all fans to ensure quicker drying. By around 7 pm or so, my flat returned to its previous shape. Forgot to tell you one BIG thing....my sisters inlaws had already been invited for a Lunch the very next day.
H2O H2O H2O H2O H2O H2O H2O H2O H2O H2O H2O H2O H2O H2O H2O H2O H2O
I have actually shifted to my new purchased flat a few months back (July'06). As usual, lot of pending mason & carpentry work was going on since then, which ended just a month back. But one activity which still remained pending was proper installation of my UV water purifier. What my Builder had done is just my terminating the direct water connection to the water purifier using a big nut. My duty was to get the complete connection done. Unfortunately I don't have an option of stopping my Kitchen water connection from the window outside. In case of the Kitchen there is a central valve in the terrace to stop water for all Kitchens. To avoid inconvenience to other residence I thought of fixing the tap for my water purifier without closing the valve......you can understand how foolish I was.
It was 12:30 pm with my Ma completing her usual puja. I told her about the activity I was about to perform. Though she was a bit sceptical about me doing the plumber work, she still was ready to assist me in doing the job. So I handed over a big towel to her & told her to cover the pipe where I was about to open the nut & fix the tap. So I got ready with my toolkit ready to do a DANGEROUS job. Everything started smoothly with the nut unwinding quite smoothly. Then.....it was the last thread of the nut unwinding & theeeennnn......BOOOOOOOMMMM. The force of water was beyond our imagination. And since we stay in the 2nd floor the force was even greater. I tried to connect the tap.....failure.....tried the nut again.....failure. All my efforts were going in vain. And when I looked back I saw my entire Kitchen weat & water upto 4 inches in the floor. Excess water started draining out from my entrance door into the staircase.
I then told Ma to cover the opening with the towel & ran helter-skeltor to get someone's help.....no one there. Ran upto the 8th floor terrace & turned off the Bathroom valve & returned home thinking everything had calmed down. Then realished that I had turned off the wrong one. Then my Ma (fully drenched in water) handed over the towel to me & screamed for help. Finally she got some relief when she found the local helper boy. He immediately ran upto the terrace & turned off the Kitchen valve.
Ahhhhhhhhh......a sigh of relief on both our faces. Some other workers working nearby came down to our flat & were stunned to see our TITANIC flat.
As you all know that it was my mistake, so I spent the next 1 hour flushing out 8-10 buckets of water. 1 hour.....surprised......I have become an expert flushing out water, since I have done a similar activity in my previous residence @ Lower Parel during the famous 26/7 period. Then by around 3 pm or so everything seemed fine & I switched on all fans to ensure quicker drying. By around 7 pm or so, my flat returned to its previous shape. Forgot to tell you one BIG thing....my sisters inlaws had already been invited for a Lunch the very next day.
H2O H2O H2O H2O H2O H2O H2O H2O H2O H2O H2O H2O H2O H2O H2O H2O H2O
Cell Phones - a thing to show-off or a thing of emergency
A few days back I accompanied one of my friends while shopping in the market. Everything during that entire episode of shopping was fine except a small little thing. Every now & then he would call up home & ask whether he should buy this or that.
This is not the first incidence of Cell Phone abuse that I have seen. We actually keep seeing & ignoring these things in our day-to-day life. I know that Cell Phones have become an integral part of our life. I also agree that since the mid of 2003 when incoming calls in Indian Mobile Networks were made free, call charges are becoming cheaper daily. Also that corporates have started reimbursing the Cell Phone bills. But does that mean that we should misutilise a boon of technology.
As per a recent survey it was highlighted that inspite of the huge growth in the user-base of Indian Mobile market the operators still are running short of Towers, thus leading to Network congestion. In such a congested environment it becomes a responsibility of every Cell Phone user to judiciously use that gadget which is always with you. Don't forget that there is someone eagerly waiting for the Network to be available to make an emergency call to his/her near & dear one.
So next time think twice before saying HELLO & try to wind up your call as soon as possible.
This is not the first incidence of Cell Phone abuse that I have seen. We actually keep seeing & ignoring these things in our day-to-day life. I know that Cell Phones have become an integral part of our life. I also agree that since the mid of 2003 when incoming calls in Indian Mobile Networks were made free, call charges are becoming cheaper daily. Also that corporates have started reimbursing the Cell Phone bills. But does that mean that we should misutilise a boon of technology.
As per a recent survey it was highlighted that inspite of the huge growth in the user-base of Indian Mobile market the operators still are running short of Towers, thus leading to Network congestion. In such a congested environment it becomes a responsibility of every Cell Phone user to judiciously use that gadget which is always with you. Don't forget that there is someone eagerly waiting for the Network to be available to make an emergency call to his/her near & dear one.
So next time think twice before saying HELLO & try to wind up your call as soon as possible.
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