Bengaluru

The Garden City...The IT Hub of India...A bustling metropolis...Silicon Valley of Indian and now most recently voted as the most livable city in India - Bangalore...Bengaluru.....

I had been staying in Bangalore for the past 7 - 8 months, attending my Chartered Accountancy Final classes, preparing for exams and finally giving my examinations there, in the month of May.

I'm never comfortable with the idea of leaving my hometown in Kochi, Kerala and going and staying elsewhere. I guess some of you would also be of the same opinion. I love my hometown and everything about it. So when a situation arose where in i had to leave Kochi for Bangalore to pursue my Chartered Accountancy studies, i wasn't very comfortable.

But the last 8 months of my life have totally altered my views, for better :)

Bangalore has treated me very well indeed. The people, the food, the weather, everything had been good towards me for the past 8 months. Never thought ill miss the city when i first set foot. But right now, being back in Kochi, i have started to miss this techy city. Made some very good friends whom i will forever remember in my life. Being a typical South Indian, i didn't have much idea about the culture, traditions or habits of the people from the North ie, the Marwadi's, Jain's, Bengalies etc etc

Missing you all now, missing you badly.

Hopefully, see you soon! Enjoy Madi Guru!

GMCS

To all my Friends from GMCS,

It was truly with a heavy heart that i parted with all of you on Wednesday after GMCS. As i was going back i kept thinking, "15 days over and I've got the all important certificate and wasn't that what i wanted initially?".
To be true, yes, that was the only intention that i had in mind when i came to the Institute on the very first day. My good friends NaveenKumar Jain, Jayesh Jain and Anuja Bhartia, all of whom i had met at Yeshas Academy, had decided to do GMCS right after the exams. So I thought, why not just get it over with and hence i decided to register along with them.
I guess my attitude had to do with the fact that i badly wanted to go back to Kerala, after the last 7 - 8 months of slugging it out with text books and as you all know we just had a single day break after the exams, after which the GMCS was scheduled to start. I was honestly in no mood to attend GMCS.
But all my views and thoughts changed after i stepped into the classroom on Day 1. 50 plus new faces, 60 different individuals with different personalities.

All of you guys have made these 15 days of GMCS a truly memorable experience of my life so far. Right from the "Introductions" on Day 1 to our Final Group Seminars on the Final Day, everything has been fun filled and memorable.

Even on the days of the "dry dry" topics, the continuous pestering and "picking on" Naveen Jalan & Praveen Kv, which i have to say got irritating after a certain point of time :D, and the occasional PJ's got us through. The very colourful and vibrant characters i met here and the experiences that we shared will always remain with me, no, not just me but all of us....

My Group mates - The Prodigies, even though we didn't win ( don't care though - winning isn't everything ), they were the best Group mates i could have asked for...

The food, the facilitators and other facilities provided, everything was good.
One thing about the food, they could have included some form of "non veg" atleast once a week :D, me being a christian, i live on it :P I guess most of you wouldn't want it.

A big Thank You to the organizers at the Bangalore Branch. GMCS has definitely been one of the best times, if not the best time that i have had in my CA life so far. Wish it was a bit longer though.....
Really am missing all you people .

But all of us have our own lives to live and paths to follow, right? So we all move on from here. But hopefully friends, we will all continue to be in touch with each other.... on here atleast :P

My best wishes to everyone for all your future endeavors.
God Bless you all.

The Worlds Cheapest Tablet Computer - AAKASH 2

More than a year and a half ago, admist much hype and anticipation, the The Worlds Cheapest Tablet computer, ÀAKASH was launched by the Government of India. It was priced at around 20 - 25 dollars and was seen as a major break through in the field of tablet computing which would totally revolutionise the use of Tablets around the world.

I still remember the amount of buzz it generated among the youth of the country. Everybody wanted to get their hands on one. When the Pre-booking was launched on Datawind's website, it received an unimaginable response and within 3 days bookings were closed for the first 3 months. It had generated such a hype that inspite of the bookings being closed for the first 3 months, they kept on getting upto 100k bookings, everyday!

But difference in opinion and infighting among the Tablet manufacturers Datawind Technologies and the Indian Government and the blatant inability of Datawind to meet the scheduled deadlines meant that the project was shelved. Only a few thousand tablets were distributed to students. Being named the cheapest tablet had its flaws too. 256Mb RAM, 366 Ghz processor, a resistive touch screen, Android version 2.2 and a flimsy built meant that it was definately not a show stealer.

But now, the GOI and Datawind have brought out the next generation model of the earlier tablet - AAKASH 2. On the ocassion of National Education day, the tablet was launched in New delhi by the honourable President Mr. Pranab Mukherji. It still holds on to the tag of being the cheapest tablet in the world. At a subsidiced price of just Rs.1130 (approx 21 dollars) it boasts of much better specifications than its predecesor. Under the hood it is being powered by a 1Ghz processor with 512 Mb RAM. The tablet has an internal storage capacity of upto 4GB and can be expanded using the MICRO SD slot. It comes with the latest Android 4.0 version and has a Capacitative touch screen. It also boasts of an USB port. Much improved when compared to its predecesor. A successor to the AAKASH 2 with a dual core A8 processor is rumoured to hit the stands soon.
AAKASH 2 is expected to reach the hands of more than 22 crore students, all over India in the next 4-6 years.
In a country where 95% of the population does not have access to any sort of computing device, the Worlds Cheapest Tablet will definately become a major major revolution.

O-B-A-M-A

50 years after Martin Luther King led a Two Hundred and fifty thousand strong rally in Washington to fight for the equal rights of the black people, America elected her first black President, Barack Hussien Obama in the year 2008. It was seen as a historic moment and some even considered Obama's victory as a fluke and was seen as a victory riding the wave of human sentiments and also the need for a change, a new begining from the war ravaged past decade.

4 years on and America faced yet another election. Promises were kept and some were not. America hadn't yet fully recovered. The economy was still in the process of recovering. The deficit was still high. Unemployment too.
But America was definately in a better shape than she was 4 years ago. The free fall in job cuts had been arrested and slowly but surely new jobs were being created. The American Health care system had been revamped. So too the education system. Much had been done but still much had to be done.
Come elections there was every possibiliy that the President would fall. The Republicans believed they could topple the president. A lot was said, blows traded, opinions voiced an awful lot of money spent and finally the day came when America had to vote for her President.

The votes were polled and when the results came, it was to be OBAMA.

America has spoken, 50 years on from the march in Washington, after the first black president was elected into office and 4 years later, he has been RE-ELECTED and his doubters proved WRONG.

OBAMA clearly knows that his second term would be much harder. He has a lot to do in the next four years. A lot of his plans and policies have to see light. Here's hoping that he is able to achieve what he set out on doing!
Im a big admirer of OBAMA. He inspires a lot of people around the world.

Good luck OBAMA, that's all what I can say.

WED 2012

For more info Click Here

Using Candles During Earth Hour? Think Again!

 The Earth Hour 2012 is here. Time to switch off your power and spend an hour in the dark! An hour, can't be that bad can it? Still there are a lot of people out in the world who don't believe or want to or
maybe are just too lazy to do it! Aah, leave it.

 
Earth Hour is usually characterised by a lot of public get-together's and rallies / demonstrations with thousands of people who believe in the notion of lighting candles. What most people fail to realise is that candles are not the ideal substitutes to light bulbs. Although, candles are very nice, provide a nice romantic feel and ambience and stuff, they too pollute the environment when they are burned and produce an assortment of chemical compounds and heat. Its not to say that i'm a Candle hater! No, never. I like candles too.

Although burning 2 or 3 candels won't do as much damage as cars or a nuclear power plant or burning fossil fuels like petrol etc, while in the case of rallies, it is worth noting the fact.
 
Most candels are made from Paraffin which is also a petroleum product making it non renewable. I went through the packaging of one of the locally made candles and guess what i found - Paraffin! Paraffin wax candles produce soot – that black stuff caused from the flickering flame. “When soot is airborne, it is subject to inhalation. The particles can potentially penetrate the deepest areas of the lungs, the lower respiratory tract and alveoli". Not only are people with asthma more susceptible to the effects of burning paraffin wax candles, but also the elderly and children. Science has proven that a child’s tiny body is negatively affected by chronic low-level lead exposure. Burning paraffin wax candles that contain lead wicks is definitely in the category of low-level lead exposure.

The container of a local brand of candles - clearly mentions that it's made of Paraffin Wax

There is also the issue of packaging the same into plastic covers! Burning a few candles may not make for much on the global scale. But switching to environment friendly items such as Beeswax can help us to further the reach and importance of the Earth Hour. Even the WWF official site in its FAQ's section (Question 8) advices Earth Hour enthusiasts to use natural candles!

Beeswax Candles

I hope you don't take my criticism of candles in the wrong sense! 
As the saying goes - Tiny drops of water make a mighty ocean, lets all do our bit, however insignificant or small it might be, to assist in the betterment of our mother earth!

Want to read more about the ill effects of burning candles / studies - go to the following links - they're very helpful!

1. http://www.theredheadriter.com/2012/03/the-truth-about-paraffin-wax-candles-are-they-toxic/
2. http://enochthered.wordpress.com/2008/03/31/earth-hour-candles-and-carbon/
3. http://www.stubbornmule.net/2009/03/burning-candles/
4. http://www.natural-environment.com/blog/2008/03/26/environmental-impact-of-candles-during-earth-hour/
5. http://www.alive.com/articles/view/23434/go_beyond_earth_hour
6. http://www.ecogeek.org/efficiency/2642

Earth Hour 2012

Earth Hour 2012 is less than 24 hours away. This Global event launched by the World Wide Fund for Nature a couple of years ago in Australia is all set to be the biggest and most widespread Earth Hour yet,
covering more than 135 countries and over 2 billion people. The Earth Hour 2012 campaign, 'I WILL IF YOU WILL', intends to engage the growing global community to go beyond the hour! 

So friends, lets all be a part of this global event. Where ever in the world you might be, make sure to switch off all the lights in your homes for 1 hour between 8.30 - 9.30pm today. Spread the word, its never too late.