The World as I see it.

The world, how it works, surroundings, myself, etc.

Monday, October 26, 2009

"Paranormal Activity" -- A dumb homework badly done

They played the advertisements for "Paranormal Activity" so many times on television that I decided to go for it. I repent now.

It can hardly be called a documentary. Combine a story-less series of activities with a budget-less production and a crew with a single camera (which is used throughout the movie as the lens) and you get paranormal activity. First things first, there's nothing paranormal about this movie. There's a plump girl who gets aroused during nights because her boyfriend is busy all the time with his camera, something he carries everywhere he goes. Even when she's screaming, he grabs the camera first before rushing downstairs. The entire movie is shown through the lens of the camera and believe me this is high on the list of how a movie should NOT be made. You don't want to keep watching through a jerky camera for more than a few minutes, leave alone an entire movie. The scariest thing that happens in this movie is that the girl throws the guy away a few feet. That's it. I wasn't even amused.

The boyfriend supposedly wants to help but just ends up fighting because the girl wants him to give up the camera. He does not. The guy takes his camera everywhere -- to the toilet, to the dining table, to the bedroom. I mean everywhere. He's recording even when they have supposedly serious conversation about tackling the situation. And lord even when playing back the recorded movies on his laptop.

Did you note that I did not mention about ghosts or anything paranormal above? That's because there isn't any. Save yourself the time and go blackmail a bandit if you want to make better use of your time.

Monday, September 21, 2009

More Items for Sale


All items are available immediately. Reason for selling: relocating.

Contact: 99086 89990 [or nirnimesh@gmail.com]


Wooden Cot (with mattress)

Cot:
~2yrs old. size: 3ft x 6ft. Cost price: Rs 3000. Expected price: 2000
 
Mattress: Duroflex
~2.5yrs old. Fits in the above cot. Cost price: Rs 2400. Expected price: Rs 1500



  


Microwave Oven

Onida Power Grill. 20L. 800W Microwave power + 1050W Grill power. Easy to Use Jogwheel controls. 2 Combi Grill settings. 24 Customized Indian Auto Cook Menus.

1 yr old. Original packaging available. Excellent condition. Includes 2 free cooking recipe books and a mitten. Cost price: Rs 6500. Expected price: Rs 4500


   


Thursday, September 17, 2009

Items for Sale


All items are available immediately. Reason for selling: relocating.

Contact: 99892 99704 [or n@gmail.com]


Wooden Cot

~3yrs old. 4ft x 6ft. Cost price: Rs 2500. Expected price: Rs 1500. Add Rs 200 for cotton mattress



Breakfast Table Set

1 table + 2 chairs. Totally disassemble-able. Original packaging available. Bought from Reliance Mart, 11 months old. Cost price: Rs 2400. Expected price: Rs 1500



Microwave Oven

Onida Power Grill. 20L. 800W Microwave power + 1050W Grill power. Easy to Use Jogwheel controls. 2 Combi Grill settings. 24 Customized Indian Auto Cook Menus.
1 yr old. Original packaging available. Excellent condition. Includes 2 free cooking recipe books and a mitten. Cost price: Rs 6500. Expected price: Rs 4800


   

Center tea table

Wooden. ~3 yrs old. Good condition. Cost price: Rs 400. Expected price: Rs 200



Steel Almirah

~3 yrs old. Cost price: Rs 4500. Excellent condition. Expected price: Rs 3500





Wooden rocking chair with cushion

~3 yrs old. Comfortable. Cost price: Rs 3500. Leg rest broken (but fixable). Cost price: Rs 3500. Expected price: Rs 2000




Acoustic Guitar + Electronic tuner + Original bag

Granada. 6 string. 4 yrs old. Excellent condition (hardly ever used). Still has the original shine and smell. Also included: a new (unopened) pack of strings set, 2-3 extra strings, pick.
Cost price: Rs 3500 (for guitar) + Rs 400 (for tuner). Expected price: Rs 2700




Book Shelf

4 levels. 50 inch height. ~6 months old. Excellent condition. Original packaging available. Disassemble-able. Bought from Reliance Mart furniture. Cost price: Rs 1600. Expected price: Rs 1250




   

Roti Maker

Jaipan. Used sparingly. Original packaging available. Cost price: Rs 1500. Expected price: 1000



Sandwich Toaster

Used 4-5 times. Cost price: Rs 600. Expected price: Rs 300



  




Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Why I Love my Android Phone

When I used to read fairy tales as a child, I used to wonder what if I could see what's there on the other side of the world, or where this road leads to, or how far is the nearest candy-shop. How neat it would be if I could have access to all kinds of information in the form of a magic wand. What if I didn't have to memorize the width and height of the Meenakshi temple.

We are living it today.

If you've met me in the last few months, chances are I've shown you my android phone.

I have an app (Places Directory) on my phone that not only lists the nearest restaurants/petrol pumps/ATMs and gives driving directions, it points in the direction. I could literally follow the arrow and reach to an ATM. There's another app (Shazam) that can recognize any song you play it, and discover the video on youtube. Another one (Sky Map) that I can use to recognize the constellations and planets -- I used it to identify Venus, the morning star (turns out, the white dot I had been passing off as a star is actually Venus). When I last went to my home town, my brother could track exactly where in the journey I was, with the precision of a few meters, since I had Latitude enabled on my phone. It only adds to the orgasm that I did not have to pay a penny for any of the above apps -- they're all free.

India has 360 million cell phone users. That's roughly one-third of the population. By 2011, it's poised to grow to 600 million. This means that cell phone would be the most unifying thing in the country, more so than language, and much more than the number of people who vote. The most interesting aspect of this population is that a majority of these are youngsters, and many are first time users. This is their first real interaction with a technological device with duplex connectivity. Imagine what it would do to democracy. You could have an election every day (I'm not suggesting that democracy is a good idea.. just that it's possible).

There's satisfaction, then there's happiness, and then there's the ecstasy you experience when you install an OS on your phone yourself. Why? Because I can.

Oh, and yes, I did run a hello world C program on it.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Eye and I

So I saw the eye doctor last Friday after I experienced some minor irritation in my eyes leading to fatigue. The doc did a thorough examination and concluded that everything was ok, and that I needed to blink more. Get a load of this! My name "Nirnimesh" translates to "one who does not blink much" and the doc wants me to blink more. I'm standing true to my name. :)

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

3 Things for which I cannot forgive Congress

It's election in Hyderabad tomorrow. And there are 3 reasons why I cannot vote for congress.

1. OBC Reservations: Nothing severs equality of opportunity more than providing reservations based not on merit but by birth. Congress introduced reservations for OBC in higher education institutions and set a precedent against merit. I remember marching on a rally against this, a few years ago. Arjun Singh, the perennial a$$hole, became an overnight champion and messiah.

2. 26/11: What do you do when a mole steals into your house and breaks your stuff? I hammer it with a broom and throw it out, as soon as I can. A handfull of armed militants attacked Mumbai and threw the country out of gear for 3 days. I repeat -- 3 whole days. For three days, the government didn't have a clue about how to sort out the matter. Instead, we managed to lose 4 top police officers, the likes of whom we can't easily get in police force. This national tragedy became an international shame for the country. A rogue state like Pakistan had demonstrated India's incompetence to protect its soverignity. No wonder then that a third rate failure like Pratibha Patil is the President, the supreme commander of the armed forces.

3. 3G Melodrama: India has the 2nd fastest growing telecommunications industry in the world. Telephones have made their way into the veins of the country in a way that roads haven't. Small-scale farmers, auto-drivers, village shop-keepers not only have cellphones, they use it. India looked ready for continuing its dominant stride in the Information Age. 3G was knocking at the door. We had to let it in. Instead, the 3G auction was delayed, license prices were doubled overnight, and lots of confusion eventually led to it being postponed forever.

These are the three things I feel the strongest about. I haven't even mentioned other things like: daily power cuts in Hyderabad, the national highway project melodrama, the royal lineage of potential PMs, the Gandi-ization of every road, bridge and scheme names, the international shame that the uncertainity over the nuclear deal brought, and Shivraj Patil as home minister.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Advani for PM

I was browsing my usual way a few days ago when I first noticed ads for "Advani for PM". What was interesting was that this ad was on slashdot. After a few days I started seeing these ads at a lot of places -- online discussion forums, blogs, news websites, and so on. These were served through some adsense account, I believe.

Ordinarily I wouldn't bother about these kinds of political blabbers. But since I had already been amused at seeing such ads on a technical website (I was searching for 'assembly language on mac') I wanted to be amused even more so I clicked on the banner labelled "My IT vision" near Advani's face.

The banner linked to a doc detailing Advani's IT strategy. And I must admit there were quite a few very interesting points there. Whether or not they can get implemented will be seen in time but the fact that someone in these scurry circles has actually been thinking not just abstract melodrama but specific numbers and figures is impressive (2 Mbps unlimited broadband for Rs 200 pm!).

I knew that techies like us hardly ever formed a voice in a political arena. We never mattered enough for these politicians. Have things changed recently? Are we a potential votebank target? Are we being noticed?

I also found that Advani has a full-fledged website being updated on a continuous basis with links to the party manifesto, documentaries, question answers, and digs on congress. I couldn't find a similar one for Congress. I'm not saying that it does not exist. I'm just saying that I couldn't find it. All I could find was a link to a .doc, which I hate to click on.

While I kept following the pages, I could imagine the rhetoric Congress has been pulling off for ages in the name of Nehru and Gandhi. I mean come on. Agreed that these people must have done good things at their time, but enough is enough. Live in the present. "Aam aadmi ka haath, aam aadmi ke saath" just gives me a feeling of one guy masturbating. If you think of more than one guy, they're gay and beating each other off. Nothing more. It doesn't tell me anything concrete. It's like an abstract class with pure virtual functions which no one wants (or intends) to inherit.

Anyways, I'm not sure Advani is the right person. But given the political chaos, if I had to choose between Manmohan (aka Sonia with beard), Advani and Mayawati (or the entire breed), I think I'd go with Advani.

Maybe I should have taken the pain to get my voter id card this time.