Speaking of singing competitions, I also love this naughty little girl, Vaishali Raikwad, from Bhopal. She’s so full of energy! She‘s bold and fearless. I wish I were like that. Here’s one of my favourite performances by Vaishali. She’s singing the song “Cheel Cheel Chillake” from the movie “Half Ticket” on her elimination day (Sa Re Ga Ma Pa - L’il Champs, Zee TV). [You could start watching from 2:25, since the beginning is only conversation between the host and Vaishali]
Sunday, 13 July 2008
Amazing Kid #1: Anwesha Dutta
I had to post this video because it‘s so amazing, it gives me goose bumps every time I watch it. No it‘s not scary! It’s a video of a participant, Anwesha Dutta, from West Bengal singing “Mere Dholna” from the movie “Bhool Bhulaiya” in the Voice of India competition on Star TV. Gosh, is she amazing or what!!
She makes me proud to be an Indian. Way to go, Anwesha.
Saturday, 10 May 2008
How A Culture Is Made
Here's a really nice article on How A Culture Is Made. I found it here: Friday Reflections
Storyline:
A group of scientists placed 5 monkeys in a cage, and in the middle, a ladder with bananas on the top. Every time a monkey went up the lad
der, the scientists soaked the rest of the monkeys with cold water.
A group of scientists placed 5 monkeys in a cage, and in the middle, a ladder with bananas on the top. Every time a monkey went up the lad
der, the scientists soaked the rest of the monkeys with cold water.After a while, every time a monkey went up the ladder, the others would beat him up. After some time, no monkey dared to go up the ladder regardless of the temptation.
Scientists then decided to substitute one of the monkeys. The first thing this new monkey did was to go up the ladder. Immediately the other monkeys beat him up. After several beatings, the new member learned not to climb the ladder - even though he never knew why!
After some time, a second monkey was substituted and the same thing happened. The first monkey participated in beating up the second monkey. A third monkey was changed and the same beating was repeated. The fourth was substituted and the beating was repeated again. Finally the fifth monkey was replaced.
Scientists then decided to substitute one of the monkeys. The first thing this new monkey did was to go up the ladder. Immediately the other monkeys beat him up. After several beatings, the new member learned not to climb the ladder - even though he never knew why!
After some time, a second monkey was substituted and the same thing happened. The first monkey participated in beating up the second monkey. A third monkey was changed and the same beating was repeated. The fourth was substituted and the beating was repeated again. Finally the fifth monkey was replaced.
What was left was a group of 5 monkeys that, even though they had never received a cold shower, continued to beat up any monkey who attempted to climb the ladder. If it was possible to ask the monkeys why they would beat up all those who attempted to go up the ladder, I bet you the answer would be "I don’t know - that’s how things are done around here."
Reflection:
Look around you, does it sounds familiar? Don’t miss the opportunity to share this story with others, as they might be asking themselves why we continue to do what we are doing if there is a different way out there!
Look around you, does it sounds familiar? Don’t miss the opportunity to share this story with others, as they might be asking themselves why we continue to do what we are doing if there is a different way out there!
Saturday, 26 April 2008
Dell Inspiron 1525 - A Review
It’s been 2 weeks since I got a new Dell Inspiron 1525 laptop, and here are my thoughts and opinions about it.
First of all, the specifications:
It
arrived in this big box, neatly packed, all safe within the thermocol casing. As you open the box, you first see the laptop bag. This bag has so many pockets you could use to hide stuff and never find it; very spacious you could stuff a lot of things in there. The quality of the bag is as good as it can get, and the soft pad on the handles gives you a feeling of the laptop losing a few pounds when inside the bag. That’s a good thing because the laptop is, kind of, heavy. Removing the bag, you see another box. This box contains all the CDs, manuals (the owner‘s manual is rather thick and has about 200 pages), cables, and other stuff that a laptop comes with. I was surprised to find a mouse, since I hadn’t expected it. There was the Bluetooth headset as promised, a noise-reduction earphone set (in a small black p
ouch, at the bottom right corner in the picture) and the remote control. The Bluetooth headphones work fine, though they don’t stay tight on my head and hence can use them only when I wear a pony-tail. The Bluetooth connection stays within the room and gets disconnected when I leave the room (that is, go beyond 12 feet, in accordance with the manual). The noise reduction earphones are really good and the ones I mostly use. The remote control, there’s nothing much to say about it really, except that what’s on the manual, with respect to the control buttons, is a little different from what the actual remote control has on it. I assume that the extra features shown on the manual are for 1526 and not for 1525. Nevertheless, as a remote control, it behaves just like it should be.
Now, coming to the laptop itself, it’s a beautiful piece of technology. The speed and performance is awesome. If there is a problem, then it’s because of the formidable Windows Vista, and not because of the hardware. I’d read in a review (by a professional reviewer) that the laptop that they had received had tiny scratches and t
he paint on the casing was peeling off. So that was the first thing I had checked before anything else. No scratches, no peeling off anywhere. Like I said, it was safely and neatly packed.
The webcam is good and can take pictures of 3200x2400 resolution and videos(not very impressive) of 1600x1200 resolution. Don’t expect what you expect from your digi-cam though. The webcam software also includes remote monitoring, motion detection and time-lapse video. The webcam console has a lot of features built into it, such as audio effects, video effects, face tracking, pan and zoom, and doodling - all fun to play with.
The display is impressive with no colour-inversion from ‘normal’ viewing angles and is susceptible to finger prints. The speaker, located above the keyboard, is normal for a laptop, nothing to brag about. It doesn’t bother me because I use the headphones/earphones 99% of the time. There are these touch-sensitive buttons for the media player above the keyboard that light up only when pressed. I found the volume
control button a bit annoying since it responds to touch only once every second, and hence it becomes difficult to reduce the volume by large amounts. I’m able to use it only when I want to make minor adjustments with the volume/sound.
Now we come to the keyboard; the keyboard is one of the best things of the laptop, and for me, personally, there are many reasons. First of all, it’s the softest keyboard I’ve ever touched. That was the first thing I was really ‘really’ impressed with. Second, the layout of the keyboard was the same as the Acer laptop and so I didn’t have to get used to anything. The touchpad is good, can be over-sensitive at times, but not so much to really bother about. You just need some time to get used to its working. With respect to the touchpad, I will have to agree that my Acer laptop was way better.
I’ve used the Media Direct feature only thrice until now. It truly is Media ‘Direct’, meaning, it switches on almost immediately. But.. Yes, there is a ’but’ here. My computer has about 4GB of music, and it takes a lot of time to show me the list of tracks. I, somehow, am not patient enough for the list to load. The only reason I’m keeping the Media Direct feature alive on the laptop is because it uses the visualizations of Windows Media Player 9, which includes my all-time favourite visualization called Vox, which I cannot let go of. I know, it’s crazy to block 2GB of space because of a small visualization, but.. *shrugs* whatever.
About the graphics card, I don’t really have much to say because I don’t play games. I’ve played Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, and that worked fine. I don’t know if it made a difference to you, but that is all I can say at the moment.
The DVD writer is very good. I don’t know if it’s because of the previous laptop, but I was amazed to see that writing a 4.7GB DVD took only 10 minutes as compared to 20 minutes on the Acer laptop.
My laptop gives a battery backup of 3 hours, which I'm really happy with.
The cover of my laptop has a glossy design and is highly susceptible to finger-prints. If that bothers you, then don't go for a glossy finish.
That is all I can write for now. If you want to know more about a feature, or have missed something important, let me know, I’ll include it here.
All in all, I’m in love with my new Dell Inspiron 1525, and would happily recommend it to anybody who wants to buy it, without a second thought.
First of all, the specifications:
- Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo Processor T8100 1
- 2.1GHz, 3MB Cache, 800 MHz FSB
- Genuine Windows Vista(TM) Home Premium - with AERO experience
- 15.4" Widescreen WXGA+ (1440x900) TFT Display with TrueLife(TM)
- Design: Street with Custom High-Gloss
- Integrated 2.0 mega pixel web cam
- 3GB (1x2GB+1x1GB) 667MHz SDRAM
- 250GB SATA Hard Drive
- Internal 8X DVD+/-RW Combination Drive with dual layer write capabilities
- Intel(R) Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
- Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945 Dual Band 802.11a/g 54Mbps Wireless Mini Card
- 1 ExpressCard Slot, (Does Not Support PCMCIA Cards)
- Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy Advanced HD Audio Software
- Dell(TM) Wireless 355 Bluetooth Module 1
- 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
- Dell Bluetooth Wireless Headset
- Microsoft(R) Works 9.0 (Does Not Include Microsoft(R) Office 2003/2007 Software)
- McAfee(R) Security Center(TM) – 30 days trial
- 8-in-1 media card reader
- Dell(TM) Keyboard with Touchpad (English)
- Integrated 10/100 Fast Ethernet
- Internal 56K Modem
- RJ-11 Modem cable (AP)
- Dell(TM) Travel Remote Control
- Noise Isolation Ear Buds
- Dell(TM) Media Direct
- Dell(TM) MediaDirect DVD Kit
- 1 Year Complete Cover Accidental Damage Protection
- 1 Year Telephone Technical Support
- Regional Support Within Asia Pacific Countries For Laptops
- 1-Year Limited Warranty (Next Business Day Service - parts & labour)
Before I write any further, I must also tell you my background of laptop usage. Prior to the Dell 1525, I had used just one other laptop - an Acer Aspire 5102 (with 512 MB RAM, 1.6GHz, 60GB HDD, AMD Turion processor, Windows XP Home Edition OS, 15.4” Widescreen 1280x800 etc etc..) which my parents bought for me a year and a half ago (Oct 2006, to be precise). The laptop was never without problems, and performance wasn’t good either. Well, to put in few words, it wasn’t a laptop I enjoyed working with.
The Dell Inspiron 1525, however, is a laptop I thoroughly enjoy using. From the time we placed the order (through the Dell website), through the processing of the order, and the delivery, it had been a pleasant experience. Yes, the system was delivered late by a day, but they compensated for it by increasing the warranty period by a year. Dell was very prompt at every stage of the order processing; and listened to and clarified our doubts and apprehensions patiently. I, honestly, was very impressed with their customer service.
It
arrived in this big box, neatly packed, all safe within the thermocol casing. As you open the box, you first see the laptop bag. This bag has so many pockets you could use to hide stuff and never find it; very spacious you could stuff a lot of things in there. The quality of the bag is as good as it can get, and the soft pad on the handles gives you a feeling of the laptop losing a few pounds when inside the bag. That’s a good thing because the laptop is, kind of, heavy. Removing the bag, you see another box. This box contains all the CDs, manuals (the owner‘s manual is rather thick and has about 200 pages), cables, and other stuff that a laptop comes with. I was surprised to find a mouse, since I hadn’t expected it. There was the Bluetooth headset as promised, a noise-reduction earphone set (in a small black p
ouch, at the bottom right corner in the picture) and the remote control. The Bluetooth headphones work fine, though they don’t stay tight on my head and hence can use them only when I wear a pony-tail. The Bluetooth connection stays within the room and gets disconnected when I leave the room (that is, go beyond 12 feet, in accordance with the manual). The noise reduction earphones are really good and the ones I mostly use. The remote control, there’s nothing much to say about it really, except that what’s on the manual, with respect to the control buttons, is a little different from what the actual remote control has on it. I assume that the extra features shown on the manual are for 1526 and not for 1525. Nevertheless, as a remote control, it behaves just like it should be.Now, coming to the laptop itself, it’s a beautiful piece of technology. The speed and performance is awesome. If there is a problem, then it’s because of the formidable Windows Vista, and not because of the hardware. I’d read in a review (by a professional reviewer) that the laptop that they had received had tiny scratches and t
he paint on the casing was peeling off. So that was the first thing I had checked before anything else. No scratches, no peeling off anywhere. Like I said, it was safely and neatly packed.The webcam is good and can take pictures of 3200x2400 resolution and videos(not very impressive) of 1600x1200 resolution. Don’t expect what you expect from your digi-cam though. The webcam software also includes remote monitoring, motion detection and time-lapse video. The webcam console has a lot of features built into it, such as audio effects, video effects, face tracking, pan and zoom, and doodling - all fun to play with.
The display is impressive with no colour-inversion from ‘normal’ viewing angles and is susceptible to finger prints. The speaker, located above the keyboard, is normal for a laptop, nothing to brag about. It doesn’t bother me because I use the headphones/earphones 99% of the time. There are these touch-sensitive buttons for the media player above the keyboard that light up only when pressed. I found the volume
control button a bit annoying since it responds to touch only once every second, and hence it becomes difficult to reduce the volume by large amounts. I’m able to use it only when I want to make minor adjustments with the volume/sound.Now we come to the keyboard; the keyboard is one of the best things of the laptop, and for me, personally, there are many reasons. First of all, it’s the softest keyboard I’ve ever touched. That was the first thing I was really ‘really’ impressed with. Second, the layout of the keyboard was the same as the Acer laptop and so I didn’t have to get used to anything. The touchpad is good, can be over-sensitive at times, but not so much to really bother about. You just need some time to get used to its working. With respect to the touchpad, I will have to agree that my Acer laptop was way better.
I’ve used the Media Direct feature only thrice until now. It truly is Media ‘Direct’, meaning, it switches on almost immediately. But.. Yes, there is a ’but’ here. My computer has about 4GB of music, and it takes a lot of time to show me the list of tracks. I, somehow, am not patient enough for the list to load. The only reason I’m keeping the Media Direct feature alive on the laptop is because it uses the visualizations of Windows Media Player 9, which includes my all-time favourite visualization called Vox, which I cannot let go of. I know, it’s crazy to block 2GB of space because of a small visualization, but.. *shrugs* whatever.
About the graphics card, I don’t really have much to say because I don’t play games. I’ve played Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, and that worked fine. I don’t know if it made a difference to you, but that is all I can say at the moment.
The DVD writer is very good. I don’t know if it’s because of the previous laptop, but I was amazed to see that writing a 4.7GB DVD took only 10 minutes as compared to 20 minutes on the Acer laptop.
My laptop gives a battery backup of 3 hours, which I'm really happy with.
The cover of my laptop has a glossy design and is highly susceptible to finger-prints. If that bothers you, then don't go for a glossy finish.
That is all I can write for now. If you want to know more about a feature, or have missed something important, let me know, I’ll include it here.
All in all, I’m in love with my new Dell Inspiron 1525, and would happily recommend it to anybody who wants to buy it, without a second thought.
Update [29 April]: Scratch what I said about the touch-sensitive volume control. It's working perfectly fine and I can make any kind of volume adjustment with it. I still have so much to learn about the laptop.
Thursday, 10 April 2008
Sunday, 30 March 2008
Trip to Bangalore
This post has been pending since long. Two weeks ago, two of my friends and I and mum and my sister and my friend's friend had been to Bangalore. My roommate and I had been planning this trip since the previous semester, wasting long hours during exams discussing where and when we could plan this trip. We finally got a 3 day long spring vacation (as our American counterparts would like to put it). We planned our trip to spend the three days in Bangalore to simply get away from the monotonous routine and spend quality time with friends. My roommate Cheeky, neighbour and friend, Bunny, Bunny's friend from Bangalore, my mum, my sister and I were there. Neighbour, friend and Bunny's roommate Crystal would've been with us if it weren't for Good Friday and Easter. So out of 4 friends at the hostel, only 3 of us went - Cheeky, Bunny and me. We started on Thursday night by train and reached Bangalore the next morning. Here's a short rundown of our stay there-
Day 1: Our main attraction, Wonderla amusement park. We had the best time ever, all the thrill rides and the virtual reality show and the musical fountain.. just WOW!!. Below are some videos[coming soon] and pictures:
Day 3: (Window)Shopping with Cheeky, Bunny and Bunny's friend at Garuda mall, Globus and the tibetan shopping area. Bought these:
That same night we (Cheeky, Bunny and me) caught a bus to reach the hostel the next morning. It really shouldn't have been surprising, but I was surprised to see many of my college (and hostel) mates in the same bus.
Day 1: Our main attraction, Wonderla amusement park. We had the best time ever, all the thrill rides and the virtual reality show and the musical fountain.. just WOW!!. Below are some videos[coming soon] and pictures:
Day 2: We went shopping at Commercial Street with mum and sis, since they would leave early next morning. I bought these:
Day 3: (Window)Shopping with Cheeky, Bunny and Bunny's friend at Garuda mall, Globus and the tibetan shopping area. Bought these:
Monday, 3 March 2008
'to complete' tag
I got this tag from leo1969. You have to complete the 'sentence'
My ex is: inexistent
I am listening to: the sound of keys being pressed on my keyboard
Maybe I should: be more productive
I love: colours and listening to music
My best friend: is my sister
I don't understand: what I was born for
I have no respect for: people who are full of themselves
I hate: being treated like I'm invisible
The meaning of my screen name is: 'blue' is my favourite colour and 'potion' is dedicated to my favourite fictional character Severus Snape, the potions master
Love is: what you can't live without
Somewhere, someone is: looking for me
I will always: follow my heart
Forever seems: like forever
I never want to: be sad
I would like to pass this tag to Ebbtide, CuteFairy, JoshHarrow. But whoever wants to take this, please feel free to do so.
My ex is: inexistent
I am listening to: the sound of keys being pressed on my keyboard
Maybe I should: be more productive
I love: colours and listening to music
My best friend: is my sister
I don't understand: what I was born for
I have no respect for: people who are full of themselves
I hate: being treated like I'm invisible
The meaning of my screen name is: 'blue' is my favourite colour and 'potion' is dedicated to my favourite fictional character Severus Snape, the potions master
Love is: what you can't live without
Somewhere, someone is: looking for me
I will always: follow my heart
Forever seems: like forever
I never want to: be sad
I would like to pass this tag to Ebbtide, CuteFairy, JoshHarrow. But whoever wants to take this, please feel free to do so.
Friday, 29 February 2008
Kudlu Falls
Last Saturday, our class spent one of our best moments as a class together.
We went on a picnic to Kudlu Falls near Hebri, about 1.5 hours from our college.
We started at around 8:30 a.m. Around 50 of us were present (of 70+ people in the class). We first stopped to collect food packets for the afternoon lunch.
The bus then took us to Hebri, where the bus was suddenly stopped. When asked why the driver had stopped, we got the shock of our lives. The bus won't go further because the road was too narrow and steep. It would be dangerous to take the bus any further. And that meant, we had to wa
lk. We were told that we would have to walk about 2 kilometres. NOT. We realised that we had to walk 4.5 kilometres. And not ONLY walk, but climb rocks, crawl under fallen trees, cross streams and go through thick wood and narrow steep and dangerous paths. We were optimistic that it would be a piece of cake when we were with friends. Piece of cake, my foot. We climbed and climbed and climbed, and the path never ended. We were dog-tired, but kept going singing along inspirational songs completely out of tune from being breathless. Nevertheless, it was fun, and exciting to be experiencing dangerous steeps and narrow paths.We even enjoyed being breathless and tired.
Finally after about 1.5 hours we got the first glimpse of the waterfall. It
was like heaven. On seeing the waterfall, energy piped up in us from nowhere.
On reaching the waterfall, we were awespired! It was beautiful! It was more than worth all the climbing and walking. The waterfall, the rocks, the hills - simply WOW!!
All our tiredness drained off. We immediately got into the water. The water was so cold, some of us were shivering inside out. We then went under the cold waterfall and had the time of our lives, playing, singing, dancing, screaming - just freaking out under that cold waterfall. At around 1:30p.m. we had our lunch - delicious biriyani and salad.
After lunch, some of us still weren't finished with enjoying the
water. So we played ball in the water (while I watched) for a while. It was soon time to go. We again made the 2 hour trek back toward the bus. The backward journey was easier since we mostly had to climb down the rocks and were already familiar with the route. We reached the bus in 1.5 
hours. And no, the fun was not over yet. We climbed over the bus and enjoyed a bit over there. It was 5p.m. by then and it was really time to go back.
Oh, the fun and dance in the bus!! And the body-aches and sprains the next day!! It sure was one of the best times of my life. Since then, our class has become so united, s
o much more caring and responsible. Wow! I'm proud to be a part of my class.
Just yesterday, our class went to a restaurant for being treated by the valedictorian of the class. Though the number was less than the number that came for the picnic, I was amazed to see how free everyone was. So free that they freely told who their crushes were. Amazing, isn't it?
We went on a picnic to Kudlu Falls near Hebri, about 1.5 hours from our college.We started at around 8:30 a.m. Around 50 of us were present (of 70+ people in the class). We first stopped to collect food packets for the afternoon lunch.
The bus then took us to Hebri, where the bus was suddenly stopped. When asked why the driver had stopped, we got the shock of our lives. The bus won't go further because the road was too narrow and steep. It would be dangerous to take the bus any further. And that meant, we had to wa
lk. We were told that we would have to walk about 2 kilometres. NOT. We realised that we had to walk 4.5 kilometres. And not ONLY walk, but climb rocks, crawl under fallen trees, cross streams and go through thick wood and narrow steep and dangerous paths. We were optimistic that it would be a piece of cake when we were with friends. Piece of cake, my foot. We climbed and climbed and climbed, and the path never ended. We were dog-tired, but kept going singing along inspirational songs completely out of tune from being breathless. Nevertheless, it was fun, and exciting to be experiencing dangerous steeps and narrow paths.We even enjoyed being breathless and tired.Finally after about 1.5 hours we got the first glimpse of the waterfall. It
was like heaven. On seeing the waterfall, energy piped up in us from nowhere. On reaching the waterfall, we were awespired! It was beautiful! It was more than worth all the climbing and walking. The waterfall, the rocks, the hills - simply WOW!!
All our tiredness drained off. We immediately got into the water. The water was so cold, some of us were shivering inside out. We then went under the cold waterfall and had the time of our lives, playing, singing, dancing, screaming - just freaking out under that cold waterfall. At around 1:30p.m. we had our lunch - delicious biriyani and salad.After lunch, some of us still weren't finished with enjoying the
water. So we played ball in the water (while I watched) for a while. It was soon time to go. We again made the 2 hour trek back toward the bus. The backward journey was easier since we mostly had to climb down the rocks and were already familiar with the route. We reached the bus in 1.5 
hours. And no, the fun was not over yet. We climbed over the bus and enjoyed a bit over there. It was 5p.m. by then and it was really time to go back.Oh, the fun and dance in the bus!! And the body-aches and sprains the next day!! It sure was one of the best times of my life. Since then, our class has become so united, s
o much more caring and responsible. Wow! I'm proud to be a part of my class.Just yesterday, our class went to a restaurant for being treated by the valedictorian of the class. Though the number was less than the number that came for the picnic, I was amazed to see how free everyone was. So free that they freely told who their crushes were. Amazing, isn't it?
Sunday, 17 February 2008
Dan Brown
I recently finished reading all the four books by Dan Brown. I'm not a review writer, so I can't really write a detailed account of the experience of reading the books. All I want to say that each book is a master piece. I'm really amazed at the amount of research, study and hard work he's put into writing the books. Clearly, he's one of my best authors. I can't wait to read more books by him. Here's the list of my favourite Dan Brown books, in order of my liking:
The Da Vinci Code (This may be a prejudiced opinion because of the movie and all..) In close contention with Da Vinci Code is Angels and Demons. Then is Digital Fortress and finally, Deception Point.
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