As I had mentioned in my previous post, I would mostly be travelling to our client location at Kingsport, Tennessee, United States on an work assignment. If all goes well as planned, I would be starting on the 27th of this month, and reaching there on 28th.
So, now the race against time has begun!. Lots of things to do in the next couple of days, and the checklist of “things to do” is ready. The “doing” part has kind of begun. Today, came back home early from work and went out for shopping. Bought a big VIP travel bag. Also bought a carry bag which I can use for cabin luggage. And then a couple of jeans. Did some other minor tasks. Lot more shopping and “To Dos” planned for the next couple of days.
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January 19th, 2006 at 12:28am
This weekend was work and fun. I was in office on Saturday to catch up with work. But Sunday was fun. It was the grand finale of Synergy 2005. As mentioned in one of my previous post, Synergy is the annual sports event of mInfosys. The finale is always held on the beach side. This year, the program was at the a place called called “Samudra Darshana Guest house” near Hosabettu. Hosabettu beach is around 10kms from mInfosys.
This year, the program started started in the afternoon, and finished with dinner at around 10 PM.
Various games were played………..started with Triathlon, followed by Lagori….
Lagori - Click to Zoom
After Lagori, there was Sand Castle competition.
Sand Castle - Click to Zoom
Sand Castle - Click to Zoom
But the most interesting game was Beach volley ball. The finals between the Green Team and the Red team was really thrilling. Thought fight till the last minute. Finally green won the volley ball finals.
Beach Volley Ball - Click to Zoom
Beach Volley Ball - Smash - Click to Zoom
Beach Volley Ball - Click to Zoom
Beach Volley Ball - Smash - Click to Zoom
Beach Volley Ball - Red vs Green - Click to Zoom
After volley ball, there was tug-of-war. This year around, no major fight in tug-of-war, compared to the previous years when the rope itself used to give up!!
Tug of War - Zoor Lagake Haiyaa - Click to Zoom
Then there was the prize distribution ceremony…..
mInfoscions - Prize Distribution - Click to Zoom
This years overall champions were Red Bulls! (that’s the name of the Red team!).
Red Bulls - Winners of Synergy 2005 - Click to Zoom
My team, the black hawks had to be happy being in the third place.
Prize distribution was followed by small time dance party….but it was already 10 PM by then.. and we had to wind up.
Lets Dance baby - Click to Zoom
Overall, a great day and had a nice time.
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December 19th, 2005 at 01:38pm
Update : KlueLess 2 is out ! Check out : http://www.iimi-iris.com/iris-2006/irising/klueless/index.asp
Some of you might have already come across this one. Its one of the coolest and the most amazing puzzles I have every come across. Do give it a shot if you haven’t. Its unbelievable!
http://www.iimi-iris.com/iris/irising/klueLESS/
Kudos’ to the creators of this puzzle. I am sure *lot* of thought process and effort would have gone into its creation.
Caution : You might spends days together solving this! :) Enjoy.
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December 14th, 2005 at 08:41pm
Now sure how serious this is!. They are planning on renaming Bangalore to Bengaluru. That’s how you pronounce Bangalore in Kannada.
Link : Bangalore to be re-named Bengaluru (and here)
This is what the above article says…
Chief Minister N Dharam Singh told reporters in Gulbarga on Sunday that he had asked the chief secretary to take steps for renaming Bangalore.
He said Kannadigas were calling the city as Bengaluru but taking an Anglicised form, it became Bangalore.
Dharam recalled that a suggestion to call the city as Bengaluru had emanated at a meeting of prominent Kannada litterateurs he had called recently to seek their views on celebrating the golden jubilee of the formation of the state of Karnataka.
Well, if this is true, then Bangalore would be the 4th major city in India to undergo a name change. First it was Bombay to Mumbai, second was Madras to Chennai, third was Calcutta to Kolkotta.
So, would the next one be Bangalore to Bengaluru ?
Personally, I strongly feel that the government should give more stress to important matters related to development, infrastructure, rural reform etc. It should not get into overheads like these. Renaming Bangalore to Bengaluru wont make the city any better.
My friend Harsh asked me, ……. Is Mangalore next ? Since it sounds like Bangalore. But, in case of Mangalore, renaming wont be that simple I guess. Why ? Its because, Mangalore has different names in different languages!
In Kannada, its known as Mangaluru (like Bengaluru)
In Konkani, its known as Kodiyal
In Tulu, people call it by the name of Kudla
Malayali people use the term Mangalapuram!
And since Kannada is not what majority of people speak in Mangalore, I seriously doubt it would be called Mangaluru. (i.e., if and when it would be renamed!)
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December 11th, 2005 at 11:20pm
I am back!. Our three days trip to Tirupati went well by God’s grace. As planned, we started early morning at around 5.30 AM on Saturday, and came back yesterday i.e., Monday at around 10 PM.
The route that we took for Tirupati was Mangalore - Hassan - Bangalore - Kolar - Chittoor - Tirupati.
We stopped for breakfast at Hassan. Next on route was Bangalore. We kind of got stuck in the Bangalore traffic. Horrible. I wonder how people travel in Bangalore. We did not enter the Bangalore city. We moved towards Kolar. We reached Kolar at around 4 PM, and we hadn’t had lunch. So, we stopped at a hotel called Kamat Upchar on the highway. Had lunch/snacks and continued our travel. We reached Tirupati at around 8.30 PM.
Sign on top of the Tirumala Hills
I think we were kind of very lucky. All along the trip, it did not rain!. (not even a single drop of rain!). Given the fact that cyclone warning was issue in and around this area, its a miracle!!! Also, due to the cyclone warning, and heavy rains, lot of trains and buses to Tirupati were cancelled. So, there wasn’t any crowd!. Now, thats the second miracle! Just to give you an Idea, on an average, Tirupati temple is visited by around 1,00,000 devotees every day. Normally, people spend hours (and in some cases, days) together in queues to get a glimpse of Lord Venkateshwara. And on festive days, the number doubles!. There is a very efficient system of queues etc to control the crowd. But, the point is, you need to wait!! On the day we reached Tirupati, it was virtually empty. So, it was really our luck. Or, you can say, God’s Grace.
The Temple Complex. Image Courtesy : Tirumala.org
BTW, Tirupati is the name of the city. Lord Venkateshwara’s temple is located on Tirumala Hills. Its around 22 km uphill from the Tirupati city. Devotees can either take the road route to reach Tirumala, or can walk (i.e. climb the stairs) all the way up. Its an 8 km walk. It takes around 4 hours to go walking to the top.
Around 9 of our family members decided to walk to the Tirumala hills. I took the road route. We reached Tirumala at around 11 PM, and occupied the guesthouse that we had booked. The room was decent enough. It was a three bedroom apartment with some basic facilities. At around 1.30 AM, the folks who had decided to walk reached Tirumala.
We had booked for something called the “Archanantara Darshana” early in the morning at around 5 AM. So, we had to get up early in the morning. We reached the temple at around 4.15 AM, and soon we were on the queue. As per my estimate, there were around 600 to 700 people already on the queue. But we didn’t have to wait for long. We got Lord Venkateshwara’s Darshana at around 5 AM.
Belive it or not, its really a thrilling experience to see the Lord Venkataraman’s Idol. I just can’t describe it! You have to feel it for yourself. Due to massive amount of people, you hardly get few seconds to see the Lord’s Idol. But belive me, its one thing that you have to experience. Its like the God is standing right there in front of you!
Lord Venkataraman’s Idol. Image Courtesy : Tirumala.org
After the Darshana, we came back to our room, took some rest. We had booked one more Seva in the evening called the Sahasra Deepalankarana Seva. So, we were kind of free for the whole day. So, we decided to see some other temples around Tirupati. We started at around 9 AM, and returned back at around 4 PM.
We saw the Sri Kapileswaraswami Temple, Sri Kalahasti Temple, Sri Padmavathi Ammavari Temple.
Sri Kapileswaraswami Temple (Click to Zoom)
Sri Kalahasti Temple (Click to Zoom)
Sri Padmavathi Ammavari Temple (Click to Zoom)
We went back to the Tirumala temple at 5 PM for the Sahastra Deepaalankara Seva. This Seva is a very beautiful one. The God’s Idol (not the one inside the Garbagudi*) is placed over a Swing, and the Seva goes on.
Sahastra Deepaalankara Seva. Image Courtesy : Tirumala.org
From the Tirumala Website:
This seva is performed in the Unjal Mandapam. The Mandapam glows with the lights of sahasra deepa (a thousand earthern lamps). The Lord is seated on an unjal, which is rocked gently to the accompaniment of a clarinet orchestra.
After the Seva, we got chance to see the Lord again. Again an wonderful experience.
We came back at around 7 PM. After the Darshana, we decided to go around the shopping complexes. My folks did some minor shopping. Majority of the stuff in almost all the shop is somehow related to the Lord! But there is other stuff too. At around 9 PM we returned back to our room after having dinner.
Lord Venkateshwaras Idols (Click to Zoom)
Next day, i.e., Monday, we started our trip back. We stopped for breakfast at Chittoor. We reached Bangalore at around 11 AM. Luckily, this time around, the traffic was much less. May be because, Monday was a holiday due to Deepavali. So, we didn’t get stuck in traffic. We reached Hassan at around 3 PM. We had our lunch at Hassan, and visited one of our relatives house. At around 5 PM, we started back to Mangalore. We reached Mangalore at around 9 PM.
Some interesting things that I noted about Tirupati:
1. One must book all the Seva’s, Rooms, etc well in advance. Its always crowded, and difficult to get a chance at the nth minute. You can get the List of Seva’s that you can offer at the temple’s website.
2. I was told that the surroundings of the temple used to be very dirty couple of years back. But when we went this time, the old timers were surprised. Everything seems to be well maintained now! Clean and Neat!
3. The free toilets in the Tirumala area are clean, and very well maintained.
4. Lot of security systems are in place, after an incident in which a Former Chief Minster was targeted in a bomb blast by Naxalites when he was on the way to Tirumala Hills.
5. Within the main temple complex, lot of security cameras have been installed to prevent corruption amongst temple workers! And we saw it working :)
6. The entire Tirumala Hills is a no smoking zone. No alcohol too! You are not allowed to take, nor will you get any cigarettes in the Tirumala town.
7. The temple uses finger printing technology to identify the people who would perform the various Seva’s!. This is mainly to prevent corruption/bribes etc.
8. Everything goes as per the schedule. Right on the dot.
9. Due to the security measures, you are not allowed to take any device like camera, mobiles etc inside the temple. I could not click any photos since I had to keep my camera back in the car.
*Garbagudi - Inner most area of the temple.
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November 1st, 2005 at 11:53pm
Me back from the two day temple visit trip. It was a mini-pilgrimage kind of trip along the west cost of south India. We visited around 15 temples in all.
We started on Wednesday morning at around 7.00 AM. We had hired a Toyota Qualis for the trip. Although our primary intention was to visit our Kuladeva’s temple in Goa, we did visit quite a lot of temples on our way to Goa.
Our first stop was at the Bappanadu temple at Mulky. Its just next to the National Highway (NH 17).
Mulky Bappanad Temple (Click to Zoom)
This is the Famous Dhol or Drum at Bappanad temple.
Mulky Bappanad Dhol or Drum (Click to Zoom)
Our next stop was at Udupi for breakfast at one of our relatives house at around 8 AM. After our breakfast, we visited the Kadiyali temple at Udupi.
Kadiyali Temple at Udupi (Click to Zoom)
From Kadiyali we headed north. We briefly stopped for a while at a place called Amunje to visit one more relative of ours. After that we continued our travel. Our next stop was at Saligram. Saligram is in between Udupi and Kundapur. We visited two temples in Saligram. Shree Anjaneya Temple and Shree Guru Narasimha Temple.
Shree Aanjaneya Temple at Saligram (Click to Zoom)
Shree Guru Narasimha Temple at Saligram (Click to Zoom)
Our next stop was at Anegudde Shree Vinayaka Temple at Kumbhasi, near Koteshwara (Kundapur). I have been to this temple couple of times.
Anegudde Shree Vinayaka Temple - Kumbhasi (Click to Zoom)
After Annegudde, we further continued our trip. Our next stop was at Hattiangadi. This time, at Shree Ganapathy Temple at Hattiangadi. Hattiangadi is on the way to Kollur.
Shree Ganapathy Temple at Hattiangadi (Click to Zoom)
Our next stop was at Shree Kollur Mookambika Temple. This temple is pretty famous. On the day we reached there, it was quite crowded. It was Navami on that day, and there were quite a lot of devotees. There were long queues (5 to 6 hrs!) for God’s Darshana. We prayed from outside, and continued our travel. Here are some snaps of Kollur Mookambika Temple.
Outside the temple one can find lot of shops where the devotees can buy quite a lot of stuff related to Shree Mookambika Goddess. From Photos to Audio cassettes to CDs. There are quite a lot of shops targeting the kids.
Memorabilia from Kollur Mookambika Temple (Click to Zoom)
Toys for Kiddos @ Kollur Mookambika Temple (Click to Zoom)
After Kollur, we traveled further north. We didn’t visit Murdeshwar and Shirali since it was already afternoon and the temples would be closed during that time. We stopped for lunch at Kamat Hotel at Honnavar. Had a heavy lunch, and the sleep followed naturally. By the time we woke up, we had reached Karwar. Karwar is the border town of Karnataka State.
Guess what do you first see when you cross the border and hit Goa ? Yes. Its the liquor shops. Liquor is cheap in Goa and widely consumed. Also, the cost of fuel is pretty low. i.e., Diesel is cheaper by around INR 2.5 and Petrol is cheaper by around INR 4! So, most of the vehicles fill in the fuel once they enter Goa. Same is the case when the vehicles come back.
We reached Ponda, Goa at around 8 PM. Shree Ramanathi Temple that we were supposed to visit is located in Ponda, Goa.
Shree Ramanathi Temple at Goa (Shanteri Kamakshi) - Night Shot (Click to Zoom)
Shree Ramanathi Temple at Goa (Shanteri Kamakshi) - Morning Shot (Click to Zoom)
We stayed at one of the Mutts (Kavale Mutt) for the night. The rooms were pretty good. The next day, we got up early, and went to the Shree Ramanathi Temple again. After God’s Darshana, we went to our Kula Deva’s temple. i.e., Shree Devaki Krishna Ravalnatha temple at Marcela, Goa. I had been to this temple when I was around 9 years old I guess. We had to perform something called “Vara Bheti”. Its a ritual that is performed when married couple go to the Kula Devastana for the first time.
Shree Devaki Krishna Ravalnatha Temple at Goa (Click to Zoom)
Shree Devaki Krishna Ravalnatha Temple at Goa (Click to Zoom)
We also visited the nearby Shree Laksmi Ravalnatha Temple
Shree Laksmi Ravalnatha Temple at Goa (Click to Zoom)
Next we went to Shree Balaji Temple.
Shree Balaji Temple at Goa (Click to Zoom)
Ashta Lakshmis around the Dwajasthamba at Shree Balaji Temple at Goa (Click to Zoom)
Our next stop was at Shree Mangeshi Temple
Shree Mangeshi Temple at Goa (Click to Zoom)
By this time, we were hungry. So, we had some light snacks just outside the Shree Mangeshi Temple. After Shree Mangeshi Temple, we stopped at Shree Mahalasa Narayani Temple. I had visited this temple too when I was young.
Shree Mahalasa Narayani Temple at Goa (Click to Zoom)
The Deepasthamba (a tall post which has lot of lamps or diyas on it) at the Mahalasa Narayani temple is really beautiful. I have clicked a couple of snaps of the same.
Deepasthamba at Mahalasa Narayani Temple at Goa (Click to Zoom)
Carvings around the base of the Deepasthamba at Mahalasa Narayani Temple at Goa (Click to Zoom)
Carvings around the base of the Deepasthamba at Mahalasa Narayani Temple at Goa (Click to Zoom)
The Base of the Deepasthamba supported by horses and elephants at Mahalasa Narayani Temple at Goa (Click to Zoom)
Shree Mahalasa Narayani Temple at Goa (Click to Zoom)
The last temple that we visited was Shree Lakshmi Narasimha Temple.
Shree Lakshmi Narasimha Temple at Goa (Click to Zoom)
Pond at the Lakshmi Narasimha Temple (Click to Zoom)
One interesting thing that I noted was the architecture of almost all the temples in Goa were similar. Almost all the temples that we visited in Goa had a similar layout and design!. Compared to it, the temples in South Kanara (Dakshina Kannada) are pretty different. They have a different design altogether!!
So, after all the temple visits, we came back to Shree Ramanathi Temple and attended the Maha Aarathi at around 1 PM and had our Prasadam. After that, we started back. We had our lunch at a hotel called Abhiksha. Very good hotel. The food was very good. Just like the previous day, we had a heavy lunch. By this time, it was around 2.30 PM. It was getting pretty cloudy, and it rained heavily. The return trip was basically nonstop travel.
We stopped in between for a couple of minutes for a small tea break at Bhatkal. Throughout the return journey, it as kind of raining lightly. We reached back Mangalore at around 10 PM.
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October 14th, 2005 at 11:50pm
My Airtel broadband speed has been upgraded from 128 kbps to 256 kbps by Airtel.
I noticed today that my downloads were way too fast!. Could see transfers up to 300 kbps!. First i thought it was some error, but later, I searched the Airtel website and and confirmed it from Vinu Thomas broadband forums.
So, the new deal is as follows :
- 256kbps access
- Unlimited data transfer
- Rs. 999 monthly + service tax
- Includes telephone rental + modem rental
- No free calls on the land line (no issues for me!)
You can find the details here (select home combo). Confirmed the same from customer care too.
Too good to be true. I guess this was possible only because of BSNL’s Dataone broadband service. A direct answer to BSNL. Good for us.
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September 25th, 2005 at 12:34am
I find that lot of people search for customer care numbers of various Indian banks and services. So, here is a small list. Hope this would be useful for all. Will try to keep this updated. If you find that any of these numbers don’t work, or have a alternate number, please leave a comment.
- ICICI Bank Customer Care Number
- Bangalore - 4113 1877
- Karnataka - 98455 78000
- For other cities, click here. Phone Banking workflow click here.
- Citibank Customer Care Number
- All Citibank customers - Bangalore - 2227 2484. For other cities, click here
- Citibank Suvidha account holders - Bangalore - 2227 2265. For other cities, click here
- CitiBusiness Customers - Bangalore - 2229 4653. For other cities, click here
- Citibank Credit Card - Bangalore - 2227 2484. For other cities, click here
- Priority service to CitiGold Customers, Diners Club Members & Citibank Gold Card members - Bangalore - 2229- 4653. For other cities, click here
- HSBC Customer Care Number
- Banking related - Bangalore - 2558 9595
- Credit card related - Bangalore - 2558 9696
- For other cities, click here
- HDFC Customer Care Number
- Debit card related - 9945863333
- Banking related - Bangalore - 5500 3333. For other cities, click here
- Credit card related - Bangalore - 6622 4332. For other cities, click here
- ABN AMRO Customer Care number
- SBI Credit Card Customer Care Number
- Karnataka - Bangalore -
98441 05454 (people are reporting that this number does not work. If you know a number that works, please let me know!)
- All India Toll Free - 1600 180 1290 (works only on BSNL and MTNL Line)
- Try : 1800 180 1290 too. May work!!!
- Other lines : 39 02 02 02
- UTI Bank Customer Care Numbers
- Bangalore (M G Road) - 2537 0615
- Bangalore - 2531 7830
- Mumbai - 022 5598 7700
- For other cities, click here
- IDBI Bank Customer Care Number (Phone Banking)
- Karnataka - Bangalore - 080 22297000
- Mumbai - 022 66937000
- Delhi - 011 23627000
- Chennai - 044 28295550
- For other cities, click here
- Manhattan Credit Card Customer Care Number
- Bangalore - 3030 1969. (this number seems to work in Mumbai too! Give it a try in your local city!)
- Standard Chartered Credit Card Customer Care Number
- Bangalore - 2558 8888 (updated). For other cities, click here
- Deutsche Bank Customer Care Number
- 6601 6601 (this number is available in Aurangabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Kolhapur, Kolkata and Mumbai. If dialing from Gurgaon / Noida please prefix 9511 before dialing.)
- Airtel Customer Care
- Dail 121 from your airtel mobile
- Karnataka - 98450 98450 - For prepaid if you are calling from landline
- Karnataka - 98450 12345 - For postpaid if you are calling from landline
- Hutch Customer Care
- Karnataka - Dial 111 from your Hutch phone or dial 98860 98860
- BSNL Mobile Customer Care (Cellone & Excel)
- Karnataka - Dial 94480 24365
- For other cities, click here.
- Reliance Mobile Customer Care
- Call 3033 3333 Or dial *333 from your Reliance Mobile
- For other numbers, click here.
- Reliance Broadband Customer Care
- Call 022 - 3033 7777 Or dial *377 on your Reliance phone
- SpiceJet Customer Care
- From BSNL/MTNL : 1800 180 3333
- Others (GSM/CDMA): +91 98718 03333
- LIC Policy Details (Life Insurance Corporation)
- Call - 1251 or
- New Delhi 011 - 2332 9595
- Mumbai 022 -2612 5555
- Kolkata 033 - 23341765, 23211893/94/95
- Chennai 044 - 28602626/28602929
- Hyderabad 040 - 2329 7455
- Bangalore 080 - 2248 5210
- Pune 020 - 2553 6161
- Ahmedabad 079 - 2550 7777
- Yahoo! India Customer Care
- I am not sure if these numbers work, but give it a try & leave a comment!
- Bangalore : (080) 39805078
- Chennai : (044) 39119494
- Yahoo! US “Customer Service”: 1-866-562-7219 (for yahoo.com)
- Yahoo! Small Business/Store: 1-866-800-8092
- Other US Yahoo! numbers to try
- +1 866-850-4303
- +1 866-562-7228
- +1 408-349-1572
- +1 408-349-3300
- +1 408-329-5151
- +1 800-318-0631
If you feel some service is missing and would be useful to list, drop a comment.
Last Updated: 15-Jan-2008
Please note:
If you find the above information useful and would like to display the above information on your website/blog, I would appreciate a link back to this page with appropriate credit. Please give credit where credit is due, specially if you decide to copy/paste the contents!
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September 19th, 2005 at 11:51pm
Yesterday Google quitely updated Google Earth’s image resolution of quite a lot of cities. This update also included Mumbai (Bombay), Delhi, Hyderabad and Bangalore. Cool.
Seeing the images, it looks like these were taken around a year back!
Here is a mini-bangalore sightseeing using Google Earth! (You must have installed Google Earth on your machine to view these files)
I could also see the Infosys Campus in Electronics city!
You can download the full tour of places listed above here.
The same is the case with Mumbai. Now the Gateway of India is pretty clear. Mumbai looks great. Don’t miss the Marine drive area!
Enjoy!
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September 18th, 2005 at 12:43pm
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