Category: India

Bombay Blasts

The recent bomb blasts in Bombay deserve to be condemned by all and sundry. It was only a matter of time that the terrorists strike again after NY, Spain, and London. What was surprising was that India was the target this time around given that India has been relatively lying low on Iraq, Afghanistan and other issues. So it was a little surprising that India was the target this time around.

In any case, a few post-blast developments deserve to be mentioned.

  • The Govt. Of India has been cautious. They have not come out and blamed their neighbors. At least not yet.
  • LeT and some of the other groups have condemned the attack and said that they were not responsible for them. (I can’t recall where I read this!)

Both of these are positive developments no doubt. One can only hope that there is no retaliation of any sort for these attacks. Such moves by anyone or any group can only worsen an already bad situation. Retaliation of any sort will only perpetuate the cycle of violence.

Setback for India

India has been riding a wave of positive news in global media: outsourcing, economic boom, jobs, nuclear deal with the US etc. The failed satellite launch closely following the missile test failure is quite a serious set back for an emerging economic power. Wonder what caused these failures after years of successful similar efforts? Will this re-set India’s planned trip to the moon? Remains to be seen.

Cities and Rudeness

Check out this article that raves about how kind the people of Chennai are. It also refers to a survey that found that Mumbai is the rudest city in the world.

Having spent many years in Chennai in the past I can quite believe the stories about how kind the people of Chennai are. In fact, I have heard similar stories from others about the city!

The biggest complaint about Chennai from non-Chennai-ites are firstly the unbearable heat in summer and secondly the language problems (if you ignore the perrenial water shortage). “If you can’t speak Tamil you are in trouble” seems to be the common complaint. Not sure how it is these days. My personal view is that Chennai is a lot more cosmopolitan than it was in the past. But can you get by easily in the city without knowing Tamil? Will the autorickshaw guy take you for a spin around the city (when the shortest route to your destination is just a couple of Kms away!) even if he understands that you are an outsider with no knowledge of Tamil?

VoIP: Taking the Plunge!

Internet phone services have been around for a while now. But taking the plunge to make the change from conventional phone service to Internet based phone was not an easy one. The biggest concern was the reliability of the Internet connect. What happens if the Internet connect goes down? The mobile phone is certainly an option if this happens.

There are several excellent features offered by Internet phone services, but the most valuable one is easily the ability to keep your number unchanged even if you change your address (in my case, this was the clincher). Voice mail messages delivered via email is feature that we have found to be very useful as well among other features.

On the downside there are 911 call issues. In other words, the Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) doesn’t automatically know your details when you make a 911 call unlike a conventional phone line. Depending on your physical address this might not be an issue for some Internet phone service providers because of the Enhanced 911 (E911) services.

Vonage is a well known provider of Internet phone service. They had a recent IPO. Packet8 is another option. However, I chose Lingo since they offer unlimited calling to Western Europe in addition to US and Canada. With Skype offering free calls in the US, these services are soon going to get a run for their money.

Bollywood embraces hi-tech

If you have been watching Bollywood films over the years you might have observed the rapid advances in the overall quality of film making. While the conventional song and dance is very much in vogue, the various aspects of film making like photography, lighting, special effects etc have improved by leaps and bounds (e.g., Black, Yuva (most Mani Ratnam films). I guess this trend is going to continue. Check out this report about some technology adoption by Bollywood studios.