Traveling to India? It may make you think twice and for female travelers it can be a cause of greater concern with a recent documentary on India's daughter causing enough controversy and raising fresh apprehension for tourists visiting our country.
Traveling to any part of the globe is never risk free and Indian subcontinent is no exception to this, however when you travel across different states there is more to discover and most of the times it comes as a surprise to tourist's.
It is always safe to travel with a local guide who knows the cultural and lingual landscape of the place & here is an interesting travelogue of a tourist couple to ease your doubt's to enjoy this diverse destination and have a safe journey.
An interesting read on GNOME study that aims to defy few myths around the science of DNA - Some scientists claim that new discoveries have proved free will is an illusion. Nonsense, says Julian Baggini, read more here
Sound pollution in cities across the world has become an unbearable menace, in India it has become a way of life for motorists like us who rarely give a thought while transferring their emotions on to the horn in their vehicle.
Over a period of time this habit becomes compulsive and irritates other drivers on road and sometimes results in unnecessary brawls during peak traffic conditions, to counter this situation a startup firm in India has come up with an innovative solution.
A device with a light which beeps and flashes every time you honk making you turn it off and reminding you of your honking habits, slowly making you conscious on how frequently you have being using your vehicle horn.
In the video that follows below this start up team has claimed to reduce superfluous honking by 61% in a test conducted with 30 drivers. Creators of this device, Anand Damani and Mayur Tekchandaney are looking out for support in order to get this concept accepted by car manufacturers and hopefully this should see light of the day in the coming years, even if companies may turn a blind eye towards this concept it may well become a necessity on car dashboards in future.
We all love to relive and cherish favorite moments from the past, memories also have emotions attached to it which go on to create some unforgettable stories to share for the rest of our lives, I stumbled upon an interesting website last weekend which aims to become a platform for sharing such memories and that too of our Indian subcontinent.
I find this as a really interesting initiative which helps in sharing some less known facts of our own past probably lying unnoticed in some dusty photo album, memoirs of our parents, grandparents etc. In this age of digital overdose finding handwritten letters feels so great, we have grown up reading biopics and references to famous leaders and personalities in our history however individual stories and experiences across culture, religion, caste creed etc. have the power to transport us back in time.
Check this website Indian Memory Project and also a video presentation from their YouTube channel which would surely strike an emotional chord, just in case you have some interesting stuff to share from your Family Archive, photos, letters (Pre 1991 period) you can share your submission on this site to be reviewed and published.
My Chevrolet Beat LT has touched a running
distance of 31,500 Km. and no better time than this to put my thoughts around
how enjoyable the overall ownership experience has being over the past 2 years and 8 months.
Choosing Chevrolet Beat petrol over Ford Figo
was not an easy decision when I planned to upgrade from Maruti Alto VXI. I also had Swift and Ritz on this list
however multiple instances of bad experience in getting my Alto serviced with
Kothari Wheels had steered me away from Maruti already.
At the time when I purchased Beat,
Pashankar Auto sales was the only dealer for Chevrolet in Pune, Shreyans Talera
motors had closed down their dealership with the company during that period so
I was lucky to get the car without much waiting period.
Okay leaving behind these retro thoughts
and getting down to how my car is performing!
Ride quality: Ride quality has improved
significantly post car running crossed 15,000 Km. after the first oil change
was done; I avoid revving car engine beyond 2000 RPM unless I have to overtake
on road for a short distance in city on 2nd gear. I had a habit of
racing my Alto on 2nd gear which was one of the changes I had to
adapt while driving Beat; service center staff had done an ECU remap to the
engine for improving 2nd gear handling performance.
Beat’s suspension handles body roll well
with minor bumps or bad patches if you are driving at normal speed, slowing
down on very bad road increases body roll for the passengers seated in the
front section.
I noticed this low power feel on 2nd
gear helped in heavy traffic conditions and prevented the car from knocking or
stalling when moving slowly, it allows you enough time to decide if it’s right
to move into 3rd gear which in turn reduces the frequent gear
changing issue. Gear shifting while in traffic is not difficult however it
still feels stiff sometimes.
I never had to do wheel balancing with Beat
even once in past 2.5 years, compared to 3-4 instances of wheel balancing I had
with Alto. Service staff at Pashankar Auto and Singh Motors both advised me
never to go for unnecessary wheel balancing unless you find your car shifting
in one direction, no hassles with suspension or ground clearance until now.
Highway driving has being the most pleasant
experience with Beat; I have taken my car to few long road trips beyond Pune,
have observed minimal drag with heavy luggage and full passenger load while
driving through ghats with A/C on else it
runs smoothly. One has to be mindful while taking turns on highway as small
tyres on Petrol Beat are not very stable at high speed. Good NVH has still being
maintained in the cabin and I can comfortably touch a speed of 140-150 Km/h
while on highway without feeling the engine being cranked hard or any other
kind of car body vibration in the front section.
Interior/Exteriors: Plastic quality used by GM for Beat’s
interior proves its superior quality because I have not seen it getting dull in
any area of the car namely around door exits, the main car dashboard, storage
areas provided or the doors, I had opted for a 3M package at the time of
purchase which gave me car under body coating to prevent rusting with 5 year
warranty and 3 free body coating services.
I do not have a covered parking for my car
and there were times in last 2 years when car washing was almost halted for few
months in our society due to water problems in Pune, otherwise alternate day
car wash with cleaning of the interiors every 15-20 days has helped me maintain
the car in good condition. Beat gives
you a big car feel and not a typical hatchback look common to i10, Wagon R,
Spark etc. even though it falls under the same segment.
Fuel Economy: During the initial 2 years I
got fuel economy between 12-14 Km while driving in the city and 17-18 Km on
highways, this has now improved to 15 km/l average in the city and 18-19 km/l on
highway during past 6 months. I noticed increasing tyre pressure to 34 PSI has
helped me to improve fuel economy and also the engine does not feel sore while
revving above 3500 RPM after the car crossed 25,000 Km. mark. This is
definitely not a racing machine even with its bold looks and a sporty
tachometer so never drove Beat that way, it performs very well as a city car
and comfortable during long highway drives for my family of 3.
After Sales Service:
Beyond the initial hiccups with Pashankar
Auto after buying Beat, I have being impressed by their service a lot and
happened to try Singh Motors which is close to the vicinity I stay in Pune, as
dealers both of them have met my expectations and exceeded some. I have being regularly reminded about my car
servicing by both dealers, used to get calls asking about the performance of
the car, being informed and invited to service camps.
There was an instance when my petrol tank
latch had got damaged and I had requested Singh motor’s to order it for me,
when I took the car for this latch replacement they informed me replacement was
not required as the latch was stuck inside and they fitted it again, this latch
costed just Rs 125, they could have replaced it without even informing me.
it’s
not just this but even with Pashankar auto a service engineer informed me about
front viper wear out problem during one of the servicing visit, I asked him to
get it replaced on which he suggested to do it after summer season as the
rubber tends to wear out again a little under high temperature in summer ,
these are instances which instil confidence in you regarding the dealer and
this was not the case with Kothari Wheels (Maruti). They just blindly used to
do everything I ever asked for during servicing and put it on the bill and sometimes
even suggest additional expenses which raised doubt in my mind if it was
actually required?
Chevrolet dealers in
Pune do not have a clean record though overall, as I have read various threads across forums of
Chevrolet car owners not always happy with the way they have experienced after
sales service with these vendors, however I have being fortunate enough that my
experience with Chevrolet after sales service has grown stronger commanding a
respect for the overall brand. I wish Chevrolet soon has one stable winner on
hands to strengthen their position in Indian car market, as a brand it would
stand to gain better loyalty and good second sale value for their vehicles.
Some Pro’s about the car:
Still stands out in terms of design in the
hatchback car category, easy to maneuver in the city, only Hyundai EON has
brought in fresh design in the small car segment.
It easily touches 60 km/h mark while
driving in the city under 10 seconds and races to 100 km/h between 14-15
seconds.
Rear seat legroom is very good and it’s not
exactly “claustrophobic “sitting behind as this word appeared in most Chevy
Beat reviews.
Have incurred low maintenance and running
cost compared to Alto LXI, A plastic front bumper replacement costed me more in
Alto as compared to a fiber material bumper replacement in Beat.
Under seat storage tray besides the driver
seat which was stopped along with rear parcel tray in LT model, comes handy.
Some cons with the car:
170 Ltr boot is enough for small trips,
60:40 rear seat adjustments also helps in stuffing additional luggage in case
there are no rear seat passengers accompanying on the drive, sometimes this
boot space falls low when you have more than 3 big luggage items to carry,
fitting in smaller bags is still possible above the large ones maybe additional
2-3 and that’s it.
Small boot section also posed a challenge
for me while going for slightly larger speaker replacement in the rear section,
I got stock one's replaced with Illusion speakers which costed me around 9K.
Hydraulic steering feels little outdated in
an era where most hatchback cars have moved to electronic power steering.
Lack of good thigh support on the front
seat for driver and co-passenger could have made long road trips less
stressful.
Storage cups below the main dashboard could
have being slightly wider.
Adjustment to wide ‘A’ pillar does require
some time for the driver to adapt and tends to obstruct peripheral view in high
traffic conditions/rainy season.
Sharing some bill screenshots of 2nd
major servicing done after 30,000 Km running with majority oil changes done,
belt replacements, filter changes etc.
***Aug 22 2015 - Update***
I have crossed 55,000 Km on the odometer between last month and now, also decided to bid my Chevrolet Beat a final adieu as it is time for moving up the chain to another upgrade.It has been a positive experience overall, as a product I rate this car as an efficient city hatchback, however I had no plans to retain this car beyond five years.
During my usage between 30,000 km - 55,000 km I observed that the engine had got more refined and it was able to rev freely without grunting out over 3000 RPM band, I feel Chevrolet could not capitalize on the success of this car to strengthen their brand value in the market, even as I took a risk of looking away from then popular Maruti-Hyundai duo in 2010 and ICOTY award winner Ford Figo (2011) I am parting ways with my Beat and Chevrolet Brand on a positive note.
This time I am shifting from a petrol vehicle to a oil burner purely due to increased distance of commute to my work place, changing times and with many feature rich cars launched this year resisting the upgrade temptation was just too difficult.
My road trips to the coastal belt of Maharashtra have started connecting on the map with dots starting downwards from Mumbai with Beaches like Kihim - Alibaug - Akshi - Kashid - Murud (Near Janjira Fort) - Diveagar - Srivardhan – Harihareshwar, two more which got added on recent trip are Murud and Palande beach.
I was planning to visit Bhandardara during long weekend and public holidays of Holi - Good Friday, unfortunately I missed out on the booking schedule for the resort planned and I stumbled on to Nisarga Sahavas resort on Trip Advisor while searching for alternative destination & hotels. This change of plan worked for us and we really had a good time exploring the coastal town of Dapoli and nearby beaches.
We followed (1) Tamhini Ghat – Mangaon route, alternative route available is via (2) Mahabaleshwar – Wai – Bhor - Varandha – Khed also would help you reach Dapoli, the second one is slightly extended one but good to drive.
Started from Pune on 28th Mar in the afternoon at 2:30 pm towards Chandni Chowk road heading towards Pirangut - Mulshi, encountered traffic in the city and managed to drive through Tamhini ghat by around 4:30 pm and took a break for evening tea and breakfast at Orchard Resort (Gold Valley) right after the Tamhini Ghat ends. It was already 5:00 pm and we were yet to touch Mangaon. Few bad patches of road in the ghats did slow us down. A small stretch of almost 4-5 Km road ahead of Orchard resort towards MIDC area is very good to drive, Moving forward from Nizampur we reached Mangaon.
From Mangaon keep driving straight on a patch of 10 km Mumbai - Goa road which is in very good condition, and then you can take a turn right near Lonere Bus Stand going towards the first village ahead which is Goregaon - Purar - Mhasala - Ambet - Mhapral - Kumbharli - Chinchali - Shenale - Dhutroli OR you can continue ahead of Lonere instead of taking a turn right towards Goregaon village and once you reach Mahad you can take a turn towards Latwan village road which also connects to Dapoli
While on SH 70, we luckily took a diversion at SH 100 instead of following Mandangad Route shown on Google Navigation as it was already dark and we double checked with a local before taking this route. This is a narrow 2 lane road, however in very good condition to drive, seems to be recently constructed.
On SH 100 go straight driving past Kumbale Village - Palgad and a right turn connecting SH 96 at Kumbharvadi - Pisai - Kherdi and then Dapoli, from here at Ambedkar Chowk take a right and again a left at short distance from Kalaskar Chowk towards SH 96 and at Jalgaon Village take a right turn inside a dusty road up to 3 Km which would lead you straight to Nisarga Sahavas Resort. We reached at 8:30 pm and were literally exhausted. Currently this resort has 7 rooms in total, we booked an A/C Bamboo Cottage which is very hygienic and clean, though surrounded by dense tree cover all around, no mosquitoes or any other bugs troubled us during the stay.
Nisarga Sahavas initially started as a nursery plantation 35 years ago and spread over 10 acre promoting Agri Tourism. After keeping our luggage in the room we headed straight towards dining area which has a nicely constructed walkway to a tent based structure. I had a chance to look at various awards and accolades Amrute family has won in Ratnagiri for promoting Agri Tourism and supporting tribal population in the nearby area with work related opportunities from their farm based occupation.
Starry sky looked very clear from the verandah of our room, for a difference no television works best when you are away from the hustle bustle of city to be close with the nature. An angry crow banging on to the window outside woke us up in the morning (No alarm needed), this crow is a regular visitor here and keeps fighting with his image he sees on the reflective glass on window pane outside, a thought came to my mind a lot of us keep doing that in our lives even without a reflection.
Having tea in morning and evening on the verandah leaves you with a feeling of bliss, strong breeze blowing across and hearing birds chirping all around, it really could not get better than this. Room service is prompt. You can order breakfast in your room as well.
There are some activities at the resort to try like Burma Rope, Obstacle task, Archery, Rifle Shooting, Net climbing etc. paying extra charges. They also organize bird trail visit, Tribal dance show, Bullock cart ride and Barbeque on request. Nisarga Sahavas has lot of plantation variety in their backyard with ample Cashew, Chickoo, Jackfruit, Mango and various other trees. We spotted an entire herd of Gray Langur’s moving through trees behind our cottage; luckily I was able to take good pictures of them as they played close to the activity area which had lot of interesting stuff for them.
Mr. Ashish Amrute who currently overlooks the management of this resort with his staff won us over with their warm hospitality. Our kid found company to keep himself engaged with his son Advait. The food is really awesome and being home made it tastes more sumptuous. When you are in Konkan you cannot miss having Solkadi, Apart from Rice, Daal and Chapati we had variety in food like Moong Usal, Valachi Usal, Kothimbir Wadi, Ukadiche Modak and a special gravy dish made out of kaju seed which is plucked while cashew is raw.
We decided to pay visit at Kadyavarche Ganpati temple next day which is 30
Km away from the resort, driving down a pleasant ghat ahead of Dapoli, touching
road leading to Palande beach which fulfilled one of my dreams to drive along a
coastal road adjoining the sea, the entire view was magnificent
which enhanced further the moment we started an uphill climb to a
newly constructed bypass road leading to the temple, Shady and long coconut
trees, short and narrow lanes winding through small villages, the picturesque
view all along was very refreshing.
While returning from the temple we halted at Palande beach which has few
spots where you can take your vehicle on to the beach directly. It was past
noon and the sand had really heated up so we did not have any chance to
relax on the rock bed nearby or the beach, spent some time in the water and
moved ahead on way to Dapoli. We saw some ad boards on SH 96 road retailing
cashews at factory price; travelling 7 Km ahead from our road to resort just
before the ghat begins for Umbarli village there is a cashew processing factory
by the name Samartha Cashew. You can buy flavored cashews like Chocolate,
Litchi, Chili Masala, Schezwan, Black Pepper etc. from them and also avail a free
tour of their facility with a staff member who explains the entire cashew
processing system.
Next day we left for Murud beach which was also very clean and well
maintained. Hopped on to a boat for Dolphin show and spotted two of them
slightly away from the shore line, my kid was really excited watching dolphins
on his first boat journey in the sea, back on the beach you can drive ATV bike,
go paragliding, ride banana boats, high speed water bikes, camel ride and many
others to choose from. We left from the beach by afternoon and headed back to
resort as my kid was down with little fever that day and wanted to go back to
the resort. We decided to skip tour of Suvarnadurg fort and Amrute’s nursery walk around in
the evening to relax and let our kid rest before leaving for Pune next morning.
I did not expect a wonderful resort like Nisarga Sahavas to be present
amidst a forest in a village area. Hats off to Mr. Ashish Amrute and their
staff for maintaining such a lovely place, I wish they continue upkeep of this resort
the way they are doing currently and improve it further in terms of overall
infrastructure of the premise. Mr. Amrute quotes on promotional material for
Nisarga Sahavas as “Hospitality is a way of Life" and it proves to be true
which is really great and something that a guest would always cherish post
their visit.I am willing to skip any beach facing resort for Nisarga Sahavas to stay and
visit tourist attractions nearby which I have missed during my current trip.
After having breakfast next morning, Little Advait gave a parting gift to my
son which was a sketchbook of flowers and visiting birds at Dapoli, We hardly
got a feeling of leaving a resort but surely departing from a home away from
home. Starting at 11 am, we took the route towards Mandangad fort on our return
which is not very good but motorable and safe to drive during daytime, it also has
lot of small ghats with great view all along. I surely have honed my ghat
driving skill on this trip.
My Chevrolet Beat (Petrol) pulled with ease across all the ghats as I had
never taken it for a frequent uphill drive before anywhere, hardly had to switch
off A/C while driving up across ghats, unless the climb was very steep. It
handled rough roads well and did not cause much body roll, except for slowing
down on specific patches in Tamhini ghat which are really bad and demand
cautious driving.
It was Rangpanchami on Easter Sunday and lot of villages were celebrating
Holi again. Few miscreants at2-3
villages on the route to Mandangad were trying to stop cars passing by to
collect paltry cash in the name of Rangpanchami celebrations, however we
sneaked past them without stopping just to get my car soaked in few colors of
Holi it had remained safe from during the actual day when color play happens.
Passing from Mangaon and Nizampur we took a lunch break at Orchard Resort
again which was very crowded with visitors returning to Pune from their long
weekend trips, from here we went driving slowly across Tamhini ghat up to
Mulshi taking pictures on the way and reached home by 6 pm closing on to our
memorable vacation. March was just the right time to take this trip as view of
mountains and farms across the way were beautiful, with foothills still
surrounded by green cover before it vanishes completely after the summer sets
in, even Mulshi river has enough water right now to provide a great landscape
view.
Dapoli serves as a multipurpose destination to places around which are
easily accessible and if you like clean and less crowded beaches, places of
religious interest and prefer to have safe travel with family, Dapoli would
definitely not disappoint you and I surely recommend visitors to stay at
Nisarga Sahavas for a unique lodging experience you would treasure in your
travel memoirs.
Montage clip of the trip below and Image gallery link on Flickr
Yes, If you think the above title makes very little sense, very soon it may prove to be true. Did you ever wish that all your online rants on garbage, potholes, pollution of all kinds on popular social media platforms could reach the concerned authorities with a hope to see some positive action being taken against it?
Now is your chance to do something useful as an arm chair activist by being a part of SocialCops initiative, in which you can be a part of Citizen group along with NGO, Council and Corporate groups. This service is slated for a pilot launch in May starting with New Delhi. It is quiet commendable for a team of 3 NTU final year students from Singapore as a start-up aiming to launch such service, while they are currently busy developing the council side platform before going live they already have plans of taking this concept global.
If you are thinking how commercially viable this service could be? well that's being thought out as well to permit local small businesses to advertise on this platform and also offer perks and rewards, for citizens contributing to this initiative they could be rewarded in the form of discounts or promotions. The second option is garnering sponsorship from large brands and retailers who would be willing to participate as part of corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs.
This team already has a Facebook page up and running to test actual working of this model and most probably they would be using SMS service as a backbone for their venture to maximize participation from citizens in reporting civic issues around them, all this has being made possible after this start-up won Global ICT Prize and a $10,000 check from Microsoft at Global Social Entrepreneurship competition.
Let's hope this collaborative effort works at ground level for everyone and if such platform helps all of us to make even a small but significant change around us it would be a great success. Share your comments and feedback if you feel such public-private and government effort can help solve most of our civic issues.
Check the videos below to understand this concept in detail.
Coca-Cola has launched a marketing campaign called "ATM of Happiness" which provides free 100 Euros from a money vending machine with a condition to help out other's in need, and they also made a video feature of this campaign where people who withdrew money from this ATM carried out tasks they were assigned to complete while collecting cash, watch this interesting video below, read more about this here
If one billion rising campaign caught your attention towards collective protest across the globe for violence against women, this documentary feature should inspire you further to take a look at the lives of 9 girls from different countries who held on to their hopes and overcome obstacles to enable change by breaking barriers which bound them.
All those stories have being penned by writers from the country where these girls belong have also featured in this documentary, this initiative has found support from Intel Corporation and CNN. It has voice over narration from Hollywood A-List actors like Meryl Streep, Liam Neeson, Anne Hathaway, Salma Hayek, Cate Blanchett along with Indian actors like Priyanka Chopra and Freida Pinto.
Watch the video below and head over to 10 x 10 website which gives you more detail about this project and is also accepting donation for supporting girl education programs via different charity organisations across various countries.
This movie is currently being screened on demand at theatres, hope it makes it screens in India via some film festival at least.
Pune's mall frenzy has reached a state where it could cost dear to retailers and real estate companies pumping money in setting up these swanky places which are turning into more of a recreational place to hang out, rather than actually promoting actual sales for shops leasing places at an expensive price.
Consider eastern belt of the city and you can note the actual distance at which these malls are located defies any commercial logic. These malls are located near Yerwada - Kalyani Nagar - Koregaon Park - Viman Nagar.
1) Ishanya Mall - Pulse Mall (2.5 km)
2) Pulse Mall - Phoenix Market City (1.9 km)
3) Phoenix Market City - Inorbit Mall (700 mts)
4) Jewel Square Mall - Koregaon Park Plaza (3.1 Kms)
5) Koregaon Park Plaza - Mariplex Mall (1.5 Kms)
Few years back Mariplex Mall was the only mall in this area and the rate at which malls have swelled goes to prove retailers and real estate companies would have sensed a potential for business which is not the case as per a recent Assocham report Pune's 42% mall space is still vacant.
Vendors like Croma electronics, Reliance book and digital store outlet, Spencer have closed shops and moved between these places maybe as a part of consolidation strategy, with so many options nearby it's eventually causing consumer fragmentation and malls purely survive on hypermarket, dining or pub outlets and multiplex presence with no significant value add for the consumers beyond these categories. In fact there are many well established restaurants in most areas of the city which do not require a mall presence.
Many of these malls have got on to social media platforms to attract visitors by organising weekend event's and contests etc. Apart from Phoenix Market City and Inorbit mall I doubt other malls are actually succeeding in retaining vendors or attracting shopper volumes, In fact Pulse mall is probably on the verge of closing shutters.
Some concentration of malls at M.G Road is still a better deal because as a location it offer's proximity to the local shopping outlets which are already existing along with the malls. What Pune also lacks is a shopper's paradise like Manish market, Heera Panna in Mumbai, Nehru Palace, Palika Bazaar in Delhi etc. Maybe traditional spots in Peth area and Laxmi road bazaar could evolve in future to be such shopping destination for Pune.
For now I think mall mania should pause for some time to see how retail market develops in Pune.
If you had being following a series aired on Star World by the name Person of Interest, you would be in a better position to relate to the plot of this upcoming game from Ubisoft - Watch Dogs, another Open World Stealth game which has got me interested, it's trailer caught my attention on YouTube recently.
The much touted AI system rumoured to be the roving eye for the government to keep a watch on it's citizen is in the heart of this game, a concept in gaming never tried before. I can anticipate it would turn out to be a key element in driving the plot within the game and slow motion action stuff combined with stealth and skill also seems to be included in the game.
I have being already awed by Far Cry 3 graphics this year, if you take a look at the game play trailer, there's a similar effort visible in capturing very detailed and natural ambient lights around the character, rain effect looks rich and pretty realistic, I already have few game titles on my wishlist for 2013 like Crysis 3, Army of Two 3, Splinter Cell Blacklist and now this one looks a promising contender too.
Check out the blackout trailer for this game
Visit the official site for this game to check out the demo showcased during E3 2012 event
The good old Umbrella has evolved over time from a plain black piece of cloth that has help us keep dry (at least some part of us) during rains, it could now witness a next step of evolution with a concept design by designers Je Sung Park and Woo Jung Kwon call the Air umbrella.
This concept design aims to create a cover of air blown through a simple plastic stick keeping rain drops at bay, what remains to be seen is how it can work in real life as the intensity of rain needs to be gauged to match it with equal force of air blown through the stick.
There are lot of relationship based counselling sites and forums sharing tips on questions posted by love birds who are looking out for some advice on how to handle their dating/marriage etc. Here's a site which is a Q&A service on dating questions.
A seasoned "Bro" would share his view on a text or SMS conversation screenshot posted by girls indicating if "he is into you" "he's not into you or "the verdict is still out", like this one below.
Love is lot complicated and even more while a couple is going through the dating phase, it may not be the exact way of assessing a guy's feelings for a girl, but any advice for a doubtful mind is helpful enough.
Gangnam parody videos have being flooding YouTube ever since the original song released, this song has got flash mobs and different versions being made across various countries, the latest one "Punjabi" style has a very catchy and desi feel to it. Check out few other videos as well which make good alternate versions of this song and some funny kid videos as well
1) Punjabi Style
2) Oppa Indian Style
3) London based Indian artist's version of Gangnam
4) Another Bangla Parody
5) A kid who needs to hear Gangnam style song to eat
6) A bunch of kids going with freestyle dancing on the song
7) Toddler animation dancing to the song
8) The best of all versions I liked is this cute little kid, just watch him
If social media gives you a privacy scare every now and then, here's another news that has surfaced about a Bulgarian blogger who purchased a data leak of 1.1 million facebook users for just $5, which consists of facebook user profile URL, their complete names and facebook emails.
On the surface it does not look like much of a sensitive data leak, however the price at which has got sold is what should be the worrying factor, possible impact of such data being leaked is listed below:
Send more convincing phishing emails, using the Facebook user’s profile URL, first and last name, and login email, to obtain more information.
Use a password cracker to discover the user’s Facebook password to accompany the login email, allowing them to hack the account and discover more information.
Use the name and login email together to reconstruct the user’s actual identity.
The person who sold all the information was reportedly collecting information via Facebook and Twitter apps from the past 6 months, comprised of details of users from US, UK, Canada and Europe. Facebook has already begun investigating this incident and has mentioned that it stands committed in its efforts to safeguard user data and would continue to investigate this individual who tried scraping user data.
Back home in India, during this years Durga pooja in a town of Suri from West Bengal a facebook user spotted a pandal made with a Facebook page design, if you take a close look at the image it looks to be a very detailed and creative representation (Original article source and image credit: http://lighthouseinsights.in)
Navrati just got over and there is no better way to start preparing for Diwali by starting off another round of festive season on this occasion of Vijaya Dashmi, here's wishing you all and your families a Very Happy Dusshera celebrating our spirit of never giving up to the problems that we deal in our daily life, let the fragrance of joy and victory spread like the flowers of Marigold that would be a part of all the decorations across millions of homes in our country today.
The journey of good waging battle against evil has passed on across ages, this fight was never limited to battlefield grounds, from the reflection of our society today in an arrogant government, faceless opposition, corruption, terrorism, rape, molestation, female fetal killings and much more that surrounds us with all the noise, hue and cry, it reminds us there is always a battle going on somewhere, with a hope that someday we would get over with this struggle.
Here's an interesting case study which is related to a campaign that Google ran based on Ramayana for the Asia launch of Google Chrome,partnering with Fantasy Interactive Inc. and OgilvyOne Singapore, project titled as "The Story of Ramayana" brought to life by Google Chrome.
It is a website with interactive content developed with HTML5 and CSS that promotes Google products with character illustration inspired out of Indian, Thailand and Indonesia culture where Ramayana folklore is very popular amongst the masses. Google also got an an impressive TVC campaign for promoting Chrome in India on Tanjore paintings theme. Guess mythology and cultural history still relates very strongly to us which is good for the wired and always connected generation.
Leaving you with a animation video feature on Dussehra by SK Media
I had read about some device which got showcased at Tokyo Game Show about brain kiss, as if human race is facing shortage real kisses now comes a Like-A-Hug, a wearable social media jacket. Every time someone likes your Facebook post, photo, video or status this vest inflates like a life jacket.
Companies into marketing are actively toying the idea of interactive/digital clothing and this could be just the right start in this direction, Imagine you returning home wearing this jacket with a big grin on your face thinking, "Oh man I was SO swelling with Joy the entire day!"
A social media PR agent reporting how many time's he/she counted jacket inflating throughout the day for a Facebook company/product page, and well it does not just stop here it also has gesture response to being de friended, poked or followed. read more about this here
