The trip to Alibaug February 23, 2009
Posted by anand in Travel.2 comments
We started off at about 8 in the morning from Andheri. Till about Uran the drive was decent, then somewhere I took a wrong turn and ended up in a townish village. When life gives you a lemon, make lemonade. So, we halted there for a grand breakfast of sandwich, tea and some thepla that we had got from home. On our way out I asked the restaurant owner for directions to Alibaug. He rattled off a go to naugadh shortcut … make a right blah blah blah … it’s a shortcut. The shortcut part stuck in my mind. We hit the road and literally took the path less traveled. Not only was it less traveled, it was also very bumpy. That might be the reason of it being less traveled :-) And no, it was not that big of a shortcut.
We finally reached Alibaug at noon. The one thing that struck me during the journey was the lack of a one-stop place with a food court, clean restrooms etc. There was just one called Food Max. They had a variety of food stalls – South Indian, Ice-cream, Chaat etc. I kept on wondering why hasn’t this model been replicated. Create a one-stop food court area with restrooms, gaming zone etc. Build one either near a gas station or right across from it. A guaranteed instant hit.
Anyways, back to Alibaug. All the beaches that we went to were clean. While we stayed right across from the Alibaug beach, the Versoli beach was the place were we had all the fun. You can literally drive right up to the beach. There is no commercial activity near the beach, except one guy who sells some sherbet/soda. It wasn’t crowded either. Perfect :-)
On our way back, we stopped over at Karnala hoping to spot a few birds. They allowed us to take the car with us into the sanctuary. While we didn’t spot any birds, we did see a few monkeys jumping around. The place was packed with people. Some kids were behaving worst than monkeys. A girl was howling, jumping and making funny faces at a monkey. The monkey looked bored. Shouldn’t the parents be asking their kids to behave. A few were playing cricket, one guy was kicking around a soccer. Hello! we are in a bird sanctuary. The birds be damned, let’s play cricket. Idiots.
On the way back, we just followed the directions to Mumbai. The overhead directions on the highway were good and were very helpful. The roads were mostly good, the drive very scenic.
I am looking forward to a return trip to Alibaug but without the exploration agenda. Just go there and chill.
Off to Alibaug February 21, 2009
Posted by anand in Travel.add a comment
Heading off to Alibaug in a short while for a much needed break. Unsurprisingly there is much info available on Alibaug on the net. Will try and publish a photo blog when I return back. Am taking my Canon S2 IS and a tripod. Used to do several road trips when I was in the US, but unfortunately couldn’t keep it up here when I moved back.
I am now adding this post under a new Category – Travel. Hopefully, I’ll have enough to write about in that section.
Roald Dahl February 8, 2009
Posted by anand in Books.add a comment
Started reading Roald Dahl on Deap’s recommendation. I borrowed his copy as well. Loved the Kiss Kiss series. The way the stories end in an unexpected way. It keeps you thinking for along time afterwards.
Who gives a shit? February 1, 2009
Posted by anand in General.1 comment so far
Several startups out there put up a fancy shmancy bio of their founders, sometimes along with pictures, on their first-version sites. Who gives a shit about who you are/were, what you were doing in your previous jobs, what your music preferences are or what you look like? While you were busy designing the about us page and thinking about the stuff you need to put in there, your competitors were adding features to their products.
Here is my unsolicited advice to you - Guys, please don’t waste your time. Don’t even spend one minute of your time thinking about that stuff. Focus on your product instead. Think of how you are going to make it better. Think of how you are going to outdo your competitors. What your gameplan is. If this is the first ever release, then focus on the quality and ease of use – why will people use my product? Will they get it?
But of course, once you are past the first-version stage and a few releases down, then feel free to put up whatever you want to put up there on the about us page. At burrp! we’ve chosen to use the about us page to attract talent that would be interested in working with us on cool, cutting edge products in a fun, fast paced environment. And in case you are wondering, we only put it up about 12 months after we first launched the site.
Saw Slumdog Millionaire January 18, 2009
Posted by anand in Movies.add a comment
Yeah, I just saw the movie everyone’s been talking about- Slumdog Millionaire. Oh, I just loved it. Damn good. Sound, Editing, Direction, Story and even acting. I just cannot believe the perspective the director had for the movie.
I loved the way the human emotions are captured in this movie. While I haven’t seen any other Danny Boyle movies, I now want to rent them over this weekend and watch ‘em all – specially Trainspotting.
A must watch! btw, check out the blah! article on the movie.
Online apps I cannot do without January 11, 2009
Posted by anand in Sites I like, Tech.1 comment so far
I was reading someone’s blog post listing the online apps that the author couldn’t do without. As I read the list, I mentally started making up my own list. Well, here is mine (in no particular order)-
- WordPress – Cool blogging platform. Let’s you write a blog post without too many distractions. Usage – once a week.
- Google Reader – My daily peek into 45 sources of information that I want to consume. I don’t read all my feeds, but a quick cursory glance is guaranteed. Usage – daily.
- Gmail – I started with a “free” Hotmail account waaay back in 1996. While I opened a Yahoo account too, it was never the one for me. I was a happy :-) Hotmail user until I setup my own mail server a few years ago. And then when Gmail launched, I switched over to it. Usage – keep it open whenever I am online. My Blackberry connects me to my email at other times.
- Google – We all know why. Usage – I use it so much, I guess they’ve put up a dedicated server just for me :-)
- Timesofindia – I loathe the site, but twice a day I goto there to do a quick 3 second scan and then close it. If any news is big enough, they’ll put it up in big font. So the 3 second scan does it for me. Usage – insignificant
- burrp!TV – I don’t watch TV, but on days when I want to catch a movie on TV, I goto burrp!TV. – Usage – twice a week
- ICICI Direct – Competes with the TOI for the most kachra (garbage) site ever. Usage – once a fortnight, just to make sure that none of my shares did a Satyam on me.
That’s all. While I might visit Facebook, LinkedIn, Amazon etc once in a while, I don’t use them on a daily or weekly basis. As you can see, there are NO indian sites that compel a once a day usage. Do you know of any?
Airtel DSL bill payment December 27, 2008
Posted by anand in General.4 comments
Since my Airtel DSL bill was overdue, I tried (yes, tried) to pay them.
First I went to one of those “official” Airtel stores, only to be told that they won’t accept DSL payments. They only do mobile stuff. But I could make the payment at an Airtel shop just half a block away. Went to that shop, only to be told that the Airtel billboard was just a sponsored signage and they don’t have anything to do with any Airtel.
Ok, let’s try setting the matter online.
Went thru the hoop of creating a login. Got the password sent via an SMS. Upon entering the username/password, I was asked to fill up a profile. Name, Age, Gender, Occupation, a predefined hint question, blood sample (just kidding)… about a dozen fields that seem totally irrelevant to the objective on hand. Next, I clicked on the DSL payment link. The site thought about it for about 20 seconds only to come back with a “We are unable to process your request. Please try later. Sorry for the inconvenience.”
So my attempts to pay the bill failed. Think about this for a second – They couldn’t accept my payment due to their non-functional site. When I went to their store, they didn’t know how to accept the payment. Beats me.
Maybe they just one of their pesky phone agents to suck my blood until I ask them to come over and collect the cheque.
Where to party this 31st December? December 17, 2008
Posted by anand in General, burrp!.add a comment
burrp! has setup a NYE microsite – http://mumbai.burrp.com/nye/ that lists several parties and also offers some tips on what to wear, where to go etc etc.
There is also a Facebook group for NYE 2009 -http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=51831587168
… and last but not the least, NYE party updates are now available via Twitter @ http://www.twitter.com/nyeindia/
btw, the Infomedia Cityguide (Mumbai edition) also contains a bunch of NYE parties in Mumbai as well as Goa. I think you can buy it at your local bookstore for Rs.30 only.
Stay happy and stay safe.
Patna Trip December 13, 2008
Posted by anand in General.1 comment so far
Just came back from Patna after attending a Avlesh’s marriage. The trip was a very short one. We boarded our flight to Patna at 8.30 am yesterday and returned this evening.
The Indian (or Air India or whatever they call them these days) planes that operate on the Mumbai – Delhi sector are the brand new ones with LCD screen at every seat. The food was excellent, the ride enjoyable and the service was good also.
While I had a very good time at the marriage, the real raison d’etre of writing this post is my visit to the Patna Zoo.
As luck would have it (to kill some time in Patna) we visited to the Zoo. It is one of the most expansive zoos that I’ve seen in India or abroad (I’ve been to the Seattle and the SF Zoos). While I have not seen too many zoos in India (I’ve been warned not to go to the Mumbai zoo) , I can easily say that the Patna Zoo is one of the best that is out there. They have a huge variety of animals and birds. Some of the animals that we saw in the zoo – monkeys, zebra, elephant, lions, tigers (saw a white tiger), giraffes, hippos, bears, black bucks (the one that got Salman Khan in trouble) and many more. The zoo has demarcated play areas for the kids and a mini train that takes you through the entire zoo. There is also a man made lake for boating and a surprisingly there is a golf course that is adjacent to the zoo. The flora, fauna and pathways are very well maintained. Overall the zoo far exceeded my expecations. If you are in Patna and have 3-4 hours to kill, I would recommend that you check out the zoo.
Goofy thought December 10, 2008
Posted by anand in Thought of the day.add a comment
What if Johnnie Walker made car horns, would their tag line then be – Keep Honking. Just a goofy thought I wanted to share. Keep Smiling.
