Mobiles again!!!

Time again to chose a mobile...I bought one last year and it turned out to be a very bad choice.

I basically didn't have the money for a good, brand new phone, so thought of buying a Chinese mobile at National Market. Couple of people at office have bought them and the mobiles have turned out pretty good. (They claim it to be fine!!). Then one day, my dad gave a check with a 5 digit amount in it and said that I should buy myself a nice mobile.

Now with the with the first hurdle crossed, I started my research on mobiles. From basic models to smart phones - researched everything!! Finally thought of picking up an android mobile. But again a great Android phone costs >25K, and my budget is <20K. I was almost on the verge of buying a HTC Tattoo but backed out at the last minute. Thank God for it...Its supposed to be a bad phone.

Finally after doing some more Googling, I decided on the HTC Wildfire. Most of the reviews have given the phone a 4/5 rating. The only downside I read about the Wildfire is its display. Its a LCD screen instead of the latest craze AMOLED screen. But it does have all the other smart phone features and falls in my budget. Its supposed to be launched in India sometime in July. Waiting for it.

Where are you from?

Is one of the most used conversation openers. (after the usual ‘I’m so n so’.) When I’m asked this question I usually answer Bangalore. But when I’m in the mood for some fun (at the other person’s cost) I give an elaborate explanation of my family’s origins. I say something like -

“I’m a half Kannadiga, half Maharastrian. My dad is from Belgaum, mom is from Aurangabad. I was born in Aurangabad, raised in Bangalore. My husband is a Kannadiga Tamilian from Bombay. His family is a Kannadiga family that had settled in Unjuloor, a village in Tamil Nadu. But he was born and brought-up in Bombay.”

This might not be an elaborate explanation, but to a person who expected a mono syllable answer, its a little too much. Sometimes the joke has been on me – the other person has a much longer tale to tell. All in all its great fun.

I changed the template again :)

Sometimes I get bitten by this bug called 'Get a new look for your blog' and I go hunting in internet (or rather google) for new templates, add-ons, widgets, etc. For the templates I recommend Deluxe Templates. The author is a Blogger fan and converts all the Wordpress templates to Blogger. The last 3 templates that I have used are from him.

For the widgets and add-ons - I haven't yet found a single site that is like a one-stop-shop.

For the past few days have been immersed in work. Also have been scouting for a venue for Utsaah and Dhamaka. We have just a little more than 2 months left and venue isn't yet decided.

Slowly descending…

Its been 3 days since I returned from TTC. All this time I am just reliving the moments of TTC. It was difficult for me to get back into the office mode. It was difficult to accept the fact that I need to sit in front of a monitor for 8 hours in a day when there is so much work (seva) to be done. I was wondering if I should quit and become full time. Thoughts like ‘Why should I work?’, ‘Why do I need a family?’, etc kept popping in and out. But each time something like this would happen, Guruji’s words (not verbatim) that ‘Each one has a role to play’ kept coming back to me. And gradually the TTC hangover is wearing off!! Today I could put in some useful work in office. I need to pull up socks here – the project is starting in full swing and I’m the least equipped person.

Meantime, I managed to collect a couple of amazing songs that I heard in TTC. Naiharawa and Saiyyan were easy (got from Kailash Kher’s albums). You fill up my senses (TTC1), Tu Maane Ya Na Maane Dildara, Shaboon Ke Jungle Mein and Duma Dum Mast Kalandar were a little difficult. I had to extract the mp3 from the video. I am still looking for Tumse O Jori and Shivoham (both my TTC1 favorites). Need to update my iPod with all this.

ScribeFire vs Live Writer

A couple of days ago, after reading an article, I took a fancy for blog writers. I have been googling for sometime and finally settled 2 writers - Windows Live Writer and ScribeFire.
The post 'Airtel Gimmick' was published using the Live Writer and the post 'Family Pattern' was posted using ScribeFire.

At first look I liked the Live Writer. (One of the few Microsoft products I liked.) It is truly a WYSIWYG editor. It displays your blog theme which makes writing a little more exciting (for me). But Writer creates a nested folder structure on the system and creates a copy of the posts. For a simple blogger like me, I find this unnecessary. (Rather I basically trust Blogger to maintain the posts.)

I didn't like the first look of ScribeFire. It changed the font of the post after a few sentences and I had to go into the html code to edit it. Also the line spacing is not changeable. Or rather, I couldn't find a way to change it. The biggest advantage of ScribeFire is that it is an addon for Firefox. Unlike Writer there is no need to download and install. Also it doesn't store any data on the system.

There are many more editors which are reviewed and described here. Finally, I would vouch for ScribeFire mainly because its an addon.

And yes, this post was written using the good ol' blogger editor.

A Family Pattern

Looking back at my maternal family tree, I observed a pattern there - which me and my sister have unknowingly broken.My great grandmother was a Maharastrian married to a Kannadiga. She then got her daughter (my grandmother) married back into a Maharastrian family. My grandmother got my mother married back into a Kannadiga family. So, to keep the pattern alive, either Arati or me must have married into a Maharastrian family. Arati married back into a Kannada family (Vikas speaks pretty decent Marathi but that doesn't qualify him to be a Maharastrian) and I am married into a Tamil Nadu settled Kannada family.

Archie Marries??

Like almost all teenagers in the world, I too grew up reading the Archie Comics. Today, I was in for a shock - Archie marries Veronica!!! I'm a big fan of Betty and wanted Archie to marry her. I like the Indian version of the story - Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. Archie marries Veronica, Veronica dies, then he marries Betty. But you can expect that only in a Bollywood movie!!

The sollace is the word 'propose'. Anything can happen between proposal and wedding. Also if you read the last paragraph in the post in their offical blog, there is a possibility of a twist in the tale. And also the cover is only for the first part of a series of six. Keeping my fingers crossed!!