More ebooks bought

Following my new found interest in e-books coupled with good "deals" on e-books, I have bought a host of "new technology" books. More on this later.

Shuffle db for iPod Shuffle

I never was impressed with the way iTunes used to handle the syncing of songs; that had led me to use "gtkpod" for uploading music to my Shuffle. Though I had discovered "shuffle_db" more than a year back, I never had the opportunity to use it. I got that opportunity today.

After uploading new music to my Shuffle, simply running the Python script did the trick. The script hardly took 5 seconds to run, and I wasn't sure whether the song database (the .db) file was updated or not. But, the log file created did a mention of the folders and the number of songs it had found. Sure enough, the iPod was updated and ready to go.

Apart from the ease by which one can easily add new songs,  there is the added advantage that the songs can be copied to any folder on the Shuffle. In any addition, the the songs itself need not be renamed (like the way iTunes or gtkpod does so automatically). That has the added advantage of being able to plug-in the Shuffle and locate songs in the folders.

The project, "shuffle_db", itself is pretty old, and it looks like a dead project on SourceForge - one reason might be that the Shuffle itself might hardly be the player that people buy today. Of  course, the other disadvantage is that the latest version of the script requires a Python installation, but that's hardly a problem on Linux (especially Debian-based systems such as Ubuntu).

A brand new PC, a brand new post

After years of pulling along with upgrades and "hardware patches" to my dear old assembled PC, I finally buckled to the pressure from folks at home, and bought a branded new HP Desktop Pavilion (HP Pavilion P6373IN). The new PC arrived today. This new post is being typed in from the new PC.

Though there were several features I did not want, I decided to still buy this one. For some reason, I felt it looked quite good. Here's a list of features that I might never use:

• TV Tuner card
• Audio with 7.1 support
• Built-in wireless networking
• A 720 GB hard-disk (always a pain to backup such a huge disk; also its better to have several external disks to minimize the risk of a single point of failure)

On the other hand, below are some of the features that I though might be useful:

• A 20"monitor (useful for my parents)
• Wireless keyboard / mouse
• A nice CPU (Intel Core i3) and RAM (4 GB) configuration (but I guess this is pretty standard config these days)

Next steps:

• Install Firefox, Linux, and other essentials
• Install programmer tools

Will post updates to this blog.

Discovering the joy of eBooks

Until recently, I used to prefer the printed books. That way, one could refer to them anywhere even where there would be no access to an electronic device. Probably this also had to do with the lack of widespread use of personal computers we grew up. The problem with printed books related to computer technology is that most of them become outdated very quickly. These also tend to take up a lot of storage space (a premium in Mumbai).

I had recently ordered a newly released book for which there was no Indian reprint. In it, I found that they (the publishers) had offered the buyer of the printed book, a free download of the electronic version (PDF) of the book. I found it to be quite handy, for I could start reading it anywhere I had access to a computer (work or at home) without needing to lug it around.

I also realized that publishers now actively encourage readers to buy the electronic versions of their books (of course, not all books are available in their e-versions yet). One reason is the "go-green" effect to save paper (forests / trees). I also found that I had another very good reason to buy these...one could get the newly released books immediately (no need to wait for it to be shipped - all one needs to do is to download them).

With these enticing reasons, I have just completed buying 3 e-books today. Not only are the costs lower, but also I have these books for reading immediately.

Vox AmPlug: my return to the guitar world

Just bought a Vox AmPlug AC30 from Furtados' (suburban outlet). With this handy battery-powered device, one just needs to plug it into an electric guitar, and plug any standard earphone jack into the device. That way, one can practice with very little setup without disturbing anyone else. Great for trying out all those weird training books without inviting any sarcastic remarks.

Felt like buying the DigiTech RP 90 guitar effects processor, but was way too expensive around Rs. 7K.

Back to blogging

The home PC had an Internet connection that kept getting slower over the years. This year it was so slow that I had to wait for eternity to even load the blogging website. The workplace anyways does not encourage blogging on public websites. I had to almost give up blogging. The final nail in the coffin was when the home PC hard-disk conked off. Of course, I have a laptop, but the connection was so damn slow that I had to give up blogging for a while.

Now, I am back online. I recently bought the Reliance NetConnect Broadband which has at least acceptable speeds from my home (the speed is location dependent). I also used the USB modem while I was in Goa in October. The speed wasn't Broadband levels, but at least I had connectivity.

Hopefully this will re-activate my online life.

Back from Goa

A vacation to Goa with the family was a good way to end the Diwali festival this year. There was precious little to do while in Goa. Temples, churches, and beaches are the best way to describe Goa. And since I've been to Goa many times earlier, these places no longer beckoned. Instead, a quiet vacation at the company's holiday home was planned. Of course, 5 full days of not doing anything would bore any city dweller because of the habit of leading a fast-paced life. So, almost each morning and evening there were visits to specific locations, returning within 3 hours back to the holiday home.

I had thought of trying out some of the activities at the H2O water sports center. Some of the activities that interested me were the under-water walk, the glass bottom boat ride, and the dolphin cruise. Unfortunately, it seemed that they had not yet received licenses to start operations after the rainy season (during which the activities are closed). Fortunately, there were other places where the dolphin cruise was on. And, although it was nothing compared to whale spotting near Boston in the icy climate, it was still one of the better things that we did in Goa.

Other activities included a visit to the local science center; this had the usual stuff like at Mumbai (some displays not in working condition), but it had also had a short 3D film screening on underwater creatures. The river cruise on the Mandovi was boring (partly because I had been on it during earlier visits).

Other disappointments included not getting to visit the Dudhsagar waterfalls and other wildlife sanctuaries around Goa, and not being able to travel the scenic Konkan Railway route by train (no tickets available).

Thinking of starting a new blog

I am thinking of starting a new blog for posting technical (IT) things...still to decide on the blog name. Hoping that it'll be useful to me to keep a record of things learnt. It might also hope someone or the other looking for information.

Keep looking.

"Bhavayami Gopala Balam"

Once in a blue moon there comes a musical piece that makes me listen to it over and over. And, so, after a very long time, I came across this gem on a double CD set by MS ("Live in Russia"). The piece, titled "Bhavayami Gopala Balam", is actually a composition by Annamacharya (as found out from the Internet).

I have never heard so slow a track, but the meaning of the lyrics, and the rendition by MS is enough for me to listen to the song again and again. Too bad, the iPod Shuffle does not have a "repeat track" feature.

A bit of spring cleaning

"Spring cleaning" is probably not the best way to describe it, but cleaning up the old hard-disks certainly felt like that. A computer, a laptop, 3 external hard-disks, 2 USB pen drives...it can get messy after a while. I began a massive "clean-up" session last Sunday that lasted well into the midnight. This involved merging files / directories from these multiple sources to a single place to make it more manageable. This was a long pending task from August 2008 (since the completion of my MTech). The task is not yet done. This will be continued today (Sunday) as well.

Another visit to Cafe Mysore

The visit to Sweden had made me crave for some Cafe Mysore idlis. So last Saturday, I hopped into Cafe Mysore for a mid-morning snack. Not that I was hungry, but I was passing it.

I was quite surprised to learn of the death of Nagesh Nayak, the second generation of A. Rama Nayak that runs the Cafe Mysore. From the newspaper clippings pasted on the wall, it seemed that he died around 7th March. This news article has more info about it. Though the article specifies that the children of Nagesh Nayak would take over the management of the restaurant, it is not clear to me it would still be the same. The idlis that I had were sure off the mark.

Train related pics from Sweden

Finally, I managed to get some pics of trains / sites in Sweden. Here they are:

Stockholm Centralen station	A long-distance SJ train passes over a high viaduct close to Södertälje Syd
An empty SL local train rake waits at Södertälje Centrum for departure to Gnesta	The 08:05 SL local arrives at Södertälje Centrum to take daily commuters to Märsta via Stockholm Centralen. Commuters unhurriedly board the SL local at Södertälje Centrum
A very sleek-looking SL local arrives from the Stockholm side to Södertälje Centrum	A close-up of the SL local

Good to be back in India...

Last week I returned to India after about 7 weeks of stay in freezing Sweden. Of course, over that period, one did tend to get used to the cold. I had made a mental list of food items to be eaten...all those that were missed during my stay in Sweden.

But it is so unusually hot in Mumbai that it feels like going from the deep freezer straight to the oven. But that is life...the grass always seems to be greener on the other side!

A good replacement for chappatis...

One common food problem outside India is to make or find suitable chappatis. Making it takes time and a lot of practice; getting it is difficult.

The usual way out is to buy soft tortillas. But these are white in color, and made from maida. They do not taste like chappatis, but its still a good start. I remember some enthusiastic days when these were deep fried, and called "bathuras" to be had with chhole.

Then, I remember my Boston days way back in 1996. I used to stay in a small town called Waltham. Every weekend I would travel down to Cambridge to an Indian shop that would sell semi-frozen chappatis. They did taste quite good, and relieved the monotony from rice and bread.

Getting it in the USA is not surprising, since there is such a large Indian population there. Getting this readymade chapati stuff in Sweden was beyond my imagination. So, I had begun to go back to the maida soft tortillas.

Then, came that amazing "discovery": whole-wheat tortillas. The Mexican answer to chappatis, I guess. These make an almost perfect replacement for chappatis. If one can forget the fact that they contain some preservatives (the ones with names like "E520"), then these are a very good option.

Here is a photograph from my apartment kitchen starring a packet of whole-wheat tortillas next to the standard aloo-cauliflower combination (without onions / garlic).

Mesmerized by "Kriti in Raga Mohanam"

About a decade ago, I had purchased some CDs from Moment Records. One of them is titled "Lalgudi Jayaraman Violin - Violin Trio". It features Lalgudi Jayaraman and his 2 siblings (the trio), Vellore Ramabhadran (Mrindangam), and Zakir Hussain (Tabla). The first piece is a whopping 56 minutes 44 seconds' track called "Kriti in Raga Mohanam".

This is one hell of a track. I've been simply amazed by the raga, the rendition, and the final conversation between tabla and mridangam. All involved are in amazing control of their instruments. The only problem I have is in skipping to particular sections within this big track (especially on the iPod shuffle).

The B.E.S.T. all-day travel ticket

Update 2011-03-20: Rs. 15 add-on to day travel ticket introduced: As of mid-March 2011, read a newspaper report that the B.E.S.T. has introduced an add-on ticket of Rs. 15 (that is valid with the Rs. 25 all-day ticket). This add-on allows the passenger to also travel on the fast-track corridor routes ("whose bus numbers start with alphabet C").

Update: As of August 2010, the Rs. 20 all-day suburban ticket is no longer available. It has been withdrawn. The all-day ticket is now a single ticket at Rs. 25 valid for travel throughout Mumbai (suburbs as well as city). Read the below post only to get the gist of the ticket scheme. The variants are no longer valid.

About 2 years ago, the B.E.S.T. introduced the all-day travel ticket. The use of this has, as is the BEST tradition, not been explained anywhere officially. Just a small newspaper note is all that was put out. But, those who know of this avail of it. From the conversations I hear in the buses, irregular users of this ticket seem to be confused about the rules and regulations concerning this. This post is for those who need this information.

Disclaimer: This is the unofficial version of the information. In case of doubt, always verify with the counductor / other authorities to make sure the ticket is valid on a certain route.

There are 3 basic variants (city, suburb, all zones) of this ticket. The actual price also depends on whether it is a holiday or not (prices are lower on a holiday; Sunday is regarded as a holiday aside from other state public holidays).
The ticket is valid for travel on any route (non-AC buses) any number of times on the day of the ticket upto 12 midnight in the zones as mentioned below:

1. Variant 1: City : Rs. 15 : South of Mahim / Sion
2. Variant 2: Suburb: Rs. 20 : North of Mahim / Sion, including beyond Dahisar / Vashi
3. Variant 3: All zone: Rs. 25 : Anywhere the BEST buses ply

It is available with all the conductors on all the regular routes.

The ticket layout is also different from the regular ticket. Instead of punching in the "stage number" of the bus stop that the passenger got in from, the conductor instead has to make 4 punches:
- Date (1 to 31), Month (1 to 12), Gender (Male or Female), Year (top-left: single digits were used until now: "8" for 2008, "9" for 2009, etc.)

The most important of these is the gender. While buying a ticket for a group, make sure to specify the gender correctly for the number of passengers in the group. Also, make sure that the center of the ticket specifies which kind of ticket it is (of course, it is in Marathi), and also the date / month punched.

The ticket has no personal identification. As a result, it can be given to acquaintances who might need it. This, I believe, is exploited to the fullest by the courier guys. One guy buys the Rs. 25 ticket in the morning. At the end of his shift, it is handed over to another guy who can use it until the end of the day.

Work, work, and more work...

Its a pity that work is taking away all the time. At the workplace, I have a lovely view of 2 railway lines passing a few kilometres away. One is used for the local Sotckholm (SL) traffic, whereas the other line, is on a high viaduct (remember Konkan railway?), and caters to the long distance traffic (SJ). Numerous trains pass around each day, including goods trains carrying ship containers. There are even double decker trains with a dull grey livery. Every now and then, a WAG7 like locomotive hauls some passenger trains. At other times, a WDS4-type shunter (similar to the ones at CLA and BA), is seen hauling a small goods train.

Its a pity that its been 4 weeks at the workplace, and I have not a picture of a train / loco to share. Hopefully, in the next few weeks...

Rawa, at last...

As mentioned in an earlier post, I was dying to get my hands on rawa.

Finally, after searching many English to Swedish online dictionaries, found out that rawa (semolina) is called "Mannagryn" in Swedish. Sounding it off to the Swedish guys at the workplace confirmed that it is indeed the same thing we were looking for, and that it is readily available at the local grocers'.



Yesterday, I finally found it lying on the shelves among the other "flour" items. Today's breakfast was thus "vegetable upma". And, it did seem to relieve the monotony of having bread for breakfast each morning.

The routine stuff...

Nothing new, except the routine stuff. I have now fairly settled down to a routine in Sweden, and counting the weeks for the return to India. As usual, the thing I miss the most is the food. However, with a good supply of masalas and spices from India, at least there is the good fortune of cooking several things Indian.

The usual disasters happened: In a non-English-speaking country, such things are bound to happen. It was difficult to know one thing from the other in the supermarkets / grocery stores. Luckily, we learn by experience...so the mistakes are not repeated. At this stage, it seems that the thing I need most is "besan" (gram flour), "rava" (semolina), and "sabudana". These things could have added more variety to the things one can prepare.

The very first mistake was in the choice of milk. It was not very clear what was milk, since in the milk section, most products included "mjölk" (pronounced, "myolk") in the name of the products. So, there was "Filmjölk", "Mellanmjölk", "Mjölk", etc. I chose "Filmjölk" by just a random guess. It turned out to be something else.

The next challenge was to get curds (also known as "yogurt" in some parts). Purchased something that was labelled an "yogurt", but turned out that it was not suitable for cooking. It wasn't the Indian curd that we are used to. It had a very thin texture, and felt very slimy like mucous.

The very recent mistake included buying 2 packets of something that looked like rawa. Since "vit" was included in the name, it somehow conveyed the feeling that it was something from wheat. Wrong choice. Turned out that "vitlök pulverized" is "garlic power". While I tried preparing "upma" from it, the result was a very salty thing that resembled upma, but tasted of nothing but strong garlic. No wonder it was kept in the spices section.

The best thing to do is probably to ask around, but not many locals would know what "gram flour" is, and while we did take advice from the locals about curds, it turned out to be not what we were used to in India.

A few weeks in Sweden...

I arrived to an extremely cold (-10 degrees C) welcome in Sweden on the 7th January. The plan is to be here for a few weeks. Lets see how things pass by...and if I get to visit the Krishna temple nearby (www.krishna.se).

Its always a bit of a pain arriving for a few weeks in a new place away from home. One of the most boring and tiresome part is the packing. One needs to consider ones needs and pack up everything that may be useful, and at the same time, worry about not exceeding the 20kg limit that most airlines have in flights from India to Europe. All this just means that one spends a lot of time deciding and packing things, and traveling "heavy", which I have started hating.

The first day in Sweden was so cold when we ventured out for some shopping of daily items in the local grocery supermart (Willy's). It was so cold while waiting for the buses, that my toes became numb from the snow. I was worried I may have suffered from frost-bite, though I do not know what it feels like when that happens. Luckily, it was nothing long-lasting. The next day saw me wearing 2 socks, but still it was quite cold. The same day, I purchased a shoe insole (a special one) to keep out the cold. The weather has since become a little better, but the insole probably helped too.

Will keep this blog updated from time to time, and with pics.