6.5k + Pageviews in a month ! Thank you all !

I was just looking at the analytics for this blog, and fell off my chair - I have 6.5k + pageviews in the month of March ! That is just awesome !

Thank you all for visiting my blog ! 

I am not sure why the spike ? The posts in march were not that many or that interesting.

The top post is - strangely enough - bugzilla installation post. It is not an original post - though I modified the post to be more readable and helped out in a few comments.

Also, looking at the top posts, it seems people are more interested in tech stuff.

OSama or OBama ?

Errors as reported by the media. Know more ? leave a link and I will include the pic !

NDTV

Fox40 News

2010 recap

The year went fast ! But then a lot of things also happened... just a minor recap in no particular order

Movies seen

• Avatar ( non 3D version)
• Dabang
• Ishquiya
• Udaan
• Shrek 4
• Percy Jackson and the Ligtning Thief
• The Social Network
• Tron

Bike Rides/Bikenomads

• Rode to Neemrana Fort. The only ride this year :(
• Had to cancel the BN calendars due to delays in the printing. Now 2011 calendars are on the way to being printed.
• Had to cancel the BN annual meet - again due to delays and low response. However 20XI meet is planned for Goa and seems to be getting good response.

Other Trips

• 2 trips to Dehradun, one in car. Love that place. 
• 2 trips to bangalore
• A trip to Singapore
• A trip to Santa Clara, went via the North Pole ;)

Gaming

• World of Warcraft : Cataclysm got released. I have a level 85 character now. My favorite game for many years now, and my wife's nemesis :)
• Started a Guild in World of Warcraft called 'Vinash'
• StarCraft 2 : completed the single player. Dont have any enthusiasm about the multiplayer part. 
• Batman : Arkham Asylum : Neat game. 
• Assasins Creed II : Classic game. Love jumping off the buildings. 
• Civilization V : The best civ game so far 
• Torchlight : an Indie game - the closest to Diablo you can get. Since Diablo seems to be delayed indefinitely, this is a good passtime.

Sports

• Football World Cup Yeah ! 
• Olympics
• And how can one forget the Vuvuzelas
• CWG gold rush in Delhi
• I dont follow cricket, so please do not ask anything for that.  ;)

Government/India

• Mostly can only remember the corrruption. 
• CWG scam
• Radia scam
• 2G spectrum scam
• Wikileaks 

Work/Tech

• Joined McAfee. Working with the WaveSecure team - the whole reason for me to join McAfee. This is phone software not AV software, so do not ask me any AV questions
• In One97 worked on an OutBound Dialer - which got shelved just as we got the 1st version running and stress tested on 1500 ports - tripple that of the previous best. Worked on PayTM a mobile payment initiative.
• Tried out ChromeOS from hexxeh's builds, booting off the USB drive
• Did a bit of prelimnary coding on Android. 
• Learning Django coding.
• My Configuring Bugzilla post was a hit this year. Lots of people were able to install Bugzilla and left their thanks in the comments field :)
• iPad got released this year. Waiting for iPad 2 before I buy it ! :D

 Hmm, now I look back - damn. Thats a lot of stuff for a year ! Lets see what 2011 has in store.

Speed of Infection

I was just going through the news of Swine Flue. 2 things struck me
1. how the hell did it go from the pig to the man ?
2. The tag of Pandemic given to it.

pt 2 set me thinking. A few centuries back this would not even be a point of fear. Some place halfway across the world has a flu outbreak. When Ashoka was an emperor in India, Mexico was not even on the world map. So that place has an outbreak, its contained in that village , probably a couple of more, and people die. The rest of the world does not even know that they existed.

Fast forward to the 20th century, and information is going around in newpaper print. People get to know that some people died in a far away land. Shrug, talk about how bad it was, and go about their world.

Enter the 'flight' age and then the 'information technology' age. People travel across the world at the drop of a hat. Information is now spreading through casual networks like facebook and twitter. People get to know of a happening even before it happens. ... err... read that as when it happens. No more waiting for DD news or the morning's paper. You get to know it in office... AajTak and other 'sansani' channels pick it up - usually with a video from youtube and have people who don't even know what they are talking about proclaim we are in danger. Add to it , people who are travelling, catch a virus and before the day is out bring it to another country , and it spreads out there.

Scary scenario.

Is it happening or is the media irresponsible in shouting that it is happening ?? How can the death of 150 people be labeled a pandemic ?

Why Indians have to be reborn !

The angel Gabriel came to the Lord and said 'I have to talk to you. We have some Indians up here in heaven and they are causing problems. They're swinging on the pearly gates, my horn is missing, they are wearing Dolce and Gabana saris instead of their white robes, they are riding Mercedes and BMW's instead of the chariots, and they're selling their halos to people for discounted prices. They refuse to keep the stairway to Heaven clear, since they keep c rouching down midway eating samosas and drinking chai (tea).. Some of them are even walking around with just one wing!' 

The Lord said, 'Indians are Indians. Heaven is home to all my children. If you want to know about real problems, give Satan a call.' 

Satan answered the phone, 'Hello? Damn, hold on a minute.' Satan returned to the phone, 'OK I'm back. What can I do for you?' 

Gabriel replied, 'I just wanted to know what kind of problems you're having down there.' 

Satan says, 'Hold on again. I need to check on something.' 

After about 5 minutes Satan returns to the phone and said, 'I'm back. Now what was the question?' 

Gabriel said, 'What kind of problems are you having down there?' 

Satan says, 'Man I don't believe this ... Hold on.'

This time Satan was gone at least 15 minutes. He returned and said, "I'm sorry Gabriel, I can't talk right now... These Indians  are trying to install air conditioning and making hell a comfortable place to live in by putting out the fire...fire is there to keep them uncomfortably hot!! Since they are so tech savvy, they were trying to start a telephone connection between heaven and hell...I am having such a hard time controlling and dealing with them!! Some were trying to start a chai - pakora shop, which I had to stop...I am requesting Lord to send them back on earth as soon as they arrive as re-birth".

Indians will be Indians... 

So this is the story why Indians are re-born!!!!!!!

iPhone on the mind...

Twouble with Twitters

Found this amusing clip about Twitter ! :D

What is Recession?

An amusing anecdote that came via email. Enzoy!

This story is about a man who once upon a time was selling Hotdogs by the roadside. He was illiterate, so he never read newspapers. He was hard of hearing, so he never listened to the radio. His eyes were weak, so he never watched television. But enthusiastically, he sold lots of hotdogs.

He was smart enough to offer some attractive schemes to increase his sales. His sales and profit went up. He ordered more a more raw material and buns and sold more. He recruited more supporting staff to serve more customers. He started offering home deliveries. Eventually he got himself a bigger and better stove. As his business was growing, the son, who had recently graduated from college, joined his father.

Then something strange happened.

The son asked, "Dad, aren't you aware of the great recession that is coming our way?" The father replied, "No, but tell me about it." The son said, "The international situation is terrible. The domestic situation is even worse. We should be prepared for the coming bad times."

The man thought that since his son had been to college, read the papers, listened to the radio and watched TV. He ought to know and his advice should not be taken lightly. So the next day onwards, the father cut down the his raw material order and buns, took down the colorful signboard, removed all the special schemes he was offering to the customers and was no longer as enthusiastic. He reduced his staff strength by giving layoffs. Very soon, fewer and fewer people bothered to stop at his Hotdog stand. And his sales started coming down rapidly and so did the profit. The father said to his son, "Son, you were right". "We are in the middle of a recession and crisis. I am glad you warned me ahead of time."

Moral of the Story: It's all in your MIND! And we actually FUEL this recession much more than we think.

Anil Kapoor Watch

Got this as a fwd from a friend who got it from another friend ! I had also been wondering what Anil Kapoor was doing... but not to this detail !

I may or may not have told some of you over the weekend about the Kapoor-watch that Anil and me have been doing over the last couple of weeks. He has been a major source of comedy and cringe-worthiness in equal measure through his appearances on American TV and clueless interviews. Yesterday was the crescendo, obviously. Here is a choice collection for you to enjoy.

A few excerpts from various articles!

• Steven Spielberg announced that Slumdog Millionaire had won Best Picture last night, did you happen to notice which hilarious Bollywood egotist was the first one to the stage? Of course it was serial podium rusher Anil Kapoor! Once Danny Boyle and producer Christian Colson arrived at the microphone, they had to motion for the film's cast members to follow them — but not Anil, because, somehow, incredibly, like a pompadoured bolt of lightning, faster than a poop-covered slumdog, he had already made it out of his seat and up the stairs. How did he do it? Did he bodysurf over the first ten rows? Had he just been hiding under the podium the entire night? - NY Mag
  

• Millionaire's eight-Oscar haul has got Anil Kapoor (pictured with Danny Boyle) , the Bollywood star who plays the movie's oleaginous quizmaster, thinking about an alternative career. Egged on by two of the biggest names in the business, Sir David Frost and US talkshow giant Larry King, the 50-year old actor says he's considering taking up full-time TV presenting."I've been encouraged by Larry King and David Frost," he told the Independent. "Both said my television presenting skills were second-to-none. When such icons of the form give you a compliment like that you simply cannot ignore it. David said I could go on to be one of the great television hosts of our time so it is something I'm seriously looking into." He adds. "Perhaps I could front my own show here. I'll rule nothing out."

• Anil adds that more than him, it was a proud moment for all Indians. "Today, I wasn't thinking about myself or from my point of view. It was like an Indian award and I was thinking of India winning – not me. It was an Indian moment. I could see Indian faces around me. I wasn't floating on air, India was!"

• It's time to stop the petty bickering and small-minded behavior amongst us in the film industry. There are only a few films like Ben Hur and Gone With The Wind which can come on the same level as Slumdog. Slumdog is the triumph of the human spirit against all odds. Everyone, all over the world, loved the film. We all got a standing ovation from the entire audience at the Oscars. It was one of India's proudest moment of glory."

• "I felt so proud when I came out and was greeted by my old friends Goldie Hawn and Will Smith who came to congratulate the Slumdog team and me. They both were like "apna bachcha jeet gaya". Rahman, Danny, we are all together. I was so thrilled!"

• And what is it in your case?

I feel it is the role. It's an integral part of the story. And it's a very performance oriented role. It has lots of layers. And critics from The Washington Post, NY Times, London Times and others have singled me out for a mention. I don't think people have ever seen an actor play a host. A lot of people asked Danny (Boyle) if I was the host of the show back home.

• How has your family reacted to the success of slumdog?

  My family teases me about it. They keep telling me, 'Control, control.' They rag me and say, 'Stop giving all the these interviews now. Enough!' My wife says, 'You are coming out of everybody's ears. For heaven's sake, stop! Wherever you go, London, US, LA, you're just doing interviews.' I tell her, 'What can I do? Rahman is impossible to get. Toh ghoom phir ke main hi aa jaata hoon." Maybe I should also try to play hard-to-get now. But I like to be myself. And I have been told the foreign press appreciates that I am myself. When I am happy and excited, I show it. More than the success of Slumdog, they are thrilled with how I behave and how I speak.

• Slumdog resurrected you literally...

  Maybe the exposure, and opportunities, are more now. Maybe a thousand more people know me. But, yes, it’s a nice feeling when people in the aircraft and airport come up and shake hands. After Barack Obama’s win, there’s a strong ‘loving underdog’ sentiment sweeping the world. And Slumdog is also about the win of the underdog.

• Have you decided which Oscar you will go up to collect?

  At the Golden Globes, the Screen Actors Guild Awards, we had to follow a protocol. The cast was asked to go onstage. I being the seniormost amongst the actors, held fort and spoke. This time, too, we will follow protocol. I don’t know the situation yet. Whatever role is given to me, I will take.

• At the Screen Actors Guild Awards you touched Anthony Hopkins’s feet onstage and got introduced to Angelina Jolie through Irrfan Khan. How did they react?

  Sir Anthony, I later thought, must have got the scare of his life! He didn’t understand why I suddenly bent down to touch his feet. He must have thought I would pull his leg! I explained the ritual to him later and he smiled. Angelina was sweet.

And from earlier on this season,

• “Kapore” strides out in a suit and light-colored tie like he’s got tickets to the gun show…and by that I mean that he’s doing the “I am victorious!”-arm-thing. He immediately growls something like, “Hey!” and proceeds to grope Regis via a bear hug which lifts Reeg off the ground. Let me type that again: Anil Kapoor has just bear-hugged Regis, whose feet are dangling in the air. Wait! It gets better! Kapoor is now spinning him around, as his co-host, Kelly Ripa, cackles gleefully and claps like a seal. Regis, who is shaken, then grabs Kelly, growls at her and spins HER around, and by doing so imitates Kapoor while reclaiming some of his threatened manhood. Or something. Kapoor is delighted at what he done started. Regis turns back to shake Kapoor’s hand and Kelly steps up to air-kiss him on both cheeks. They settle in to the most awkward-looking chairs/stools on daytime television.“OH BOY!”, Regis exclaims. Kelly points out that Regis is going to “suffer tomorrow, just so you know” for his foolish act of hugging and spinning-bravado.

• Regis compliments AK about Slumdog, “you played it so beautifully”. Anil returns the favor by smarmily telling Reeg that Reeg reminds him of someone…ah, yes. Dean Martin. Regis is concomitantly flabbergasted and as giddy as Kelly, who immediately asks, “Aneeel, who told you to say that to him!” AK then says “Ve Indians never lie!” They cut to a clip from the movie. Anil claps for himself enthusiastically, but at least he doesn’t clap like a seal. Kelly tells AK that Reeg saw the movie before she did and later told her that it was the best movie he had EVER seen. Yowza. They discuss how he’s having the time of his life on awards shows and how he’s the toast of hollywood; when asked where he had dinner this weekend, AK exults, “Dustin Hoffman’s house!! What a host! WHAT! A! HOST!”

• "Slumdog Millionaire" star Anil Kapoor exits his New York hotel and does his best to please every paparazzo with a picture. Followed by his own, personal videographer, Anil stopped for the New York photographers before climbing into a town car for a trip to his next meeting. Unfortunately, the Bollywood superstar climbed into the wrong vehicle and had to make an embarrassing exit! - http://www.thenewsroom.com/details/3627118

What Sena ?

Recently there has been an explosion of groups in India with either 'Sena' or 'Ram' or both in their name.

And I think they are a disgrace to the legend that was Rama.

Well, what do we know about Lord Rama ? The first thing that comes to mind, and the first thing that we are taught as kids is 'Dharma', which means the virtuous path. Another thing about Rama that comes to the forefront was how he followed the path of non-violence, unless in self-defense or the defense of the others. He also corssed the length of the country to wage war on Ravana, but even there , he had sent out a peace treaty first.

From wikipedia :

Rama is always shown with a bow (called Kodanda) on his shoulder. As per Valmiki Ramayana, Sita once enquired as to why her Lord, Rama always carried a bow with him. Sita was upset with Rama's promise to sages that he offer protection while they performed their sacrificial rituals and therefore petitioned Rama that 'We are in the forest and we should live life of sages so why wield this weapon?'. Sita then narrated a story about an ancient sage who became violent simply by having a weapon in his possession (in this case a sword). Rama smiled and promised to Sita that he would never attack anybody unless the other person provokes him to do so, a promise that he kept throughout his life. In fact he had always given two chances to his enemies Tataka, Maarich, Vali and even Ravana. He even offered a peace treaty to Ravana before starting the war. Angada took his peace message to Ravana which was declined.

Persecution of women was not his passtime.

The only place in Indian Mythology that I remember reading about anything against women is the vastraharan of Draupadi by the Kauravs. I think that todays political parties who indulge in such passtimes should be named Kaurav Sena.

One of the usual refrains that these people have is that they are the custodians of Indian Culture. What a hoot ! Which culture are they talking about ? A few hundred years back when India was under colonial rule and the culture was about sati, child sacrifices etc ? Or more years back when India was under the rule of the Emperors Shah Jahan and created the Wonder that is Taj. Or even a few years back under the rule of Akbar when the grand trunk road was made ? Or earlier depictions on the walls of temples of India with nude and semi-nude people ?

If they are so worried about culture and going back in time, about the negative influence of "western culture", then why do they use the inventions from the west ? Dear xyz sena, do not use the inventions from the west. Here are a few.

• All the people in the video are wearing jeans/trousers and T-shirts. Go and wear traditional indian dresses. Why don't you do that ? Don't you know Jeans, Tshirts are from the west ?
• Don't use electricity at home. Yup, thats also from the west. No louspeakers, TV, radio as they were invented in the west and use electricity.
  
• Don't use a phone or a mobile phone. Oh boy , how can you do that ? thats also from the west.
  
• Don't use cars, motorcycles etc. These are also from the west.
  
• Don't use posters as they are printed with technology from the west.
  
• Don't use any allopathic medicine as they are also invented in the west.
  
• Don't use computers.
  
• Oh ! dont use the internet also. I mean that's also from the west.
  

There's been a lot of outrage, but the government seems to be totally lacking in decision making, or maybe they are taking decisions, as this is the election season, to not do anything.

The high handedness from these self proclaimed culture custodians has resulted in some people taking up innovating ideas. I came across this totally novel concept of Pink Chaddis !

• Join the Pink Chaddi Campaign
• Facebook group : Pink Chaddi

At some level, this all hurts me. This is not the India I grew up with. This is not the India that I read about in books when I was young. This India is a place where we are afraid, not only about cross-border terrorists, but also about terrorists who don the garb of the culture police.

iPhone BrainMap

Work of an idle mind.

2009 Wish List

First and foremost ! Welcome to the new year ! If you are from hyderabad, you will be especially excited about the new year as it ends in 9 - and Hyderabadis just love that number ! 

What were your resolutions for the year ? Great ! And now you have broken most of them ;) Ha Ha Ha ! Thats the way they are supposed to work ! 

Anyways, my post is not about resolutions. Its about a wishlist from this year. In no particular order ... 

I wish 

• iPhone would become cheaper in India. Then i can pick up a 16GB one for 20k INR. Sweet. who cares if it does not have FM. That brings me to the next point.
• FM channels which dish out only hindi songs should have the presenters speaking in Hindi. I just don't get it - they talk a lot in Marathi and then play a hindi song. Sounds out of sync. If you are talking in marathi please play Marathi songs. If you want to play Hindi songs, speak in Hindi. Its like you are listening to a Rock channel and the presenter starts talking in Hindi about Creed or something ! 
• Chandni Chowk to China lives up to my expectations. I care shit about critics. Its easy to be a critic. You will get a full gamut of them in your office. 
• The police does something to combat terrorism and make the common man's life easy, instead of treating all common people like suspects. 
• Also I just don't get it. After each bomb scare the Traffic Police gets all pompous about PUC and NOC checks ! I wish they first learn to do their jobs and take traffic policing seriously, and be able to get better road sense into people. 
• People should become more helpful. Currently people just dont care. Yeah. someone will leave a comment that look at how helpful mumbaikars were after the blasts. My wish is different. I wish people were helpful without having blasts to wake them up. 
• I wish the MotoGP season rocks. I don't get turned on by the F1 cars, but the MotoGP is something I greatly like. Motorcycles in my blood you know. Which brings me to
• the Indian motorcycle companies should launch some bikes in the 250cc segment. Currently we have low end bikes - think splendors, pulsars, or , very high end bikes - the R1, etc. I want something in the 2L bracket boasting a VTwin engine. 
• I wish the roads become better to run the above bikes on. :) . Also if the Traffic Police do their jobs, and get people to drive sanely, and not walk on the roads, it would be a pleasure to ride/drive your machine.
• But people will walk on the roads. There are no footpaths . I wish that the municipal officers actually start thinking that unlike them in their govt cars, people do go about their day to day activities on foot or public transport. Heres a toast to footpaths and metro system in each city of India. 
• I wish we get a good leadership. Dr. M looks like a sweet man, but he is highly ineffectual. Does he ever talk ? Or is it Madamji doing all the talk ? I with for Rahul Gandhi to create his own party and getting younger and like minded people with him. Why are we ruled by people so old that if they were in a govt job they would be retired by now ?
• I wish for politicians to get superannuated . Nobody above 60yrs should be allowed to run for a post. 
• I wish India become an economic superpower ! Ha ! If we are good in economy we don't have to worry about the world suffering economic crisis
• I wish some great new game comes up which tears me away from World of Warcraft. Well, Diablo3 is slated to be out this year. Hoping for this one ;)
• I wish BN becomes the best place for bikers in the world. But with the current website it has, not going to happen. Do you know anyone who can sponser my pay so i can sit and code ;)
• I wish for some great movies from Bollywood which are hatke , like RockOn. 
• I wish for a mild summer. I don't want to get scorched. Anyone know if that would create problems with crops ? 
• I wish PMC does something about water problem. This region gets lots of rainfall, and yet we get water cuts and powercuts. 
• I wish people in India realize that being 1+ billion people is not an achievement to be proud of , but to be wary of. We have a limited set of resources. 
• I wish people stop living in the glory of the past, and start creating today's glory. Be a hero day should come into effect ! 

phew ! Ran out of breath. Whats your wish list ? :D

Happy Holidays !

This year, in office we have a year end break. Woowee ! unfortunately, it does not extend to the year end but only for the week of Christmas. Oh well. Whatever ! 

Happy Holidays ! 

Expressions with Flags

The forward comes as :

A Norwegian diplomat Charung Gollar was asked to present the UN with a graphical representation highlighting the main problems faced by the world in 2004.

He presented a set of 8 pictures entitled "The power of stars" and was applauded for the simplicity of his idea. In spite of having no pretension at all, his work was presented to participate for the Nobel Price of Political Marketing.

 Unfortunately, a search on the web, cause i wanted to link to wikipedia or some such thing throwed up that Charung Gollar does not exist ! Well, whoever made these flags - brilliant work ! 

Angola

Brazil

Burkina Faso

China

Columbia

Europe

Somalia

USA

Twit Twit Twitter !

I am on twitter now ! If you are also, add me, follow me ! :)

http://twitter.com/vibhurishi

I've also added a twitter badge on the right side here on the blog. Clicking it will lead you to my twitter page.

Impersonation

Hi folks,

Someone is impersonating as me, on gmail.

If you get an email from the id : rishi.vibhu@gmail.com - rest assured that it is not from me. notice the switch in surname and first name.

If someone knows how to file a case against impersonation, please let me know. The criminal should be brought to the book.

First Rains

Originally uploaded by vibhu

After a few blistering days, it started to rain in Pune. The weather is lovely, but the roads are a nightmare. This shot taken from the office window overlooking baner road.

Deprecating Asset

This is just awesome !

Broken Internet

Last week saw some frustrations in the office with the internet going for a toss. Initially I thought it was something wrong with our network, and just a week before I had raised the issue of the net being slow. However, by evening info trickled in about the fibre cut near egypt. The news channels picked up the info, but then quietly went silent with India losing miserably to Australia.

Today, digging up a bit found out an article on what happened, along with a fabulous map of the wired connections across the globe.

What happened to TV?

This new year was spent at home. I was thinking, that TV should have some good programs on. How wrong I was. There was nothing interesting on TV.

What happened to TV ? I remember earlier years, where the whole recap of the year was given on the last day of the year. But this time, all we got to see were old movies which have come umpteen times, and people drunk and tripping (can't call _that_ dancing).

Does anyone know of a site which has the year in recap ?