Google knol

Google too wanted to celebrate my birth day and hence released Google knol (a unit of knowledge). It struck me immediately as I was looking for similar tool to make my GateGenie book public. Well, GateGenie is a book for Computer Science GATE preparation. As I am growing old, I am finding it difficult to keep the book updated and hence wanted a platform where I can upload the book and then the users can comment/update which I can moderate. WIKIBOOK was one of the options but then I loose the control and no revenue once I make it public.

It is one page knowledge that one can share with others. You are the author of the page. You can invite collaborator/reviewers etc. There are three levels of licenses (open, non-commercial, copyright) and three levels of collaborations (open, restricted, closed). In the restricted mode of collaboration registered uses can suggest changes to be approved by the author which is a very useful way. You can also earn using google adsense. Adsense was one of the feature I was looking for and I got peacefully. In addition it also has Name Verification option which if done will put a seal against the knol/author. This way the reader will be sure of the identity of the author.

As its recently released, only few articles, mostly in medical science are available as beta release. But I guess with Google's aggressive way, the tool is going to rock. In all, a cool too if it satisfies your requirements. In my case, it is perfect.

Village, Thane

I had been to Village, Eternity Mall, Teen Haath Naka, Thane for my V3.0 treat with close ones. We were welcomed with a stamp (like a pub) and Tilak. I was happy to see a true village like environment along with a good variety of food. I had walked about 2KM due to unavailability of the auto rickshaw, so was ready have blast at all the food items around.

The ambiance was excellent. All people over there were in Rajasthani clothing. The water is served in small glasses which are typical in tea-stalls in villages. Even the welcome drink, Chaas and sugarcane juice was served in similar small glasses. That set up the perfect mood for all of us. We jumped in for starters, Aalu (अळु)chi Wadi, पकोडे. They were good and then for a change, we shifted our gear to desserts and had Keshar Milk, Gulab Jamun, and Moong ka Halwa.Desserts were far below expectations :( .





As I was celebrating my B'day, the cake cutting was with LIVE song. After all cutting/eating, we also danced on few LIVE numbers and that was really refreshing. That enhanced our enthusiasm and we were all waiting for the grand food items. There were Punjabi, Marwadi, Gujrati stalls along with routine Chaat, Fruits, Desserts ,etc. All this with the live songs sung by village artists, Puppet show, Astrologer and the Tarot Reader.

We started with all favorite Dal-Baati but that crossed our all expectations downward and we just could not have it. Next we went for Gujrati food but again nothing up to the mark. Even Kaju-Karela had Kishmish in it which completely made it taste horrible. Some sweetness in between ruined my Karela dish. The other items were also not at all up to the mark. Gujrati Khichadi and Kadhi were so so and we had to be happy with that only. To end our food journey, we had ICE gola and kulfi.

In all, the ambiance is very good but food is not at all up to the mark. Its a good place to spend time in a big group of 10+ people but if you are looking for good food, there are lot many other options

Ratings:
Ambiance: *****
Service: ****
Food : *
Value for Money: **

Start Investing NOW

Thanks to Amey, I started investing monthly in Mutual Funds since last August. I wanted to do that since long but was procrastinating it for long, almost 2 years. I invested about 20K in one year which thanks to inflation is worth little less than that.




My advise to all those who have just entered into their PhD life and also to others, start investing NOW. With increased stipend, save at least 20% of the stipend. Ask some one if you are not aware of investment methods. In simple case, if you avoid investing, at the end of 5 years, you will have nothing with you. Now, suppose you start investing say 3K per month, i.e. 36K per annum, you will save 1,80,000/- in 5 years and if you book a profit of 20%, which is quite common, you will earn about 85,000, which adds up to 2,60,000/-. So, if a new PhD student starts investing right from day one, he can save up to 2,60,000/- by the time he passes out.

You may claim that you don't have any money to invest, don't worry, that will be the case even if you invest or don't. Had I not started investing last year, I am sure I would have just smoked that money some where in shopping or eating out.

So, what you waiting for? Start Investing NOW :)