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: **
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 :)
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 :)
Life is a template
My discussion with Ayush started with the context that I met my fourth close friend who had his first child within first year of marriage. All the four are financially well off but I could not figure what made them take this step of getting into parenthood so fast. In my personal opinion, the newly wed couple should spend some time together to understand each other and then plan to extend the family. In all these cases, technically speaking, there was hardly any time spent with that awareness of knowing each other.
So, the discussion went in the direction that why should they wait any further if they can financially afford to have a child. A very valid point but then what is the hurry to have a child so soon?
So if we look at life of a typical person right from the birth, it will more or less follow a template: You are born. You start schooling at the age of three, study in primary school, middle school, high school, slog for SSC and then HSC, enter into engineering/medical college, do lukkhagiri for most of the time, study during the exam period, crack the exams, land up with a good job in the placements, join the company, get married. Once financial stability is achieved, get into parenthood, get involved in the up bringing of your child, make sure the child gets good schooling, completes his degree, and gets married, become grandparent... The story continues and finally one fine day you die.
Have you noticed, for most of the people this is a typical case. One thing logically leads to another. There is no deviation from this template of life. The moment one things is complete, the next logical step is taken. There is no thought process while taking the next step. It just happens. So once the education is over, the next logical step is to join the job. After a some time in job, the next logical step is to get married, and further have children. So, there is hardly any thought process that is needed. Just live the life like a template and follow it. The life will be simple to live. Nothing much to take decision about. You are happy, your parents happy, and all others are also happy.
A careful understanding of this concept answered my question in the first para. It just follows :). Now if we look at the life of people who are doing some thing different in their life, we will see that they are forced to take decisions at every step in their life. One step does not lead to the next local step and that makes their life full of decisions as well as uncertainty. Sometimes they might be labeled as poor decision makers as some of their decisions are proved to be wrong but that is because they have taken that step to go out of the template and create their own life pattern. Like doing some thing is better than doing nothing, taking a wrong decision is better than taking no decision. And the highly successful people will mostly fall in this category who defy the template.
So, next time you take a decision in life, be aware if that is a standard template decision or a non-template one.
(This post is the outcome of my discussion with Ayush Choure. The theme is mainly developed by him during our discussion.)
So, the discussion went in the direction that why should they wait any further if they can financially afford to have a child. A very valid point but then what is the hurry to have a child so soon?
So if we look at life of a typical person right from the birth, it will more or less follow a template: You are born. You start schooling at the age of three, study in primary school, middle school, high school, slog for SSC and then HSC, enter into engineering/medical college, do lukkhagiri for most of the time, study during the exam period, crack the exams, land up with a good job in the placements, join the company, get married. Once financial stability is achieved, get into parenthood, get involved in the up bringing of your child, make sure the child gets good schooling, completes his degree, and gets married, become grandparent... The story continues and finally one fine day you die.
Have you noticed, for most of the people this is a typical case. One thing logically leads to another. There is no deviation from this template of life. The moment one things is complete, the next logical step is taken. There is no thought process while taking the next step. It just happens. So once the education is over, the next logical step is to join the job. After a some time in job, the next logical step is to get married, and further have children. So, there is hardly any thought process that is needed. Just live the life like a template and follow it. The life will be simple to live. Nothing much to take decision about. You are happy, your parents happy, and all others are also happy.
A careful understanding of this concept answered my question in the first para. It just follows :). Now if we look at the life of people who are doing some thing different in their life, we will see that they are forced to take decisions at every step in their life. One step does not lead to the next local step and that makes their life full of decisions as well as uncertainty. Sometimes they might be labeled as poor decision makers as some of their decisions are proved to be wrong but that is because they have taken that step to go out of the template and create their own life pattern. Like doing some thing is better than doing nothing, taking a wrong decision is better than taking no decision. And the highly successful people will mostly fall in this category who defy the template.
So, next time you take a decision in life, be aware if that is a standard template decision or a non-template one.
(This post is the outcome of my discussion with Ayush Choure. The theme is mainly developed by him during our discussion.)
मराठी बाणा (Marathi Bana)
Got a chance to watch मराठी बाणा (Marathi Baana), a cultural orchestra by Mr. Ashok Hande of Chaurang group. It was one of the best live performances I have ever seen. Every thing seems to be perfect in terms of production, lights, execution. A team of around 125 people perform with sheer perfection and coordination. Its a fast track show and always keeps you interested in the show.
The singing and dancing performances are excelling. No margin of error . Very enthusiastic. The performers are not doing for the sake of doing it. Every one puts his/her 100% and feels like they are part of that moment and this gives an altogether different smile on the face of the audience.
The show covers how Marathi people celebrated festivals/functions like Diwali, New Years (Gudhi Padawa), Dahi Handi, Marriage etc. The drunk man (बेवडा ) in the marriage is excellent. The way he is handled during the marriage is amazing. Those who have seen how the drunk people behave and are handled especially in villages during such functions, can appreciate it ( I have see it ;) ). Also, if there are 50 performers on the stage, each one will have his/her role at every instance and you need to watch all of them. Every detail is taken care of. And thats what makes it an excellent performance.
The show covers most of the cultural aspects of Marathi junta. The history and geography is well covered. But I feel they have missed out on the cultural aspects of entire Maharashtra. Its mostly Mumbai-Pune-Konkan region based. No attempt to touch Marathwada, Vidarbha etc. Powada is also surprisingly missing in the play.
Language is no bar for this orchestra. Any non-marathi person can also enjoy it. Infact we had one Bong person with us and she liked it very much. Its more of an experience to watch the show than describing it here. I got 100 times more satisfaction than what I expected and guarantee that the same will happen with you also.
The singing and dancing performances are excelling. No margin of error . Very enthusiastic. The performers are not doing for the sake of doing it. Every one puts his/her 100% and feels like they are part of that moment and this gives an altogether different smile on the face of the audience.
The show covers how Marathi people celebrated festivals/functions like Diwali, New Years (Gudhi Padawa), Dahi Handi, Marriage etc. The drunk man (बेवडा ) in the marriage is excellent. The way he is handled during the marriage is amazing. Those who have seen how the drunk people behave and are handled especially in villages during such functions, can appreciate it ( I have see it ;) ). Also, if there are 50 performers on the stage, each one will have his/her role at every instance and you need to watch all of them. Every detail is taken care of. And thats what makes it an excellent performance.
The show covers most of the cultural aspects of Marathi junta. The history and geography is well covered. But I feel they have missed out on the cultural aspects of entire Maharashtra. Its mostly Mumbai-Pune-Konkan region based. No attempt to touch Marathwada, Vidarbha etc. Powada is also surprisingly missing in the play.
Language is no bar for this orchestra. Any non-marathi person can also enjoy it. Infact we had one Bong person with us and she liked it very much. Its more of an experience to watch the show than describing it here. I got 100 times more satisfaction than what I expected and guarantee that the same will happen with you also.
Lust
Lust is any intense desire or craving for self gratification and excitement (wikipedia).
Lust is in general thought to be associated only with sex but thats a very limited viewpoint. The definition above is generic enough to include lot many things. So what all can be included in lust? Take a break off and think of all the incidences/things which make you crave for it, especially for your own gratification.
Is craving for Cigarette, Alcohol lust? Can anxiety of Tea/Coffee be considered as lust? Is wanting to talk with some one for long, day in - day out, be looked in as lust? Things will vary from person to person, but its important to be aware of them.
After understanding your short comings, its important to act on them. In this scenario, the simplest act that you need to perform is not to perform that act. This will need very high commitment from your side. In spite of you wanting to avoid the act, you will not be able to avoid it. Don't get dishearted. Try again. Some time down the line you will be able to have that commitment and the awareness to drop the cravings created within you. Experience it for yourself!
Lust is in general thought to be associated only with sex but thats a very limited viewpoint. The definition above is generic enough to include lot many things. So what all can be included in lust? Take a break off and think of all the incidences/things which make you crave for it, especially for your own gratification.
Is craving for Cigarette, Alcohol lust? Can anxiety of Tea/Coffee be considered as lust? Is wanting to talk with some one for long, day in - day out, be looked in as lust? Things will vary from person to person, but its important to be aware of them.
After understanding your short comings, its important to act on them. In this scenario, the simplest act that you need to perform is not to perform that act. This will need very high commitment from your side. In spite of you wanting to avoid the act, you will not be able to avoid it. Don't get dishearted. Try again. Some time down the line you will be able to have that commitment and the awareness to drop the cravings created within you. Experience it for yourself!
Add value in a Friendship
Friendship is a term used to denote co-operative and supportive behavior between two or more humans (from wikipedia).
There are two keywords, co-operation and support, that form the core of the definition. Friendship is not just about staying together or spending time together. For a long term friendship the co-operation and the support of each other is a must.
If you look in the history of your friend circle, you will notice that your friends with whom you used to spend a lot of time are no longer your friends but those few, with whom you had spent very little time are still your long term friends. For some friends you just say a hello and move on, for others you want to talk, for at least a minute, even if you are in a hurry. What is the difference between these two categories of friends? What makes the second category so special to you?
If you look back, you will notice that you have that special connection with the second category of friends. This connection is due to your past experience when they have added some value to your life, to your discussion, to your happiness, to take you out of your misery, or some thing like that. At some point in your life they had contributed positively and hence knowingly or unknowingly you tend to feel that special connection with them.
And YES, you can be that special one for so many others. People will be looking forward to meeting you and get that warmth from you and feel happy about it. Your happiness will also be elevated as there is no better satisfaction than being instrument for other's happiness. To achieve this you will need that frame of mind where you are coming out of your own world, your own benefits and start thinking about others. How can you contribute to other's life. Every small action that you make should be with an attitude to help others, to make them happy, and to show them the right direction. Practice this for some time and you will understand the depth of the point discussed here.
There are two keywords, co-operation and support, that form the core of the definition. Friendship is not just about staying together or spending time together. For a long term friendship the co-operation and the support of each other is a must.
If you look in the history of your friend circle, you will notice that your friends with whom you used to spend a lot of time are no longer your friends but those few, with whom you had spent very little time are still your long term friends. For some friends you just say a hello and move on, for others you want to talk, for at least a minute, even if you are in a hurry. What is the difference between these two categories of friends? What makes the second category so special to you?
If you look back, you will notice that you have that special connection with the second category of friends. This connection is due to your past experience when they have added some value to your life, to your discussion, to your happiness, to take you out of your misery, or some thing like that. At some point in your life they had contributed positively and hence knowingly or unknowingly you tend to feel that special connection with them.
And YES, you can be that special one for so many others. People will be looking forward to meeting you and get that warmth from you and feel happy about it. Your happiness will also be elevated as there is no better satisfaction than being instrument for other's happiness. To achieve this you will need that frame of mind where you are coming out of your own world, your own benefits and start thinking about others. How can you contribute to other's life. Every small action that you make should be with an attitude to help others, to make them happy, and to show them the right direction. Practice this for some time and you will understand the depth of the point discussed here.
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