Slow Internet!

One of my friend asked to me once, “What are the two things you don’t like about computers?” I said, “A slow computer and a slow internet connection, they really piss me off”. And the latter seems to be ‘stalking’ me all the times, no matter where I go or what technologically advanced the ISPs are.
Back when it all started, there was only one speed available - 56Kbps - the dial up. At that time, I didn’t have any choice but to wait hours and hours for a page to load, sometimes even to get connected. Even the internet café’s offered dialup or sometimes ISDN, which was not much better.
Then came the cable. The first cable connection I used had a speed of 64Kbps. It wasn’t much better either. But the best part was the fact that it was unlimited. I read somewhere that broadband means both high-speed and seamless connectivity. The cable belonged more to the ‘seamless connectivity’ category (Don’t get confused, there were lot of outages also, but as compared to the speed, there was connectivity most of the times). Still there was one problem – the download limit. I never was a cable subscriber myself, but I really hated (and still do) the idea of putting a download limit on the connection. It’s like giving something you like and telling don’t use it. (This is applicable only to power users I guess)
Fed up by all this, I promised myself that if I am ever going to take an internet connection, I’ll get the one with max speed with no download limit. That day came when I moved to Bangalore. I subscribed the 256Kbps Home ULplus plan from BSNL, which was the max speed unlimited connection offered at that time. (Most of my readers are familiar with the story of getting that one). When they came up with the 512Kbps plan, I immediately switched to it. But it doesn’t matter what speed they offered in their ads, always the speed was intermittent. I had no choice but stay with the same connection as there were no other providers in that area. I felt jealous about my friends who had Airtel connections because of their stability. They gave a constant speed (at least when I used them). Whenever I heard about the stories of connections abroad (from my friends), I wanted to experience it myself. Then again I reminded myself, I am still in India, and lucky to have a decent internet connection.
Then I moved here. And one thing I was very optimistic was that I will be able to browse as much as I want with the broadband link speed not being a bottleneck. I was proved wrong the first day itself since the place I stayed had a wireless (3G based) internet. It was worse than the one I used to have in Bangalore. I couldn’t stand it, the next week itself, I subscribed a new 3Mbps unlimited broadband (ADSL) from Singtel. They said that the first week will be a bit rough as the traffic has to adjust and some crap. But as they said, after one week, I started getting steady high speed internet. I really enjoyed using it. The internet speed never became a bottleneck for any of my normal routines. I thought that the bad days are over.
But that thought didn’t last long. For last one month, I am continuously calling my service provider’s customer care centre about the intermittent connection. I have a 3Mbps connection and sometimes it even takes up to 30+ minutes to download a 1MB file (based on the speed test suggested by the customer care executive). Sometimes I have to wait for long times even to load the google.com. Think about that. It’s not consistently slow also. And guess what, a technician came last week and did something (what he did, he didn’t reveal) and for 3 days the connection was fine. Again I have to start calling the customer care. As things currently stand, there is another technician’s visit planned for the coming weekend.
Its really pissing me off. Is it so hard to provide a consistent broadband connection? I am also familiar with the data networking and related fields and based on what I know, if you have the right equipment and if they are under the correct permitted load, it’s not that difficult to provide a good link. It’s not that they are doing a charity but I am paying the internet bills promptly every month. What would they say if I started paying the bills intermittently? I wonder sometimes, Is it just me or is every broadband consumer faces similar experiences?

A Wonderful Vacation

One week, its been one week since I have started writing this blog and more than one month since I wanted to write a blog. And its amazing how many things can happen in that period. One month back, this day, I was happily packing my bags to go home, to India, to my family. After a long struggle with my assignments, projects and finally exams, I was free on May 5th - the day my exams were over. Some I did well and some I did ok. But I didn’t want to think about exams. I packed my bags and started my journey. And what more I can say, those three weeks can be described in two words, simply incredible. I had one of the most beautiful vacations in my life.
I landed on 7th night itself, but was in Chennai and had to spend the whole night there before going to Kochi. I sure will be explaining that ‘wonderful’ experience in a full blog. Anyways, the next day morning, I reached Kochi airport and was so anxious to meet my parents that I almost forgot to wait for my check in luggage. And when I was out, they were there standing anxiously looking for me. Just by seeing their faces, all my tiredness was gone. I was full of energy and excited and I hugged them right there. And that’s how I started my vacation.
I believe spending time with family is the most important thing in life. The next day itself, I and my parents went to Munnar – a hill station in Kerala - for a 2 day trip. It was the perfect getaway place from the hot summer. I had one of the best times I had with my family and both my mom and dad enjoyed it too. We did sightseeing, some small trekking, boating etc etc. We all missed my sister and brother-in-law. I really enjoyed the long hilly drive.

Its always nice to spend time with family

One of the high priority items on my TODO list was visiting all my cousins and relatives and I started it by visiting my grandmother the next day after my trip. It was fun, spending time with her brought back all those old memories of me and my sister spending most of our mid-summer vacations with her. Time goes fast.
After 2 more days of roaming around, it was time for me to pay attention to the next priority in the TODO list – getting my EPF claim settled. There is a big story behind it, but the bottom line is, I had to go visit the EPF offices in both Trivandrum and Bangalore in order - where I used to work before -personally to get something done. Along with that, I wanted to visit all my friends in both these places and also to get some shopping done.
During the exams days, I thought I ll be able to sleep during vacation. But these journeys proved that wrong. I started to Trivandrum on Wednesday morning by 4am and directly went to the EPF office, spend some ‘quality time’ there, had a quick brunch, met some friends, had snacks with them and started to Bangalore by 4pm.
I reached Bangalore the next day morning. I stayed with one of my best friends. By the time I reached, they had breakfast ready for me. Even though, the time I spend to go to the EPF office was a complete and utter waste, I did enjoy my time with my old team mates during lunch. It was one of my friends party and since I was visiting, he wanted me also to be there. After that I visited my ‘ex’-office and met all colleagues there. They were more of my friends than just colleagues. I didn’t even feel that I don’t work there anymore. I guess 5 months is not that long time. I joined my team mates with the usual afternoon coffee/smoke break. By the time I was leaving, I was missing the good old days at Nortel.
The next thing I did was straightening my hair. And the next day was dedicated for shopping. I was on a shopping spree and I spent almost half of my bank balance I saved for this vacation on the commercial street and the nearby places of Bangalore. I was supposed to leave that day, but I still had many friends to visit and I didn’t want to leave that fast. So I cancelled my ticket and extended my stay for one more day. The next day, I had breakfast at a friend’s place and lunch with a bunch of my friend. There were still more of my friend I wanted to meet, but time was not enough. Hope they will forgive me.. ;)

By the time I was back home, I had my SLR with me.
Canon EOS 450D with Canon EF-S 18-200mm 1:3.5-5.6 IS lens

Even though I didn’t have much time, I did spend some time doing experiments in photography

The Next generation: My cousin’s kid, Aby. This guy was so excited about the school opening on June 1st and was showing us all the new stuff he had for school, new bag, new cap, new umbrella, new books, new shoes etc. Made me miss my school days

My aunt’s house. A perfect subject for my photography experiments, especially during a rainy day

Spending time with my mom,

and my cat,

and its cooking time. I wanted to learn some cooking tips and tricks from my mom before I left India. I tried some puddings, cake and some curries. Hope I can reproduce them again. The main problem is, I still don’t understand how my mom simply touches a mix or reads a recipe and instantly knows whether something is wrong or whether there is anything more required.

Soon, it was time for me to say good bye to my place. And I didn’t want to do that. Just before the day I had to fly back, my exam results were out and I felt good seeing all my efforts, rewarded. I thought about postponing my tickets, but I had to be back here on the first week of June. On May 30th, I boarded the flight back to SG with lots of memories to cherish about a wonderful vacation.
ps: There are a lot of things I have not written both because there is not much space and also some are too personal. And all those friends I was not able to meet or contact, see ya, next time.

Susan Boyle - A Real Life Fairy Tale! Go Go Susan Boyle!

Once up on a time, there lived a poor girl in Scotland. She was chubby and had a weird sense of humor. Not many boys wanted to get acquainted with her. She loved music and she loved singing. She lived alone with her cat. She didn’t marry. She grew old and she was unemployed. No one had heard about her.
Then, one day, by the time she became 47, the Her Majesty, the Queen wanted to find the best singer in whole country. Many singers competed. Some were good and some were bad. Then our poor lady came to sing. By the look of her, the audience was thinking “what in the bloody hell is this lady doing here?” Some of them even laughed at her. She told that she wanted to become a professional singer and she hope she might be able to get some attention after her performance. All the audience laughed and boo-ed. Then she started the song “I dreamed a dream in time gone by - Les Miserables”. Everyone’s jaw dropped hearing her voice and the song. The audience all rose to their feet and applauded. With one performance, she brought all the country and the world at her feet. She became an overnight star.
Felt like reading a fairy tale? Meet Susan Boyle. The overnight celebrity from the show “Britain’s Got Talent, 2009”. Watch the video here or here. The embedding disabled due to heavy rush.
She is 47, have never been kissed by anyone, stays alone with her cat in a remote place in Scotland, and she is unemployed, never sung in a professional concert before. She walked to the show, with her funny walking and a weird confidence - her unique style. The audience boo-ed and shoo-ed and laughed at her when she said she want to be a professional singer like Ellen Page. But everything changed at the moment when she opened her mouth. Everyone was shocked by her voice and singing. I myself personally was in that shock for a long time. I always liked fairy tales. And I couldn’t believe it was real. Truly inspiring is all I can say. Nothing else! The biggest wake up call, something that made me believe, fairy tales do exist on Earth.
Here are the judge’s comments.
“Without a doubt that is the biggest surprise I have had in three years of the show," said judge Piers Morgan, "Everyone was laughing at you - no one is laughing now.”
"I know that everybody was against you, I honestly think that we were all being very cynical and I think that is the biggest wakeup call ever”, said Amanda.
And when Susan started singing, Simon Cowell's eyebrows shot up so high and so hard they almost hit his hairline. He even broke into one of the biggest, widest and whitest smiles anyone has ever seen.
3 million hits on the youtube video in 24 hours and Susan had been an overnight celebrity. A number of sites have sprung up in the net about Susan.
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Boyle
• http://www.susan-boyle.com
• http://www.susanboyle-bgt.co.uk/
• http://susan-boyle.britains-got-talent.co.uk/
• http://www.susanboylefansite.com/
• http://www.fansofsusanboyle.com
• http://susan-boyle-talent.blogspot.com/
• http://www.SusanBoyleWeb.com
Here are some of the things various media wrote about her. “The Woman Who Shut Up Simon Cowell”, “Miss Boyle, from Blackburn, West Lothian, left judges almost speechless with her rendition of "I Dreamed A Dream" from Les Miserables” etc.
For me, she has become an instant hero. One of the sites said “Do you like fairy tales? 'Cos Disney missed one and its here, Susan Boyle” And I think it is true.

I flied!

“Einstein was right. Time is relative to the observer. When you're looking down the barrel of a gun, time slows down, your whole life flashes by, heartbreak and scars. Stay with it, and you could live a lifetime in that split second.” - Max Payne

It was then I understood what Max Payne meant when he said the above sentence. It was 1 am, and I was staring at the grass. It seemed like the time was standing still, just like we see in movies. I could hear my heart beating. Thud, thud, thud… I looked to my sides. I saw my friends talking and screaming. But I couldn’t place anything they say. Our pilot was asking me to take a look at the view. I tried, but all I could think of was the green lawn. I felt like its staring at me. Things flashed in front of my eyes. But all I remember now is the sound of my heart beating. It was fast and heavy. I felt its going to explode. I wish for it to be a dream. After all, I was hanging upside down at around the height of a 4 storied building, from a pod with 3 of my other friends. There was a seat in which I was sitting at the beginning, but when we reached the top, the only thing which was holding us were the seat belts. Since we were hanging down, all we could see when we looked straight was the lawn, long down.

We were in the Giant Swing in River Side, Clarke Quay, Singapore. It was the birthday treat of one of my friends and the program was spontaneous. We had a great dinner and some cocktails and were relaxing at the River Side steps. That’s when the idea came to our mind, let’s do something crazy. There was a Reverse Bungee and Giant Swing. Since the bungee tend to turn around a lot and a lot speedier and we had a nice dinner, we settled for the Giant Swing since none of were in a mood to puke on such a nice day. I really regret not having my camera that day. Still I managed to get some images from net which I have posted at the end of this post. It is a pod attached to a swing where 5 people can sit, the only thing is that, its huge, ‘cos when you are held just b4 its released (at the highest point), it’s around the height of a 4-5 storied building.

Suddenly I heard someone screaming my name. “Are you there?” I looked to the side. It was my friend who was piloting the pod. When we reach the highest point, we could stay there for anytime we want and the ‘pilot’ had to press a button under the seat to release the swing. “Shall we press the button?” she was asking. I wanted to get this over with somehow. We all screamed “yeah!”

She pressed the button. The world stood still for a moment. Then it turned to move fast, way too faster than anything I have felt before. I felt the weightlessness of a freely falling body. For a split second, I thought I was going to ‘touch down’ soon. I tightened my grip on the frame of the pod. I didn’t want to close my eyes. But I did it for a moment just before reaching the lowest point. I closed my eyes.

When I opened it, I was flying. Flying very fast towards the sky. I started liking it. I wanted to move faster. But the speed reduced and reduced and we reached the topmost point when the pod stood still again for a moment. I could see the whole Singapore in night lights from that point. It was beautiful.

I realized I was silent till then. The only one thing the person who fastened out seat belts told us was we were allowed to scream. But I had forgotten that. Then again the pod started its journey back. We all screamed at the top of our sound. “We are flyyyyyiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing, woooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooowwwwwwww!!!!”

We were swinging back and forth. It continued for some more time. But it was the starting swing which took our breath away. What else can I say, by the time we had to get out from it, I was in love ‘adventure’. All of us wanted to get more of it. But then again, we were not rich enough, at least at this point in life. The feeling was awesome. Wind gushing to your face and you moving so fast without any obstructions. I had heard that the original bungee jumping is really an experience and New Zealand is famous for that. If I decided anything when I was flying, it was this. Some day, I will go to New Zealand and do the original bungee where you jump from top of a bridge between 2 mountains to a river. Hope that day will come soon. Till then, I think I have to settle down for the adventures in Singapore.

Reverse Bungee - The towers near it is the giant swing

Another view

Once in a while…

There were times when I dreamed about spending my life with someone I really felt like spending my life with. I don’t know when, but somewhere along my life, I realized it’s just another dream. And I thought it will exist only in my dreams or in my imagination, where I meet a true friend, who understand the real me, even better than I know myself, with whom, I could be the real me.
Life started becoming silent. Time seemed to stand still. No matter how hard I searched, I couldn’t find a reason to move on. I had everything I wanted. I couldn’t even find any dreams or hopes about future. Too much silence in my life, and even in the middle of a concert, I felt alone. Life is ironic. You don’t get what you want when you want. There was a million times when I longed for a friend, with whom I could be comfortable by being silent. And when I expected a lot and nothing came along the way, I got accustomed. Hope had no place in my life, not anymore.
And suddenly one day, I noticed my life changing. I didn’t know what the reason was, but things began making more sense. Even the wind or the trees began making sense. I started noticing flowers. I had no idea, what was happening. I simply sensed some change, or I felt life’s getting exciting. I liked walking alone in the rain. I longed to be in solitude, the same loneliness that I hated the most about my life. Even songs started making sense to me. World started becoming more and more colorful for me.
It was her. I met her at the coffee house. First I felt she was too noisy, she was talking all along. I wanted to get rid of her so that I could finish reading my book. But, she came to me and asked, “Beautiful book, can I have a look?” I was a bit surprised. No one asked me anything anymore. The next day I went to the coffee house at the same time to get my book back, she was there. We talked for some time. I went back home. The next day, she wanted some help with her work, and we did it together. I felt good. The next day, I got there early, she was there, and we spent a lot of time together. I sensed that she was able to read my mind or she said the things I wanted to say. She felt it too. By the time I was about to leave, she hugged me and told me she liked me and I am like an angel to her. I hugged her back. I didn’t know what to say. She looked like she was glowing and she was the most beautiful thing that I had ever seen.
I had this feeling that I was at the tip of a mountain, so tall, even taller than the clouds, where I always wanted to be, but the weird part of it, I knew that I was about to fall. No matter how much I tried, I couldn’t get rid of that feeling. I wanted to get more time with her. I took off from my work the next day and I waited there for her. She didn’t come. I was sad, but somehow I expected this would happen. I didn’t know how to contact her. All I knew was her name. I was there at the coffee shop every day, waiting for her. But she never came.
My life had changed forever. I wrote to one of my close friends,
“Dear friend,
You know me long enough to know that I was always too choosy about friends. You used to tell me that someday, I will come across a person, a person who simply walks in to my life from somewhere, who will turn my world around. Yeah, that happened to me. It was good, better than anything I have ever known. But, she just walked away, leaving behind her footprints. No good bye’s, no see ya’s, she simply walked away. Now the only thing left for me is hope, a hope that someday I will get to see her, and if I am lucky, I get to spend some time with her, even If I know for sure that I will never be able to even hear about her. Why are all these things happening to me?”
His reply contained only one sentence, “Life is tough, my friend”.