Bengaluru

Bangalore or Bengaluru as it is now officially called. A beautiful city and home to some of the best IT business apart from wonderful people which make Bangalore [sorry, its difficult to call it Bengaluru] what it is, a truly cosmopolitan city filled with fun, verve and blessed with lovely climate.

But the same cannot be said about the traffic, Bangalore has been voted the 6th most congested city in the world, a distinction which one can do without. But how did this happen, purely due to lack of infrastructure planning from our city planners.

Some of the key roads are still the same width as they were in 1996 and certainly the traffic would have increase over 15 times in the years gone by. Another distinction that Bangalore has is Speed Breakers which should be now called car breakers, different size, gradient and shape exist every 100-250 meters and one can hardly shift into gears when you are faced with these monsters. The traffic moves at snarl pace, my question to the City Planning Guru's is why then have speed breakers. Most times badly constructed breakers cause more damage than curtailing them. All such speed breakers seldom have any reflectors so at night time due to poor illumination of the roads people meet with accidents as well as witnessed with two of my colleagues who were airborne thanks to such terrible speed breakers.

The traffic signals are yet another cause of huge pile up. Invariably there is a traffic cop who is handling this signal in manual mode and he feels that the `power' rests with him to decide the fate of people waiting for red to turn green. Most halts at signals are close to 2 minute long and that ensures that there's tons of traffic build-up at one end for sure. Is it so difficult to program the traffic lights to work in auto mode based on different timings during day as per traffic congestion? Can the traffic authorities not work out the `green belt' kind of concept which was worked out by the Maharashtra government decades ago, wherein if a driver were to maintain a certain minimum/maximum speed he would get most signals green. They had coordinated the timing.

The other major irritant is `No free left turn'. This is really funny, there is traffic moving from the other side where you're going to take the turn but you cannot take one due this signage and if you do surely there are 2-3 cops waiting to collect fine or whatever they do best in such cases just after the turn. If the same level of energy and efforts are utilized in analyzing the traffic and setting up the signal pattern well including a free left turn most cases there would be fewer pile-ups. Thanks to such pile-ups we are burning millions of dollars worth of fuel just waiting in a traffic jam.

I would love to share my thoughts and ideas if anyone wants to listen with an open mind to try and resolve such issues. So guys if you know of any forum wherein I can present my thoughts to the Bangalore Traffic Authorities, please do let me know.

Lok Pal Bill

A bit confused what is the LokPal bill all about, is it about corruption which was the main agenda, or is it about Anna Hazare and his bunch of people who want to have the power of controlling one billion people in India and that itself gives them the power rush to do such a thing.

The concept of reducing corruption is age old and never has anything got done, agree. But is this really the way to go about it? I mean tomorrow me and my friends don't agree with the Lok Pal bill, we too can form a group go on a fast and challenge it. Anna ofcourse has age on his side and that he is ex-army helps his image that bit.

It was shocking seeing Kiran Bedi go all theatrical today and trying to malign the entire Parliament system of India. I lost all respect for her as a human being and a fine police officer today.

Imagine what a banana republic we will further be, that any group can come together and challenge the parliament of the country and form their own `fasting group' and try and arm twist the government into agreeing to their demands or else!!! wow, hope that day never comes.

I was all for Anna and his cause, but over a period of time cannot say that I can align/identify with his ways and means.

Truly a sad moment in Indian History. If a true change needs to come about, its going to take time. But there are tons of supporters of Anna who feel that those who don't support are jerks and don't have a life. Was just chatting with a friend yesterday and he took great offence at my pointing out that I am not `entirely not corrupt' and I accept that, can he?

Saving Energy and going green

Recently a popular bollywood female actor was given an award for doing exemplary work in making the world green by a popular English News Channel.

Well ironic as it is, the very same people who get awards at times I wonder how much they actually do to save the planet.

They cannot do without 24x7 airconditioning, always use gas guzzler large SUVs, constantly take trips on private airplanes and keep adding to the carbon foot print.

It makes me wonder then why they get bestowed with awards?? If anyone has an answer do shoot.

We can all do our bit by actually practicing what we preach so effortlessly publicly.

LED lighting, lesser airconditioning, more fuel efficient cars, travel by common modes of transport and what else.....let's see one celeb or hot shot politician who speaks about saving the world do this first and you have me converted as a believer.

The government can do their bit by ensuring that LED lighting is made more tax/duty friendly so more and more people use this method of lighting. Consider this, a 11watt LED is brighter than a 36 watt CFL which right now is being considered technology's gift to mankind. Not only is the LED 3 times brighter but also lasts atleast 5 times longer than the CFL. Some math can be done to see the savings long term.

Mobile Phones

How many times we see people going about their lives, walking on the roads using mobiles. While the government is discouraging people to speak on their phones while driving people should realize that talking on the phone while walking is also equally dangerous, your attention is on the conversation and many a times one does not realize the traffic which is there or some speeding vehicle which is coming their way since their attention is diverted.

Talking, listening to music while walking maybe pleasurable but at the cause of serious damage to oneself since the attention is divided. It's best that if you do want to take a call, try and take it by halting on the side of the road.

Listening to music is fun, but why not listen to it when you're not walking on the road.

I know all this sounds preachy coming from a guy who likes to listen to music himself, but then have come to know of several cases off late where the attention was not on the surroundings either due to a call or listening to music on headphones and people have met with severe accidents.

So guys please, please be responsible for your own safety, don't walk around like zombies. Take care.

Where is India Headed!

All across India we have different kinds of unrest and chaos. Some are reeling under an indifferent state government, some are fighting to get cities re-named [god knows how it helps to confuse people world wide] some are wanting the state to be divided/realigned as per peoples sentiments.

Net result, many working days being lost, public property being damaged due to dharnas and what have you. At a time when the world is looking towards India, we as citizens of India and the government is doing all it can to ensure that world wide people become wary of investments and business coming here due to such events happening.

Andhra Pradesh and Telangana issue have seen so many companies moving out of Hyderabad and considering neighboring states for their fresh investments...AP's loss at the end of the day.

My Dream

Since I was in my late teens I have always had a dream of going around the world in a car. A trip which I want to do so desperately and have been constantly thinking of how and when would I be able to put my dream into reality.

I don't want to just breeze through places and set a record of sorts of circumventing the world in so many days, I want to go through each place see the country, meet the people and catalog the entire journey into a travelogue kind of show for television which could show different cultures, different terrains and different culinary experiences for the viewers to enjoy.

This trip is something which I have lived with for almost 25 years and as days go by I am getting disillusioned if I ever will be able to make this trip. Time wise it would mean taking a year off my job something in today's times very difficult to do.

Some more cars coming to India

Carmakers offer huge discounts on all vehicles The slowdown in the sales growth to a mere 1.6% in June 2011 has forced carmakers in India to reduce car prices and offer discounts and other benefits such as charging lower interest on car loans. Honda has reduced prices by a whooping amount of approximately Rs. 1,70,000 on its premium hatchback Jazz, while Maruti Suzuki is offering its largest selling cars, namely Alto, WagonR and Estilo, at a rebate of Rs. 50,000. In the discount war among the carmakers, Honda is now offering its highest selling City sedan at a discount of Rs. 50,000, apart from the price cut of Rs. 66,000 in the month of June 2011. Popular Hyundai cars such as the i10 and the Santro are also being offered at a discount of upto Rs. 45,000.

Seven cars to be launched by Skoda India by mid 2013 Skoda India is set on expanding its line of cars by mid 2013. Skoda Laura RS along with the Skoda Rapid Sedan, which is based on the Fabia small car, will be the first ones to be launched towards the end of year 2011. The beginning of year 2012 will see the launch of a stripped down and low cost version of Skoda Yeti SUV. It will be followed by the Skoda Fabia Scout, a compact crossover SUV which will compete with the existing SUVs such as Mahindra Scorpio, Mahindra Xylo and Tata Safari. The company will launch the next generation Skoda Octavia 2012 by the end of year 2012. Two small cars are also expected to be developed by the Czech car manufacturer.

Car sales in India witness a slowdown Car sales growth in India saw a new low in June 2011 and confined itself to 1.62% rise from 141,086 to just 143,370 cars. Hike in the fuel prices and rising loan rates are seen as the main cause of the decline in sales. The growth is the lowest since March 2009 when sales dropped to a 1.16% increase owing to the global economic slowdown. In March 2010, the Reserve Bank of India raised the lending rate by 2.75%. Further, the Rs. 5 hike in the petrol and diesel prices in May 2011 and June 2011 by the state-run oil retailers further discouraged the customers from new purchases. Another major factor for the decline in growth was the worker’s strike at one of Maruti Suzuki India’s factories resulting in a production loss of 12,600 vehicles. Thus, its sales fell 6% in the month of June 2011. Other automakers such as Tata Motors, General Motors, Ford India and Honda also saw a significant drop in their sales with the exception of Hyundai Motors whose sales grew by 11%.

Volkswagen to launch small car Up in India Volkswagen is set to showcase its small car ‘Up’ in August 2011 in its production guise ahead of its launch in India. The car priced between Rs. 3,00,000 - Rs. 5,00,000 will compete with market leaders like Maruti Suzuki WagonR and Hyundai Santro. It is being speculated that the powertrains used in the ‘Up’ will be the ones currently being used in the Polo and will be designed to provide a minimum fuel economy of 20 kmpl. On the other hand, Volkswagen might also source the 1.0 litre K-Series motor from Suzuki, its global partner. The global model of ‘Up’ is a two-door car, but for the Indian market, the company might transform it into a four-door vehicle.

Maruti offers upgrade to new generation Swift Maruti is offering its customers an option to upgrade to the new model of the Swift. The revamped model is expected to arrive in the Indian market by August 2011. As per their preference, the customers who have prior bookings for the current Swift can instead get delivery of the new model. The production for the old model has been put on hold to make way for the new one. It will feature various changes and upgradations in the exterior body design, the console and interiors. Owing to the enhanced length, the rear seats and boot in the new model are expected to be more spacious. It will also feature better fuel economy.

New manufacturing facility for Royal Enfield Eicher Motors announced on July 12, 2011 that a new manufacturing facility will be established by its two-wheeler division, Royal Enfield, at Oragadam, Chennai by March 2013. A statement by the Tamil Nadu government says that an amount of approximately Rs 350 crore will be invested over the next five years for the proposed 50-acre facility. The plant is expected to be functional by the first quarter of 2013, says Eicher Motors Managing Director and CEO, Siddhartha Lal. According to him, the enhanced capacity of 1,50,000 units per annum will help the company address the current waiting period for its bikes which ranges from 6-8 months. The current engine manufacturing capacity stands at 70,000 units and will be increased to 1,50,000 units per annum to support the new facility.

Upcoming Car Preview Volkswagen UP - Expected August 2011 After much success with the Polo and Vento, the German car maker is all set to enter the small car market just like every other car maker in India. The VW Up which has shown great success in Europe will come to India with an attractive price tag of Rs 3 lakh. The company is also planning to produce 250,000 units of the vehicle in India itself which has helped keep the price low. The engines have still yet to be decided but we predict a 1.2 litre power unit with 4 cylinders managing to create anywhere between 60 to 85bhp. The car will also be fitted with a 6-speed manual or 7-speed automatic version of VW’s DSG transmission. The USP of this vehicle however might be its fuel efficiency. Sources say that the Up will be able to consume just one litre of petrol for every 20-25km traveled. For the Indian consumer this is like a pot of gold. Expected Price: Rs. 3,50,000

Recent Car Launches Toyota Etios Liva G SP The G SP variant has 1.2-litre, 16V DOHC petrol engine with 80Ps of power output and 104Nm of maximum torque. It includes extra safety features like ABS, dual SRS airbags & seat belt warning system.

Mumbai Blasts, Government realizes this time its going to hurt them

How come the entire Delhi brigade is in Mumbai the very next day, where as the last time this happened there was total apathy.

Well, this is for all disbelievers who feel that an average Indian who vents his anger and frustration on social networking sites or in different ways through holding marches is pointless, well it does work. PM, Soniaji all there braving Mumbai rains making hollow statements which don't mean anything.

Interesting debate by Mr. Jethmalani on NDTV, P Chidambaram needs to answer to his questions, or is the Indian government waiting for these Terrorists to hijack an aircraft or such drastic action and demand release of Kasab?

India has absolutely terrible Intelligence Agency and they need to own up responsibility and take action before India turns into a total banana republic like our neighbors.

Internet, blogging, facebook, google, digital photography

Blogging, it was so alien to me but with the help of my ever tech savy daughter learnt that people actually read what people write in their blogs and comment as well!! Something strange for a chap like me who just got onto facebook very recently, until then was wondering what's the hoopla all about.

Now facebook helps me keep in touch with my friends, friends who were my school mates and some with whom I had lost touch for over 30 years. Technology sometimes can be so amazing, I at times wonder what was life before google happened to all of us.

I remember as a college student I would go to the USIS library and update myself on photography and what have you, now with the click of a button you get whatever you want on the browser, latest updated information and not what the library thought was worth stocking as books. During a day I actually monitored that I have at times been on the google page hunting information as many as 10-12 times!!

An evolution happened with digital photography - overnight we have so many people who are not shying away from photography, earlier clicking pictures was an expensive hobby. Either you had the aim and shoot or the SLRs which most budding photographers would find rather expensive to buy.

Then came along the digital cameras, phone cams are getting better and better and suddenly you have everyone clicking anything and everything. Thanks to advancement in digicams the phones are getting better and better camera options, vga, 1mgp, and now right upto 12mpg on your phone.

It would infact make more sense if some camera company built a phone around a camera rather than the other way around, that would give people the option of buying a decent digi cam along with a phone...all rolled into one.

Low light Photography - Article from Picture Correct Photography Tips

How to Take Photos in Low Light Posted: 11 Jul 2011 11:28 PM PDT Images of night scenes never fail to impress. Night-time images have great ambiance, something which is often absent in flat, bright, daylight photos. Skillful low-light photos can look simply incredible and if you’re looking for ways to make money from photography, selling canvas prints of night scenes is one way to achieve this. They are very popular. "New Graces" captured by ian newton (click image to see more from ian newton) The main aim of this article is to highlight: Night photography settings and techniques Good low light cameras on the market 1. Exposure: The basics Given the amount of available light, there is a “right” exposure, where just enough light is allowed onto the camera’s sensor to make an accurate representation of the scene – i.e. preventing the picture from looking too bright or “blown out” because there was too much light, or at the other end, under-exposing the picture through allowing in insufficient light. Three camera settings can be altered to control exposure: Aperture (or f-stop): Here is an inverse relationship – Low f-stop values mean more light is being let in Shutter speed: At slower shutter speeds the sensor is exposed to light for a longer period of time ISO / Sensor Sensitivity: At higher ISO settings the sensor is more sensitive to light For any given scene, there can be more than one combination of the above settings that will give you a correct exposure. Your camera’s light meter tells you how to combine them. For instance, if you choose to fix the ISO and aperture, the camera will set the correct shutter speed. Or when you select ISO and shutter speed values, the aperture will be set accordingly. If you set the camera to “auto” all 3 of these variables are set by the camera. Good night photos, however, require that we do more than shoot on “auto” "Sea Wall" captured by Lorin Hughes (Click Image to See More From Lorin Hughes) 2.Night photography settings Note: The one night shooting option omitted here is using a flash – but this is a completely different kind of concept for a “night scene” and I’ll deal with flash photography on its own in a later article. a. Shoot “wide open” with a fast lens This is a good option for street photographers who want to capture low-light (but perhaps not night-time) street photos. Use a good lens which can go down to f/2.8 or even f/1.4 – i.e. a lens that can let in a lot of light! This will give you a nice shallow depth of field which adds dimension to your photos, whilst allowing you to shoot at decent shutter speeds (around 1/60th of a second). At slower shutter speeds you’ll most likely get blurry images unless you use a tripod. This is an essential technique if you have an older camera that only delivers good quality at low ISO settings. Still, even when you have a good high-ISO camera you may want to exploit the nice shallow depth of focus brought about by shooting at a lower ISO and wide-open aperture b. Use a tripod and expose for longer This is ideal if you want to capture a night scene of a cityscape, for instance, where your subject isn’t moving, so you have time to set things up. Ensure a wider depth of field by choosing a medium aperture such as f/8, fix the camera to your tripod and leave the shutter speed selection to the camera. Depending on the light in the scene it could be one second, several seconds or, for seriously low ISO settings, even several minutes. Top tip: The best time to take photos of cityscapes is just after sunset, when there is still a little bit of ambient blue in the sky. If you’re using in-camera metering, point the lens at the sky to determine the correct exposure – you’ll be delighted by the good exposure you get in the end. c. High ISO photos This is especially useful (and sometimes unavoidable) if you’re taking photos at an indoors or night-time event where flash photography isn’t allowed, or perhaps you don’t want to use a flash because it will disturb your subject and ruin the photo. You can force the camera to be more light-sensitive by increasing the ISO. This opens up the possibility of getting sharp photos in dark circumstances without having to use a flash or tripod. Why? You’ll be able to shoot at faster shutter speeds, which helps keep the images sharp.. Take note: There’s no such thing as a free lunch. Increasing the ISO means that you are more likely to get a noisy / grainy photo. 3. Which cameras perform well in low light conditions? Certain cameras give you more low-light flexibility because they perform well at high ISO settings – leaving you full creative control over which of the three above options you choose to make your photos. Because DLSR cameras tend to have bigger sensors, they generally take better high-ISO photos than compact cameras with relatively small sensors (it’s a bit technical, but it’s based on the laws of physics and electronics). The latest DSLR cameras have full-frame sensors achieving superb high-ISO performance. "Union Station" captured by Torrey (Click Image to See More From Torrey) Here is a list of good low light DSLR cameras Nikon D3000 Canon EOS 500D Nikon D5000 Canon EOS 550D Nikon D300s Canon EOS 7D Canon EOS 5D MKII Nikon D700 Nikon D3S Canon EOS 1D MKIV About the Author Visit top10digitalcamerashq.com to learn what to do recover deleted pictures from a memory card and read reviews of the top 10 digital cameras in the market today. Go to full article: How to Take Photos in Low Light Join the discussion of this article on facebook: PictureCorrect on Facebook Article from: PictureCorrect Photography Tips

Bomb Blasts in Mumbai

It's a shame that once again the terrorists have targeted India with blasts in Mumbai while our government keeps sleeping and thinking what they need to do with the terrorist captured. As a result of which the tax payers are paying for his lodging and boarding at Mumbai jail.

The people of India I don't think now can feel safe in any city, what has happened today can happen anywhere. The government keeps making appropriate noises once the event occurs and then all dies down, the media will forget, the politicians will forget and once again people will sing praises about the Mumbaikar's resilience blah blah.

Sad day today.

Cars in India

There are a load of new cars coming into India with a pace which is difficult to keep up. Good old days were amby and premier padmini, enter Maruti to shake up the old establishment....Daiwoo, Hyundai, Honda and so many now with different variants as well as price range to suite entry level car buyers to the super rich with a Bugati Veyron for 16.5 crores.

Cars are an extension of each individual's personality and one associates and makes mental notes about people and what their status would be seeing the car that they travel in, surely there are exceptions, people who really love cars and like them for the machines that they are rather than a mode of transport or a status symbol.

Most times one sees fancy cars which cost a bomb being driven by a chauffer!! because most times such cars are all about people who want to be `seen' rather than actually enjoy their mean machines. People buy automatic transmission and the chauffer is still driving!! does it make any sense? certainly not to me.

I am deeply passionate about automobiles, bikes and my interest goes beyond what one is driving or `seen' in. Automobiles to me are `living beings' and absolutely a part of my family.

It pains me when someone mis-uses or abuses their cars and at times to great amusement of my family when I comment upon a car, its condition, tyres out of alignment etc. This is just a car that is in front of us traveling and of no particular familiarity to me. Strange as some would call it but then I cannot help noticing things which are nice or not so nice....guess it comes with years of experience behind the camera.

Modern cars come with tons of features and newer technology which is more than welcome, however for us car freaks it means less DIY [Do it yourself]. It was great fun tinkering with older vehicles which were more `manual' and depended less on electronics. M800 was one such car wherein one Sunday every couple of months was reserved to `tune' it up. Starting with cleaning of spark plugs, checking the contact points, checking the timing, cleaning of airfilter and the works...well the 800 moved hands and now I am with newer car which I can hardly practice my DIY skills on. However whatever I can manage without going into areas which are not known I still love to do on my ride. That reminds me its due for its beauty treatment, a good hand wax job which I religiously do before the rains come in.

More of my thoughts in my next.

Cheers

Cyrus

Honda Siel Cars India Ltd. (HSCIL), the Indian unit of the leading Japanese car maker Honda, is offering a whopping Rs 1.75 lakh discount on selected variants of its premium hatchback Jazz. The move has been taken in a bid to boost the sales of the car in the Indian market, which hasn't been performing as per the expectations so far.

In a statement given to reporters though, HSCIL spokesman said “We are not giving any discount. Discounts are offered at the dealer level depending upon the models and the variants of the car.” He added that the maximum discount goes up to Rs.1.75 lakh.

Honda Jazz

The sales figures of Jazz, which is the most expensive premium hatchback in its segment, stood at mere 643 units in the first quarter (April-June) of this financial year, registering a decline of 38.76 percent over the sales in the same period last year. The Honda Jazz model is currently available in the price range of Rs 7.15 to Rs 9.25 lakh, in the National Capital.

Meanwhile, the company is gearing-up to launch its much awaited small hatchback – Honda Brio – in the Indian market in the festival season in October. The car is expected to be carrying a price tag of Rs 5 lakh.

Scams of India

Here is a summary of all scams since independence. These may not be the only ones. These are the ones that were caught and brought to the notice of the public.

In total, this is coming up to Rs. 910,603,234,300,000, which is equal to USD 20.23 trillion. With this huge amount, India will become a super-power overnight and can permanently kill all social problems mainly poverty and unemployment.

Take a detailed look at the list. Great work by the person who compiled it.

Forward this to all Indians!! Others also have a right to know where their money is going..

Think about our future if we would have that amount?

And try to avoid giving bribe