Monday, December 28, 2020

Welcome 2021

This year was a priceless lesson about our illusion of control, and it has gently clarified who's really boss. We must humbly internalise the lesson before it is too late. Let's not go extinct yet. 

Many have lost their loved ones, whether by illness or disappointments or depression or otherwise. The void left behind cannot be filled. But pessimism will only make things worse. Let's strive to hold on to positivity.

Many people and corporates alike have explored and realized the practicalities of novel methods of functioning and surviving. It's a boon in disguise. Let's be open and thankful for that.

Many have grown fonder and closer to some of their friends even through physical separation or trauma or other challenges. That's indeed a blessing. Let's appreciate and be thankful for that.

Finally, let's hope for healthier, happier, brighter and wiser years ahead. May there be peace all around.

Sunday, August 09, 2020

Measuring Success

Disclaimer: This post contains tongue-in-cheek, in-your-face humour. Meant as a situational satire. Not intended to offend anyone. If you don't like laughing at yourself, please don't read ahead.
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Use this funny behaviour of society as a measuring rod for success.

When you are successful, almost everyone else wants to announce a proud relationship with you. You may be surprised that several people, many of whom you don't even recognize, suddenly claim to know you very well. Some of them announce that they are your chuddi-buddies, regardless of the age difference between you. Some claim that you're "their boy/girl", in every possible connotations that it may be understood.

Many of your former neighbors start remembering you; some even recount funny anecdotes about you, which may have transpired only in the crooked confines of their scheming imagination. In reality, they may not even have interacted with you when you were neighbors. In fact, some of them might even have been instrumental in driving you out from the neighborhood. But when you're successful, they all claim to be your friends.

Even those who hardly knew your name or recognized your face until then suddenly recall that you hail from the same locality, street, area, city or state as they do. They claim to have seen you around, to have somehow helped you at some point in your life, even to have somehow inspired or otherwise prepared you for success.

All these "fake" people seem to believe that by making such tall claims they somehow become qualified enough to share credit for your success. Some of them even seem to believe that you're successful chiefly because you're from the same city or state as they are, or because they recognize you; if not, you'd probably never be as successful.

Keeping all your study, unpaid study loans, hard work, sweat, sleepless nights, expenditures, failed attempts and honest efforts aside, you can believe you've attained a measurable level of success only when these "fake" people start referring to you with phrases (in whatever dialect) such as "apna baccha hai", "humare gaon ki ladki", "nammoora huduga", "namma hudugi", "amgele gaonchi", "amgele makshi gharacho chello"... 

Until such time, keep going, you'll eventually get there.


Saturday, August 08, 2020

Why This Mad Rush

Was shocked by this incident:

The first incident was here in Mangalore old runway which was also table top runway. 

Landing commercial plane on such is challenging, specially during rains when the runway is wet and wind conditions are not favourable. But then if they don't land they cannot keep flying uncertainly. The only way would be to cancel all flights to such places during monsoons.


Everyone seems to be pushing their own agenda, but I strongly think people should use common sense instead of emotions to make their decisions. 

People say: we want to go back to India at any cost.

Politicians say: okay then come back at any cost and vote for us.

Flight operators say: we will bring you back at all costs.

But somewhere in between all this, common sense dies a miserable death. The cost of that has to be borne.


I'm not preaching some theoretical sermon that is impractical or impossible to follow... I've been sitting at home, mostly in one room in the house, since April 1 till today. I haven't met another living being other than my parents in these 4 months. So it is possible. I'm the last person who'd have thought of doing this. So if I can do it, then anyone can.

So I really cannot understand why are people so restless. Why do people find it so difficult to sit tight wherever they are for the time being until things clear up. What is this mad rush that makes them have to take some action right now?

Thursday, August 06, 2020

Movie/Serial Talent Bye Bye in 2020

Just the ones I recognise at least remotely.

01. Kushal Punjabi - suicide
02. Sejal Sharma - suicide
03. Abdullah Khan - lung infection
04. Ranjith Chowdhary - ulcer
05. Irrfan Khan - cancer
06. Rishi Kapoor - leukemia
07. Chiranjeevi Sarja - cardiac arrest
08. Wazid Khan (music composer) - corona
09. Sayeeda Begum - age
10. Mohit Baghel (comedian) - cancer
11. Preksha Mehta - suicide
12. Sachin Kumar - cardiac arrest
13. Yogesh Gaur (lyricist) - unknown
14. Jagesh Mukati - unknown
15. Chandana - suicide
16. Basu Chatterjee - age
17. Girish Karnad - multiple organ failure
18. Sushant Singh Rajput - suicide
19. Saroj Khan - cardiac arrest
20. Anil Suri (producer) - corona
21. Susheel Gowda - suicide
22. Jagdeep (comedian) - age
23. Ranjan Sehgal - multiple organ failure
24. Divvya Chouksey - cancer
25. Aashutosh Bhakre - suicide 
26. Sameer Sharma - suicide
27. S P Balasubramanyam - corona
28. Asif Basra - suicide
29. V J Chitra - suicide
30. Arya (Devdutta) Banerjee - suicide (?)





Sunday, June 07, 2020

Product Review: Samsung Galaxy M21

Tag: Meets expectations from a mid-range budget mobile phone.

Review date: Jun 7, 2020. All scores are subjective and are subject to revision over time.

Received: May 23, 2020.

Setup/Initialization: Easy, thanks to the Samsung Smart Switch app. I could install that app in my old Xiaomi Note 4, and it automatically transferred most of my apps within a few minutes during first startup visa wifi. That included contacts and chat messages. I was overjoyed that my contacts had not been messed up like the last two times I had switched mobile. It was all done in about 10 minutes. Manual effort was needed just to restore WhatsApp data backup from cloud, which is the way it must be done anyway.

Slight setback: For a couple of games that couldn't sync with my Google cloud, I sadly lost the data. Android 10 didn't let me manually copy those application folders from my old phone and restore them into my new phone. This was not a serious setback for me, I just started playing the games from scratch.

Dark Mode: Personally, this was one of the main reasons why I switched to a phone with Android 10, and AMOLED display. Xiaomi Note 4 had failed me on this point. Now most apps on my phone follow the system dark theme workout any issues, including most websites on Chrome (without using the Force Dark Mode experimental flag). I give Samsung Galaxy M21 a score of 10/10 for this particular feature.

Cameras: With the 3+ 1 cameras, wide angle option even for selfie camera, clarity of images (I don't expect professional quality photography from a mobile phone, specially at night), slo mo, ultra slo mo, Super Steady option for videos etc... I give it 9/10, and I'm extremely satisfied with that.

Fingerprint reader: No issues as of today. Score: 10/10.

Battery life: This phone has the biggest battery among all those I've used till now. In the last week of use, I've found the battery to last for a day on an average, even when playing assorted games, extensive browsing, using the phone as hotspot over an office VPN, streaming videos on YouTube and Prime. So as of now I would say it is working as advertised, so 10/10.

Size/Build/Weight: It is a big screen, so reaching the keyboard and the volume keys with one hand is a bit clumsy. But that is expected, I knew what I was buying. The back is glossy plastic, which is a fingerprint magnet, so I immediately got a back cover for overall protection. Even so, the phone is slightly heavier than expected, but I guess that's because of the large battery.

Overall Score: At this time, 9/10.


Product link: 
https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07HGH88GL?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share