A few things to unlearn

Since the beginning of time, that I have been able to understand things and people, and perhaps the world, I have started to think that all the good things that we were taught in school, really have no meaning.

1. Wash your hands before your meals?
Almost everyone uses spoons, forks and knives. That small tip might need to be removed from our coursebooks. And even if we used our hands, the food, themselves have so much filth in them these days, that they would need more cleaning and disinfecting than our hands.

2. Honesty is the best policy?
Haha. That one surely needs some immediate attention. Well, maybe, not such a drastic change. "Find and replace" all occurrences of "Honesty" with "Dis-Honesty".

3. Justice is same for all?
Really!! Ahem... Do you even need examples?

4. Look left, then right, and then left again before crossing the road.
In today's world, you can't follow that. Vehicles have taken to the footpaths. You should pray to God before stepping out of your houses.

5. Sources of water?
No. Not wells, freshwater lakes, ponds or rivers. You get water from the tankers that visit your building premises every morning.

6. Constitution. It clearly specifies the limits on the powers of a Government.
I almost had forgotten that one. But, that too, needs to be amended now. Umm. Maybe, it's not needed anyway. The Government is all-powerful, and it can and will override the constitution as and when it feels it needs to.

Thank God, that the laws of physics haven't changed. And the maths that we learnt still works. 

Extracts from my Old Diary

The extracts are unedited/uncensored. Really.

31/01/2004

The month of January seems to have stagnated. The biting cold and intermittent rains have lowered down the temperatures. There's no better place than my warm bed and the common room. Right now, I am in a dilemma. I don't know what to do after my B.Tech degree. Of course, the first preference will be the campus selection. But I have a very strong desire to crack the CAT or the XAT.

01/02/2004

A great day as far as the quality of food. The day started off with "Chole Bhature" which was the best of all the breakfast items in the mess. The lunch was also pretty good. And for the dinner, dosa and a treat in GE were on the cards. Ritesh Parida and Rakesh Mallick were present to finance for the dinner. But, I couldn't digest all these things. You know what I am talking about. Pretty uncomfortable.

 03/02/2005

The results of Computer branch is out. Soon, our results will also be out. Sidharth's got quite a good percentage of 71.2%, the highest being that of Rachit Aggarwal's with 85.8%. These marks are elusive for our branch. The papers this time were very tough. So, I would be happy if I score some 70% or above. Most probably the results would be out tomorrow. A very long wait. I am waiting...

14/02/2004

The results are out. And I have got a mere 61%. That was well below my expectations. I was expecting around 65%. Terribly frustrated, I don't know what to do now. I have to get at-least 75% in this semester.

The next semester I got 63%. 

New ways of cheating

Recently, there has been a truck loads of new ways of cheating people. I have, once fallen into their trap but I realized very quickly. You should have heard about SpeakAsia scam which was recently in news. Hahaha, that's not the one I fell for. There has been a whole lot of similar scams in the past. People, smart people, sometimes fall into their trap and end up losing their hard earned money.

One of the terribly pathetic and ugly trap is a program which is being aired on NDTV Imagine channel. The program is "Gold Safe". This program, shows some images of well-known personalities and ask people to call in and recognize them. When I was in college, some 5 years back, I was lured into calling in. I must have spent at least 100 bucks that day. And, quite obviously, I didn't win a dime. Someone who has the ability of adding up 2 2-digit numbers without a calculator would never fall into their trap. But, that day, I just thought of giving it a try. I mean, who would not be able to recognize "Priety Zinta"!!!!! People were continuously calling in and blurting out seemingly absurd answers. The images have been always too obvious for someone to give a wrong answer.

The next one is in the form of an E-mail. There's a website which promises you really great discounts on some of their products. The website is "Bag it today". It seems to be affiliated to "The Indian Today Group". Atleast, the website shows it's logo.

Almost everyday, I receive a mail from this website. Here is a sample e-mail that I received today.

Welcome Kumar,

Congratulations! You have just received 5 products including Reebok Tracksuit,
Numero Uno Watch, Satyapaul Leather Wallet, Lotto Duffle Bag and
Converse T-shirt worth Rs 10442 at Re 5.

The catch here seemed to be this: You could get all these things at a final price of Rs.2999/- only. Seems to be a really cool deal. But, be warned, this is too good to be true. Please don't fall for it. People have, and have repented. If at all, you want to see if it's a real deal, opt for "Cash on Delivery".

I am certainly not saying that all these websites/services that promise you discounts are fake and scams. There are really great services, such as SnapDeal.com where you would get real discounts and deals. But please don't fall into obvious looking traps.

One more scam worth mentioning is the "Free T-shirt scam" that made rounds on Facebook recently. I mean, it was quite obvious to me that it was a scam, but many people still went ahead and gave them their phone numbers, email addresses and postal addresses. None of them have received their free t-shirts yet.

The other category of scams, which I think nobody will ever fall for are those e-mails that you receive from complete strangers who have found a fortune somehow(people make up real good stories, I read it for fun), and want to transfer it to your country to avoid getting caught, and promise you a large stock of bills for your assistance. Don't ever fall for it.

I don't expect the Government to do anything about these guys. They are probably busy handling their own scams. The best part is, unlike the government ones, you could choose not to be looted by these private scamsters and swindlers.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 750 - The Game Changes

I have been waiting for a long time to get my hands on a Samsung Galaxy Tab 750. I have only been reading about it and looking at the numerous images on various blogs and tech sites. It looked amazing from a distance. Android has been the talk of the town since the day Google released the first ever phone, The G1, running on Android. The rest is history. Android threatens iOS (Apple), and quite understandably, Apple has been suing almost every manufacturer who comes out with a device running Android. Ah!!! Apple, I don't want to own and iPhone/iPad.

This tab has a great first impression, and is sure to lure you to see more and more of it. It's very sleek (at 8.6 cm), and light as well (565 gms). It's a powerhouse of performance, with a 1GHz dual-core Tegra 2 processor and 1GB of RAM. Android Honeycomb compliments the superb hardware that it comes with, and promises to give you the best tablet experience you could wish for. Check out the technical specifications here.

Moreover, this is only the initial tablet version of Android OS. Wait a few upgrades more, and I am sure, there would be a bagful of new features coming your way, which would make your experience with this "Game Changer" tablet more fun and enjoyable with style.

The exciting things/features that really makes this tablet the best among the lot are:

1. Browser: With full flash support, and a huge 10.1" screen, browsing would never be the same again. You will never see those dreaded "?"s again in any of your webpages. Tablets have changed the way we browse the internet: with the Samsung Galaxy Tab 750, it's better.
2. Video Playback: Full HD video playback with support for almost all types of video formats, you will not be left with any unplayable videos from your personal collection. 1080p video playback @30fps and the surround sound speakers, the device would definitely change how you watch your movies.
3. Office Apps: The Galaxy Tab 750 isn't only a fun device. It means serious business as well. It also suits someone who is always on the move. Creating, editing or viewing your powerpoint presentations or checking your excels, or formatting your documents has just become easier. You can now leave your laptop at home and show off your tablet to everyone at office.
4. Google Mobile Apps: Need an app for anything at all? Well, fire up the Android Market and you will be able to find just any kind of app you want. The tablet comes preloaded with a host of Google apps like GMail, Gtalk (with video chat), Google Maps, Youtube etc. These apps have been optimized for your large screen to take advantage of the larger real estate. Be it reading your mails, navigating through a city or video chatting with your dear ones, you would be amazed at the ease at which the tablet handles everything. With multi-tasking and Split-View support, the Honeycomb OS delivers all that is required of a tablet.
5. Gaming: Tablets are relatively a new form-factor of portable devices. I believe that the games of today haven't really have adapted well for a tablet, except for a few(mostly racing games). I am not sure what kind of games would be a hit on such devices. Games like Angry Birds have been a tremendous hit on mobile devices. I am expecting a rush of similar games, which are engaging and more fun to play on a tablet. With all the sensors that the Galaxy Tab has: Gyroscope, Accelerometer, Ambient Light Sensor and Compass, I would look forward for games which take advantage of this form-factor and the sensors, to perhaps invent a new category of games that make your experience more full-filling when it comes to raw entertainment. I am all excited about how this would change the future of entertainment.
6. Books, Movies and Songs: Well, this tablet seems to touch each and every part of your life. Read your rented/bought books, buy/rent videos and songs, and carry everything with you. The built-in 7000 mAh battery promises you a video playback upto 9 hours and Audio playback upto 72 hours. So, if you are on a long journey, your collection of books, videos and songs would always keep you busy. Say Bye Bye to those boring rides.

For a full list of features, visit the official Samsung Galaxy 750 page here.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 750, promises to be everything that you wished for. Never before you would have thought about having a video conference with your family members while you were on a bus. Never again you will be lost in a city. You will never miss your mails and news while you are away from your desktop/laptop. You can carry your entertainment wherever you go. This device does it all. Now you can be more productive, effective and all the more connected to your smart life with style.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 750 dares to enter your life and take control. Are you ready yet?

I am. It's time to TAB!

The possibilities are endless.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 750 Launch - Live Telecast

Samsung launches the Galaxy Tab 750 on 10th August in India, and the launch will be telecast live! Come back on 10th August to view the Live Telecast here.

If you are not able to view the telecast here, click on this image to see the telecast live on the Samsung Webcast Page.