Another channel (sigh) launched !

Another channel launched NDTV Imagine. Now this is the latest one to be launched (INX and Bindass were the recent ones).

How many more can an average TV viewer handle? We already have dozens of entertainment channels, which run Bollywood based shows and reality shows along with sitcoms.

I guess there is nothing new in entertainment channels that it’s very easy to get a channel on air,

Rent a satellite, bribe someone to get permit to air, shoot some reality shows, and …………………………………

Voila!

  Can we handle this?

DND Do Not Disturb

How irritating it is at time when you are in a meeting or at the hospital when you get a call offering you a credit that you already have? Or asking you to take an insurance policy that you don’t need?

National Do No Disturb/Call Registry for your rescue !

I am not sure if you guys know about this. It takes 4 weeks to be registered. I got my confirmation the other day.

Register your number with the national Do Not call/ Disturb Directory of India.

Now TRAI is planning to introduce fines for the unsolicited caller up to Rs 20,000 !

Who wants to be a Comic Book Hero?

There is a new (to me tho) TV show that I watched yesterday evening. I was tired from work and decided to watch something other than FRIENDS( I been sitting and watching FRIENDS DVD collection for one week now. NON STOP). I needed a break ! 

So tuning into Star World I got into some real fancy world. The show was titled Who wants to be a Super Hero?. And there was oversized, slim, thin, fit, people in fancy Superhero costumes. They looked more like ‘In circus’ to me. Well its not just the costumes and the funny dialogues that they kept ‘delivering’ that kept me glued to the channel, but also the ‘tasks’ they were asked to perform to prove themselves as a superhero….

  

One of the tasks included helping an old lady who was locked out of the house, the ‘Super Heroes’ has to find their way through the back door of the house and unlock the front door for the old lady. Seems pretty simple, not when you see two ferocious dogs in the backyard !!!

  

Well they put all the safety dress to go forward with the task. But then it was real scary ( I am scared of dogs or rather I hate them . Chandler Bing hate dogs too. ( I guess I am watching too much FRIENDS now).

  

But the way some of them finally managed to get to the door after being pulled down, bitten (they have protective coats of course but it was helping them so little to stand up and walk to the door).

  

Then the anchor (who only appears in a TV, like the Charlie in Charlies Angels, Yeah the difference would be that he is only on the phone/radio) gives them new costumes, eliminates one at each round and blah blah………..all that is part of a reality show.

  

The show is like a cartoon and to make ‘your’ or rather the contestants fantasies being a super hero come true. I call this show stupid. I guess people are running out of ideas to start reality shows

  

But if you really want Super Heroes like “Monkey Woman”, “Fat Momma”, “Major Victory” to save the world you should watch the show.

  

Official Web Site http://www.nashentertainment.com/television/superhero2/

Wikipedia Says this show was first aired in 2006, it has survived for two seasons now.

  

Schedule : Star World Tuesdays 2300

 Read this on American Inventor

Ma Old Blogs !

I almost forgot that I had an account with blogger.com. Recently while flushing out my old emails, I found emails from blogger. com. I decided to check what ‘crap’ I have written in those blogs ( I forgot the address of the blogs, the username and passwords ).

I tried all combinations of username and passwords I generally use. Nothing really worked. I tried the ‘Forgot your password’ feature, entered my blogname(thanks to google, I got my blog name).

Whoosh, I got the confirmation that an email has been sent to my ‘Hotmail account’. Man, it has been years since I used my hotmail account. I wondered whether that will work.

But it did, although it didn’t have any emails (except the confirmation from blogger). A few more clicks and I got my blogger account reactivated and found that I had three blogs !!!!! more than 2 years old( I realized I have a very bad memory).

 Reading through the Story of a desperate engineer @ desperate-engg.blogspot.com was fun. This reminded me of my days when I started ma career.

Also Life  had all the random thoughts that overcrowded my silly mind !

Reading through my old blogs I wondered how the work pressure and changing life gradually pulled me out of blogging. But then, I was back with a bang !!!

Scary Autorickshaws II

I was just surfing the net today, when I encountered this blog http://theeverydayblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Autos%20in%20B%27lore 

I see that I am not alone. But its sad that no one was considering the complaints this blogger has give for serious action !.

Scary AutoRickshaws !

“Please….Could you please drop me at my house???…Please……..”. YES I am pleading to someone and the person is an auto driver in Bangalore. 

They just say NO when they hear “HSR Layout”. Its either a blunt NO or nod as in ‘NO’. Sometimes they give me a look as if “who asked you to stay in HSR??”(For those who are not familiar with places in Bangalore, HSR layout is a residential area along the outer ring road near Koramangala or Near FORUM !) 

Sometimes they just say 35 Rs (for One KM ride, which is outrageous !!!!!!)…..If I ask him to turn on the meter he will shoo me away !Man!!!! the attitude of the auto drivers in Bangalore is outrageous !!!!

 Last week I boarded an auto to Koramangala from HSR ( approx 4 kms), he agreed to my demand to turn the meter on. It was surprising how the meter ran, it was running even faster than the auto. “Okay I get it” I thought and kept my cool. The auto reached a traffic stop, the driver killed the engine… the meter was running still !! !!!!! and that too pace that your 150 CC bike will look dumb! !!!  The meter being a mechanical one I was surprised !!!!.I asked him “Are bhai this meter is running like a jet plane !!” He said its waiting charge !!I got pissed off and asked him to stop in front of Madiwala Police station. He did, I got out and checked the meter, it read “50”. I gave him 30 and told him that this is all I have..He dint complain though, I guess he was scared that I will report it to the police who was right in front of the place we stopped!. He turned and sped away! 

The attitude these guys show is scary. They bargain the rates with us and they agree to one, but at the drop point they demand more with many reasons to prove them right  like the road was bad, its raining, its 8PM, its 8AM, you are ugly or whatever.I see no end to this. Yes, if the authorities were more kind to us in enforcing and initiating few things like 

1. Routine meter checks for tampering.
2. Prepaid counters setup near shopping malls, railway stations and bus stations.
3. At least not turning a blind eye when you they see the auto drivers treating us badly.

In Search Of An Apartment Part II

Well this time am not in ‘Gods own country’ am in the Garden city of India and in search of a house (desperately). I set off on ma bike to meet a number of agents whose numbers are all over the electricity poles, websites and newspapers. They take you out for a ride, through the alleys, streets and garbage. One agent promised me to show a 2BHK (Bedroom, Hall, Kitchen) house and the way he make money is real interesting. Owners have put signboards outside their house ( ‘To let’ or ‘for rent’ etc). The agent took me for a ride, stops when he sees a board and calls the number written on the board. He gets the key from the owner, show me around the house and if am interested gets one month equivalent as his brokerage.  Wait a min !!!!!!!!! ‘This is something I can do’ I thought. I can just go around a look for these ‘signboards’ and meet the owners by myself!!. This left me with no choice but to chase the agent away and go on my own. I roamed around the place, looked for boards…called a few owners, but didn’t get the bargain I was looking for. It was getting late and I thought I will resume my ‘search’ the next day. The next day was a long one with me starting the search as early as 10AM. Went around the place for a long time but couldn’t find any house that suited ma budget/choice.This left me with no other choice, but to call some other agents….

Finally the agent found me a house I was looking for. I lost one month rental as brokerage.

I hate dogs from 3rd July 2007

I went to the hospital after a serious Dog bite. The wound was deep and lost some blood too. The doctor advised a TT and anti-rabies injection. The injections cost pretty high, its imported from France said the doc. I dint care about the money, but wanted the dog dead by noon.

“Keep an eye on the dog for 10 days” said the doc “symptoms of rabies will be evident in 10 days, most probably if its infected, it will die in 2 weeks”. “If nothing happens to the dog, then nothing to worry.”  said the doc. They gave me two shots, and I have 4 more pending. These have to be taken on the 3^rd day, 7^th, 14^th and 28^th. That means I will have to wait two weeks before I can take revenge.

 Well it’s my neighbor’s pet dog, and it bit me while I was walking down the street. I did not invade its space, nor did I try for any confrontation. It just came and attacked me. I was wearing shorts, which is one of the reasons why I have a deep injury. How to take revenge on the dog? 

Plan #1

Beat the s*** out of it, but this mean direct confrontation and this is a bit risky. But this will sure cool me off, and will give me a feeling that I am indeed taking revenge.

   Plan #2 

Run over it with a car. But then this is too complicated. First of all, getting my car and the dog in position is gonna be tough. Nevertheless I could try my luck.

    Plan #3 

Use rat poison sandwiched with chicken pieces and bread. This tasty combination could be the easiest way to take revenge. This indeed will make me feel proud and happy each time I get the shots (FIVE TIMES!!!!!) and when I had difficulty in walking and all the mental pressure I went through.

    Honestly speaking, I am not going to go forward with any of my plans, but next time I see the dog, I will run and won’t act brave…