Wat ? er !

Hello there,

Wish you all a happy new year 2015! Hope you have started the new year on a healthy note.

So, that blog which I mentioned earlier, is finally here. Potti vandirichi, Potti vandirichi.. :-)

As the name suggests, this is about water. But this is not to give gyan about how not to waste water, but rather to share about one technique which I implemented.

Because,

How not to waste water – is more of behavioral approach. Like for example – not to leave the tap open while brushing teeth, not to leave the shower on while not standing there etc. These are known to all, and no matter how many ever blog is written, unless the attitude is right, this cannot be achieved.

But the one I’m sharing here – is a one-time setup.

The idea is to save the outlet water from the water-purifiers that usually goes into the kitchen sink.

Water purifier industry in India is growing day-by-day.  People feeling the importance of hygienic water, consequences of water-borne diseases, low prices of purifiers – have all influenced it.

Around 35,000 water purifiers are sold ONLY in Bangalore, each year. The overall volume in India is expected to be 1.5 Crore units by end of 2015. (Currently 78 lakhs).

The CAGR (Compound Annual growth rate) for water purifier is expected to be 25% (currently at 22%).

Okay, here is how it looks:

Usually, one tube goes into the water purifier for input, whereas one come out to dispose the waste water.

All we need to do is to get extension tubes and divert the outlet to a different destination where that water can be used. Now, this waste water is obviously not fit for drinking, but can surely be used for utility purpose, like washing vessels, watering the plants etc.,

The extension tubes are available with the water-purifier servicing fellow for an average price of Rs.100 per 2 meter tube.

In my case, the bedroom balcony where I have a small garden, is just 3 meter from the kitchen window (structure-wise), and I just needed a 4 meter cable to connect both. Now, the outlet water reaches balcony through the kitchen window (from outside the building) which is very convenient to water the plants.

And as the original water is from bore-well (with a mix of ‘so-called’ cauvery water), the water purifier just takes the drinkable part of it, and leaves the remaining which is nothing but mud and other common elements obtained from the ground. So this is just good for the plants.

Roughly, in Bangalore, the water purifiers, at an average, throw 1 litre of water for every 1 litre that is filtered in. So, if you consume 8 litre of filtered water in a day, then 8 litre of water goes out through the outlet tube as well. This is a huge quantity and can be used extensively.

If you live in an independent house, this also saves your personal electricity expenses where the water that is pumped up to the overhead tank is used for household purpose. This activity will no longer be required if you use the outlet water smartly.

I implemented this 6 months back and it has saved a lot of water for us. The maid uses this to wash the floor, to clean the bathrooms, we water the plants with this – every day.

.

India has 17% of world’s population, but only 4% of its water.

And out of that 4%, only 5 % is given for municipality purpose (88% goes for irrigation).

Just thought of sharing this. I would be more than happy if atleast 10 people adapt this, thereby saving around 80 litre of water every day.

The above is just one idea, I’m sure there are many (lik Rain water harvesting). If you know other simple-to-implement ideas, please put in a comment for the benefit of others (or email me).

ta ta bye bye for now..

Linga Movie Review

Hello,

Don’t be surprised if you did not get an email from me that I have updated my blog with Linga movie review. This review must not come as a news or shock to most of you – whether you’ve seen the movie or not. But I still wanted to register my view of the movie as a normal movie watcher.

Straight to the matter:

I feel that the flashback portions are the actual movie. As there is absolutely nothing before or after it. Within 20 minutes into the movie, the flashback starts. The interval arrives at a crucial portion in the flashback. 2^nd half begins with flashback continuation. Once flashback is over, within 15 minutes, movie is over.

Any commercial mass masala movie is good only when there is a cat & mouse game between Hero and Villain.  Here, there are 2 such scope – Old Rajni Vs Britishers, New Rajni Vs Politician. The second one lasts for hardly 10 mins. Better, they could have released this as a period film instead. Successful dam opening should have been the climax.

Songs By A.R Rehman are simply pathetic. Despite playing 1000 times a minute through TV trailers, one can’t remember even a line from the lyrics or music. Have you heard the original Spanish Gasolina song ?

Santhanam and Karunakaran are relief to some stupid things in the movie. Sonakshi Sinha & Anushka Shetty just behave like commercial movie heroines. The latter has some role to play, but the former was not at all required actually. Cinematography is too good. This compensated the lag in editing.

Despite all these depressing factors, Rajni looks stunning throughout the movie – infact, out of his last 10 movies, this is the best he has looked. But all that is wasted by everything surrounding it. If it was for some other hero, this would have become like a Perarasu movie. But they will for sure do the collections, using the Rajni mania as a trump card.

(The best punch dialogue in the movie was the one from Britisher to Rajni" Unna paatha Dam katra maari therla, andha ponna katra maarithan iruku") :-)

Linga is purely for “hard core ISI AGMARK BIS 916 Hallmark ISO 9000” Rajni Fans.

Note: That blog i promised in end of Kathi review, is still on its way.. Potti varala, Potti varala, Potti varala...

Kathi - Very sharp !

Hello Good people..

Nice to meet you after a good gap.. (well, actually its bad gap, coz its long ;-) )..

Its been months that i wrote a blog, its been an year that i wrote a movie blog..  I watched more than 15 movies in various languages in the last 2-3 months.. ( you must be wondering what kind of life i'm in - for watching 15 movies .... well..stuck in a winter cum rainy weekend in Germany, with free unlimited internet access, what else can a guy do - apart from drinking Bavarian Beer that is.. lol)

Ok, straight to the matter - i saw one movie today in theater, making it the 16th movie, but this movie made me stretch my Sunday night to sit and write a short blog on it..

The movie is Kathi (Tamil movie), meaning Knife.

Director - A.R. Murugadoss; Lead Actor : Vijay (in dual role).

A Movie with a good social message.

Over the last few months, I've become a fan of RJ Balaji.. so i will phase this in his style..by splitting my feedback into 1) Ada..!  ( WOW moments)  & 2) Che  (Shit! - not the literal one)

The 'Ada' moments:

1) Vijay: I've never been a Vijay fan at any given point in my life  (dont ask me if i'm an Ajith fan for that matter.. nope.. i'm just a fan of Quality movies and not any particular actor, which indirectly makes me a Kamal Hassan/Aamir Khan fan most of the time , hmm tk tk pk pk ).

But, I can say that I've never seen Vijay act and emote like this in any of his previous movies..great performance from an experienced artist, that his fans and public were waiting for..  The first time he did a dual role was a pathetic failure. but this time though its double treat. He is the highlight of the movie - though script is good, you need the right person to take it to the public.

2) A.R. Murugadoss

Through the Hindi version of Gajini, people all over India know Murugadoss and his style of film making. This time, he has included a good social message on how MNC's occupy agricultural lands and destroy natural resources like water and spoil the livelihood of farmers.

The detailing that he shown in each subject or event in the movie is too good..

And this guy has made Neil Nitin Mukesh 'act'!! what more..

3) Dialogues & detailing:

To say about this - in a scene in the movie, a village girl asks the hero - what is communism, help me understand in one line, in simple language. The answer is : assume you are eating idli's. Once your hunger is satisfied, the next idli you have, belongs to another person. - wow! Crisp!

There is a scene where he tells about a Beer manufacturer (whom we all know) and compares his loan/bankruptcy to the loan the farmer borrows. Excellent scene.

Lines such as "the farmer's agricultural product reaches the city people's plates, but their problem dont reach " and the list goes on..

In the second half, lot of statistical details on number of lakes, rivers, ponds, agricultural lands lost to MNC's , indirectly poking a few cool drink giants is simply superb.

now, "Che" moments:

1) Samantha -

She doesn't really have any role to play in this movie.. You must be asking me - in which commercial movie does heroine have a role to play?  .. yes, i agree.. but atleast the heroine's existence brings out some reactions - like the villain kidnapping her to get to the hero..or trying to misbehave with her.. or following her to know hero's plans etc.,../ nothing of that sort happens here.. she is there, and she is just there..

What this has done to the movie : 3 songs were added just because there is a heroine. Some useless flirt scenes and horrible dialogues and so-called comedies were inserted..making this movie stretch upto 3 hours.. which otherwise would have been a crispy 02:20 movie..

2) Music - mainly songs -

Anirudh - the Kolaveri guy.. has composed several mind blowing albums in the last 6-8 months for many movies most of which were pretty average ones.. and for a good movie like this, sadly the songs are not good enough.. if you remember any one song, one line, after the movie, you should be having exceptional memory power..!

(Double Dhamaka - I happen to watch this movie at Comet Cine center (Mönchengladbach), along with my Srilankan Tamil friends.. happen to interact a lot with them and know more - and realise how big a fanbase Vijay has in Srilanka, and that they do Milk Abhisekham on his cutouts there!. )

Overall:

A.R.M continues his trend of making quality movies, but sadly he also continues inserting commercial elements, which i'm not too happy about.. IMO, directors should grow-up and avoid unwanted characters and situations from the movie..

But, i'm happy that - an actor, who has concentrated mainly on mindless masala movies over the last decade, is finally back to "acting".

Do watch this movie , for Vijay, for ARM, and mainly for the social message it carries.

And don't just stop with that - please try your best to save water at the maximum possible way at your level.. !

a hint - my next blog is going to be based on that message.. coming soon..!

Dankie,
;-)

Come online :-)

Hello there,

I believe this is the longest gap I've ever had in-between two blogs of mine. Needless to say – I’m no more in South Africa, but back to India!  I had to wait for some good topic to write something, and I believe I've got the content – the order of the day – Online shopping.

To start, what are the Benefits?

The primary objective of buying things online, for me, is the time & energy that is saved. 

Assume you need to buy a water purifer – you visit shops like Pai, VGP, Vivek’s, Girias, E-zone etc., to understand different models, offers, price difference etc., This consumes around 3 hours easily, and includes the commute, roaming around, finding a parking (if in Car, on weekend) etc., If you stay farther, 25 % of your weekend is gone!

In online, It's just the matter of entering the preferred model name or item name in Google and you get the list of models, offers, cash back offers, etc.,  For high value items, most shippers offer transit insurance as well.

Next, convenience

In the same case of buying a water purifier, in online, you can buy it during any time of the day – even at midnight or even from remote location. This helps those who are in night shift or arrive home late.

Things that you miss?

By buying a stuff like water purifier through online, you miss the demonstrations they do in stores. You cannot see in person how big or small the item looks.

-          So, what we can do is – to visit one shop, get the demo, note the model number and look for it online. Even if you are not getting the same price online, you can always go back to the same shop.

Some blame that this online thing makes people lazy. The point is, if you need to do shopping over the weekend, you have a schedule – to get ready in the morning, to plan the day with items to shop, shops to visit etc.,

 - But then, If we manage to get that done within an hour, under the fan, and use the rest of time well – like to play with kids or go for a walk or to a movie, what’s wrong ?

I wouldn't list cheating as a dis-advantage in online shopping, because it is mostly due to the carelessness of the buyer than the bad intention of the seller.

Now then, shopping effectively - ?? Well, below are some points that I've noted - 

What to buy?

First, in my view, you need to draw a line on the items that you can buy online. You just cannot click on every item you see in the site. For ex: I’m don’t like to buy clothes or shoes online, because the touch and feel of the material, the size (each brand has different sizes for same person) etc., are missing online.

In case of groceries, like Dal or rice or other Flours, you cannot see the quality of the items.

And also fragile items like glass, lampshades can get damaged no matter how good they are packed. It’s just unwanted time & energy wasted in dealing with customer service, ordering refund or replacement etc.,

Deal or No deal ?

Secondly, i.e., once you have decided what to buy , the question is the price. Major cheating happens at this point.  You MUST know what the M.R.P of the item is in the market. If not, then do not take a chance. A website posts Rs. 999, then slashes it and says Rs.499, offering 50% discount, whereas the actual MRP of the item will be Rs.399. You would feel you could have bought it in a local fancy store.

A major contribution to this is the brand name.  For ex: if you are buying a lunchbox, famous names are Tupperware, Cello, Milton etc., and have prices in the range of Rs.700 – Rs.1000. Now, you see a brand called “John utensils, since 1895” offered at Rs. 400, without discounts. As the difference is upto 60%, it makes you think that , perhaps you need not spend a lot for these items, and go for it. But it might end-up to be a local product, made in some corner of the city with poor plastic and sold in K.R market for Rs.250.

Good seller?

For online shopping, there are two types of websites. One where the website sells the items, ex - Firstcry, Babyoye and the other where various sellers list their items on a website, ex - Snapdeal, Flipkart.

The difference is that – in case of former, there is one uniform set of rules for the website company, but for latter, rules like replacement, refund, insurance all depends on the seller of that item.

In this case, most websites have a customer feedback like points or % of satisfaction tagged to the seller. So, when you note the seller, a figure in the brackets is displayed, like 87%, meaning 87% of the customers who have purchased from them have expressed satisfaction.

Don’t go by the photo:

Marketing of the product is at its peak when it comes to online shopping. The picture of the item will be very colorful, big and tempting. But make sure to read the features and specifications. 

For ex – Kitchen storage boxes. In the picture, it looks very big and great. But it might just be having 1 Ltr capacity & made of some thin plastic (which can be found under features tab).

Where does this all end-up?

A common question. I've heard a lot of them complain that this online shopping has become a habit or even more an addiction. There are people who've spent a lot of money online for unnecessary & unwanted things. What about that ?

Well – This one’s easier answered than done.

The mantra is – Don’t look for discounts, then items and shop.  But Look for item, then discount.

People tend to get carried away seeing 80% discount, and end-up buying an item totally use-less for them.

Also, try to identify the items that you might require in a short term, and to start searching for deals say 2 months in advance.  For ex: A gift for kid’s birthday, a water heater for winters etc.,

Regular customer?  Known shop keeper?

This is one valid point. But it all depends upon how well, and for how long you know the shop-keeper. That defines the percentage of margin that he is ready to fore-go or compromise for you.  You must take this into consideration as well, when evaluating the online deal. If you've established a good relation with a shopkeeper (most women have one with a nearby stainless steel shop), then you must utilize that to get good offer. Some websites also do issue loyalty points every time you shop with them..

Now, when our very own government has started implementing online-based activities like R.T.O, PF etc., why don't we try this world ? Come Online :-)

But end of day, there is one MAJOR & IMPORTANT benefit that most of my friends would agree with me:

This online shopping option is sure to ease the life of several husbands who spend time waiting outside the shops, mostly with the kid in hand, while the lady browses through the variety inside, patiently!

Hope this helped you in some way..!

Shubh Shopping !! ;-)

24 years of living on 22 yards!

Sachin Tendulkar retired from test cricket recently, ending his 24 year cricketing career. Just thought of writing what I feel about him& all other things around him. Again, MY OPINION.

  

 

His advantage as I see:

He made his debut at a very young age of 16 when most of us carried our 11^th standard books to school in a cycle. So, the selection committee had long time to invest in him considering that if he clicks then we will have a solid player for at least 20 years..!

Also, he got a chance to play bowlers like Walsh, Ambrose, W. Akram, W. Younis, Glen Mcgrath etc., in the initial years of his career which made him more stronger. When these legends retired and new players came in, he was already a senior player & was very comfortable to handle them.

My favourite Sachin moments:

There are 34000 odd runs that he scored but there are sure to be some favourite moments for all of us. For me, his back-to-back centuries in Sharjah against Australia – one to make India qualify for finals & other to win the final was awesome – Master class & ability to dominate any bowling attack.

I’m not quite a fan of heavy runs scored in the flat Indian pitches. But this one was special – the mighty 103* against England on day 5, successfully chasing 487 in the Chennai test in 2008 – talk about composure.

Batting with a sore back during the Chennai test Vs Pakistan scoring 136 (where India folded after his dismissal and lost the match) and his emotional century against Kenya in 1999 World cup – a day after his father’s death – these show his level of concentration & focus on the game.

Now, what I think was missing-

As much as I’ve seen, I hardly saw Sachin farming the strike with tail-enders and extending the total or Lead.  Recently, Rohit sharma batted with No.11 (Shami Ahmed) and made a partnership of 80 runs - that is what I mean!

With 154 ODI wickets & 47 test wickets, Sachin was a potential all-rounder who could send down some variety of spin. But he bowled only in less than 50% of his total matches. Whether he himself opted out – or did the captain not use him properly – or was there fitness concern – is still a question! (Wait for an auto-biography ;-)

 

When did it all go wrong?

This again is a simple logic explained in “3 idiots” movie – don’t run behind success, thrive for excellence & success will follow you by itself”. In the earlier part of his career, Sachin didn’t care about anything and he batted fluently. Runs were coming easily for him and records were broken. But when public & media started calculating his statistics like 50^th 100, 100^th 100, 100 in all countries, 100s each year, etc etc., pressure was inevitable.  When he entered the 90’s, he started becoming nervous.

Even in his last match, as Sachin was entering the ground to bat for one last time, people started to tweet that he should score 153 runs so that he can end with 16000 test runs etc.,

A highly-optimistic fan even tweeted that Sachin should open the bowling as he is 3 away from 50 test wickets..!!

This shows how obsessed people are with numbers. – The same disease that grows from schooldays where a report card is more valued than the conceptual knowledge of a student.

As the funny old saying goes ‘Statistics are like bikini’s; they hide the important thing”. The pitch & conditions in which runs are scored, , the toughness of the bowling attack are all not explained in the statistics. Sometimes a 35 not out is better than a century. But these mad fans don’t just understand that and end up pressurising the player.

His enemies-

I won’t name Australia or England or Pakistan – because they only made him work harder & improved him. His real enemies were a select group of Indian public & the media who pressurised him unnecessarily. They failed to understand that he was a Human and not a machine.

And his injuries – needless to say – they break your momentum and tie you down. To recover & regain form quickly is stunning display of talent & commitment.

The build-ups –

Need to mention here - I’m an Anti – “Sachin fan”. (Not an “Anti–Sachin” fan; there is a large difference).  I like Sachin but hate those hard-core fans who portray him as a larger-than-life character by switching off TV once he gets out etc.,. The logic is simple

“No individual is greater than the game. The game created the players and whatever performance the player does is a service to the game & their nation”.

In the recently concluded WI series, where Kolkata & Mumbai crowd cheered & celebrated the fall of 2^nd Indian wicket (as Sachin would come to bat) was too much.

It’s actually funny to notice that Media & larger public were behind his blood for the last 2-3 years indirectly forcing his retirement because of non-performance in critical tours. And when finally he announced retirement, there is a huge build-up to it – asking India to sacrifice innings victory & make him bat for second time!! Come-on guys..!

In my opinion - he should have retired after the 2011 WC win, when India was also No.1 in test rankings.  This is already 2.5 yrs late, but nevertheless, an excellent career.

To play for 24 years is not a big thing - but to do so while scoring at an average of 45 & 53 in ODI's & Tests, amidst all these media hypes, pressures, Public demands & expectations, whole-lot of injuries - is simply CLASS.

As Farhan Akthar tweeted – Don’t think it is unfortunate to see Sachin retire; but think we are fortunate to have seen him play all these years.

I only hope that Sachin uses his remaining years in life to serve the game & nation in some way or other rather than picking up some non-productive things like commentating, article writing etc.,

Thank you Sachin,