Infinite thoughts

Started with a new blog - adsameeksha . Many of the advertisements, commercials catch my eyes and wanted to share with you all the things that I observe in those ads. It could be a good thing or something that I don't like. Since I felt there are too many such ads about which I would like to write about, decided to start a new blog itself. Hope you all like it. Cheers!!

During my recent vacation, I happen to have my first experience with the telescope and I must say it was astonishing. The hotel, where I was staying, had a beautiful lawn just next to the beach, which essentially meant a fully open sky and that too without much illumination around. As part of the guest entertainment programme, the hotel had invited one of the astronomy enthusiast to help the guest with stargazing. The person had brought a good telescope for this purpose and was using it to show the planets like Saturn and Moon. Unfortunately, we didn't have a clear sky that day because of the impending monsoons. It had rained just a day before and the sky was still a bit cloudy. However, we could see the Moon and the Saturn very easily. The Moon had a beautiful hallow with diameter of around 20 feet and at the edge Saturn was shining. The person started with showing Saturn through the telescope. Initially he used lesser magnification as the queue was long. Now, you would say what...

Finally I am coming out of estivation after a gap of more than 3 months. I didn't use the word " Hibernation " deliberately, since I just relaized that I was inactive on the blog for the whole of this summer. Nothing much has changed in past 3 months except for a few good news. Work kept me completely busy. So even though it was dormancy on the blogging front, it wasn't the case on professional side. Currently enjoying the pre-mosoon showers at my new home: On a beautiful evening I captured this from the balcony (my builder calls it terrace :) ) "नभ मेघांनी आक्रमिले...." Hoping to have frequent blog update in coming days. Watch out for this space ...

This one is on infrastructure. 3.a. I heard people cannot use the lane reserved for BRT. How will this be ensured (unless there is a divider on both sides of the lane)? If there is no divider, then I think its not possible to prevent people (at a basic level we have a problem people not obeying signals) from using this lane (at times of peak hours and traffic jams). How is this aspect taken into care? 3.b. Are safe cycle stands planned at the bus stops so people can literally ‘get from anywhere to anywhere in Pune’? 3.c. Now a days buses are flooded beyond their limits, is there any increase in no. of buses during peak hours? 3.d. BRT lane is in the middle of the road, a person has to cross the road and come on the Bus Stand. Is't it risky? 3.e. Having signals etc is fine, but would the duration be sufficient for senior citizens and the el derly to finish crossing the road comfortably? 3.f. Now that the road is being dug up for expansion, any chance of having good ...

2.a. AG: Assuming that the BRT is a success on Satara road, how will it be implemented for narrow roads? (Satara road is probably the widest of all, what about Karve road, JM road, the old Mumbai-Pune highway, and so on.) 2.b. JI: Is the BRT planned to let me get from anywhere to anywhere in Pune? Meaning how well covered is the network going to be that will not warrant me needing to take my vehicle out so I do not have to be at the mercy of rickshaw wallas? 2.c. PK: Why waste money on a system when it cannot be implemented across Pune? Only 1-2 roads in Pune can support exclusive lanes, then why run a pilot project which anyway will be scrapped or limited to 1-2 roads? It is a waste of tax payers money. ------------------------------------- A typical BRT road needs: a footpath, a cycle track, at least one "other vehicles" lane, one bus lane, a bus stop - all this on both sides, plus an optional bus lan e for overtaking other buses. This infrastructure needs a road width of 3...

Acknowledgements first! :) The questions were sent by: Amarendra Godbole, Gopal Phadke, Jhumkee Iyengar, Mahesh Ambi, Neeta Garud, Prateek Kaul, Shambhavi Borkar, Ujjwal Joshi. Many thanks! We have grouped the questions in 9 categories. We cover category (0 and) 1 today. ------------------------------------------------- 0. Main objectives of BRT: ( Do read the Prologue ) ------------------------------------------------- Create a "metro on tyres" on the roads to increase throughput (no of persons carried per hour by the entire transportation infrastructure), to keep pace with growing needs while providing an alternative to discourage personal transport in order to prevent congesting the roads and reduce pollution. Provide footpath/cycle tracks in the road design to sustain/ encourage non-motorized transport. All in all, provide cost effective, sustainable transportation to all sections of society. 1.a. GP: How is it different from good o...

There's lot of discussion going on about BRT in last few months. There seems to be more confusion and that too based on some prejudices and self-made-assumptions. In an attempt to answer few of those queries and create a better environment to understand the whole BRT system, few of my friends has started a series on BRT FAQ. All of us belong to a movement which is named as 'Save Pune Traffic Movement' and more details about this movement could be found here . I thank Harshad Abhyankar, Rajendra Sidhaye and other folks in the movement for allowing me to re-publish the FAQ that they are putting together with a lot of effort. BRT Prologue: What is BRT? BRT is not just high quality clean fuel buses moving in dedicated lanes at high speeds. Not just clean and well-designed bus stations, ticketing and passenger information boards, route maps etc. All these are of course important and need to be executed to the highest standard possible, but this is only part of the total pict...

It was not a that good experience to see SRK hosting KBC event. He spent almost all the time in either mimicing the Big B or deliberately showing him down. It all started with the opening statement for the KBC episode, after almost a year since Shahenshah left the stage. Every statement was indirectly challenging Big B's. Unnecessary criticism over Amitabh's 'shuddh hindi', his suits, his lingo everything. The bad part was even if it was SRK on the show, I could always see Big B everywhere - on the stage, in the movements of SRK, the gestures, the hand movements, the dialog delivery everything. Yes, I am pro Big B but I liked SRK in Don 2. I really liked that movie. Probably because many years were passed since the original Don. There were places where SRK was totally under the influence of Amitabh, but overall, I could remember only Farahan Akhtar and SRK at the end of Don 2. I couldn't do that with KBC. With the supposed background of political feud between Big B ...

Saturday evening. After a hectic day (meetings from 11 AM till 8:30 PM and off course a free lunch - courtsey: my builder) we decided to order pizza. Smokin' Joe's Kothrud was the obvious choice as they are the only ones who deliver pizza at my place near chandani chowk. 9:10 PM - Placed the order. Smokin' Joes confirmed the order to be delivered in 45-50 minutes. Last time it got delivered in dot 45 minutes. So it was ok. 9:55 PM - the delivery boy has not arrived yet 10:00 PM - Meghana calls up SJ only to know that the delivery boy has left just 5 minutes earlier. That was shoking. 45 minutes to prepare pizza .... simply unbelievable!! She decides to talk to the manager. After following a linked list and repeating the casette at each node, finally she reaches the manager 10:05 PM - The delivery boy is nowhere to be seen yet. SJ Manager is getting kicked every passing second. He also tried to use the lame excuse that the delivery boy might not have found the address. The...

So ISRO talent hits another success. India has successfully launched the PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) rocket, this time with 4 satellites. This mission marks quite a few achievements for India: This was the first time Indian scientist provided the PSLV rocket to launch satellites for other countries viz. Argentina and Indonesia. This will open up market for us to provide services to many other countries who don't have the required technology for such launch or do not have the required infrastructure. It has two fold advantage - first obviously money and second is prestige. With this launch we have taken a step towards the manned moon mission. This rocket also carried a Space Capsule that would return to earth after 13 days. This is just a test for the re-entry mechanism that our scientists have developed. For technical details about this launch, read: PSLV Successfully Launches Four Satellites This is a significant step towards our vision India 2020 and in turn the manned ...

To mark the occasion of my 30th birthday, I have started a new blog - " गोष्टी मनातल्या " - completely dedicated for articles, poems, thoughts, stories in marathi. Even though this blog witnessed many of the articles/poems in marathi, recently I started feeling that the blog is getting kind of cluttered because of the mix of the languages. And that called for an idea to start a blog dedicated for my marathi expressions. I hope to continue blogging at both places with equal or even with an increased frequency this year. Thanks for all those who visited my blog and encouraged me with their comments. Keep visiting!!

माझी नूमवि.. नूतन मराठी विद्यालय... १२५ वर्षांची झाली. १ जानेवारी माझ्या शाळेचा वाढदिवस. विष्णुशास्त्री चिपळूणकरांनी नवीन वर्षाच्या पहिल्या दिवशी एका नवीन अध्यायाची सुरुवात केली. इंग्रजी राज्याच्या काळात मराठी शाळेची गरज ओळखून आपल्या इतर सहकार्‍यांच्या मदतीने शाळेच्या कार्यास सुरुवात झाली. गेल्या १२५ वर्षांच्या काळात माझ्यासारखे लाखो विद्यार्थी शिकून बाहेर पडले.. नुसते शिकून नाही तर सुसंस्कृत होवून. शाळेला लाभलेल्या एकाहून एक महान शिक्षकामुळेच अनेक महान विद्यार्थी पण तयार झाले. जसे की - रॅंग्लर र. पु. परांजपे, माजी सरन्यायाधीश श्री. चंद्रचूड, वि.स. घाटे इ. माझ्या जडणघडणीत महत्त्वाची भूमिका बजावणार्‍या शालामातेस त्रिवार वंदन करून या वर्षातील ब्लॉगींगला सुरुवात करतो!! http://www.numavi.com (अजून बाल्यावस्थेत आहे) http://www.numavi125.org/index.php

सरत्या वर्षाने दिलेले दुःख विसरून, मिळालेल्या सुखाच्या आठवणी बरोबर घेऊन, जुनी नात्यांची हिरवाई जपत, नवीन नात्यांची पालवी घेवून, पूर्ण न झालेले संकल्प या वर्षी पूर्ण होण्याची मनीषा बाळगत नवीन वर्षात प्रवेश करू यात. .हे नवीन वर्ष तुम्हा सर्वांना सुखासमाधानाचे, समृद्धीचे आणि शांततेचे जावो हिच सदिच्छा!! ॐ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदं पूर्णात् पूर्णमुदच्यते । पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते ॥ ॐ शांतिः शांतिः शांतिः ॥

For past few weeks we (me and my better half ) are continuously observing a steep downfall in the service provided by the retail chains such as Pyramid, TruMart, Spencer's Daily (formerly Food World) and the likes. Being in software industry and not yet reached to a level where one can slip out of office at 6 PM, we invariably end up visiting these supermarkets on the weekends. Typically, most of them are out of stock for half the things that we have on our list to purchase. Be it a common thing like atta or something not so common. If you are lucky enough to find the stock, it would be way old, close to the expiry date. More to your unfortune, you would spot some life, which we don't dare to it, inside the packed food item. We initially thought it's just us who are not that fortunate to find the required stuff. But after repeated instances at TruMart, Bhandarkar Road, we approached the customer helpdesk only to find that they don't keep the complaint book. To our surpr...

Just came across a website for Pune Traffic and Trasportation Forum. Seems to be a good collection of the information about traffic and transportation in the context of Pune city. So thought of putting together few sites that I feel could be useful for interested people: Pune Traffice Police Save Pune Traffic Movement Pune Traffic and Trasportation Forum Kum. Rajshree Parmar Memorial Foundation

गेल्या काही दिवसांपासून मी एका "home theatre"च्या शोधात आहे. आपसूकच माझे लक्ष "सोनी" कंपनीच्या उत्पादनाकडे गेले. मी त्यांच्या कोथरुडच्या दुकानाला भेट द्यायचे ठरवले आणि एका संध्याकाळी तिथे जावून थडकलो. एका प्रतिनिधीने स्वागत वगैरे केले. प्र.: "वेलकम सर. व्हॉट कॅन आय डू फ़ॉर यू?" मी: "होम थिएटर बघायचे आहे." प्र.: "कम धिस वे सर". प्र.: "हॅव अ सिट सर". मग आम्ही तिथल्या सोफ्यात स्थानापन्न झालो. समोरच दूरदर्शन संच, DVD player, ध्वनिवर्धक संच होते. ३ ध्वनिवर्धक पुढे आणि २ आमच्या सोफ्यापाशी. प्र.: "सर धिस इज अ ५.१ चॅनेल सिस्टीम. २ फ्रंट स्पीकर्स, २ रेअर स्पीकर्स, १ वूफर" त्यानंतर त्याने एक DVD चालू केली - डेमो. एका खोलीचे चित्र. त्यात स्पीकर्स दाखवलेले. आणि एक हेलिकॉप्टर वर घिरट्या घालत होते. ते चित्रात ज्या भागात फिरेल त्या भागातील स्पीकरमधून आवाज येत होता. कानाला खूप छान वाटले. दोन घिरट्यांनंतर प्रतिनिधीने DVD थांबवली आणि आमच्याकडे बघू लागला. आम्ही विचार करतो आहोत की हा पुढे काहीतरी बोलेल, अजून काहीतरी दाखवेल - नाही. शेवटी ...

मुन्नाभाई MBBS ने एक गोष्ट नक्की शिकवली आहे आपल्याला - 'जादू की झप्पी'. एक आलिंगन, एक मिठी काय चमत्कार करू शकते हे आपण बर्‍याच वेळा अनुभवलेले आहेच. आश्चर्याची गोष्ट अशी कि ऑस्ट्रेलियात अशी एक व्यक्ती खरंच आहे. त्या व्यक्तीने "मुक्त आलिंगन" अशी चळवळच चालू केलेली आहे. अधिक माहीतीसाठी वाचा: http://www.freehugscampaign.org/ मुन्नाभाई MBBS याच्यावरूनच बनवला होता काय?

सध्या सत्ताधारी पक्षाला 'जलद बस सेवे'चे श्रेय पदरात पाडून घेण्यापलीकडे काहिच दिसत नाही आहे. 'BRT' सेवा अपूर्णावस्थेत चालू करून त्यांनी आपली टिमकी वाजवलीच आहे. परंतु आता त्याच्यामुळे होणार्‍या अपघाताची जबाबदारी कोण घेणार आहे? काल रात्री 'BRT' च्या मार्गावरून भरधाव जाणार्‍या 'PMT' ने एका तरुणाला धडक दिल्याने त्याचा जागीच मृत्यु झाला. 'BRT' साठी वेगळा मार्ग असल्याने त्या वेगात जाणारच, परंतु, त्या मार्गावरुन 'PMT'ने जाऊ नये अशीच माफक अपेक्षा आहे. 'BRT' साठीचा मार्ग पूर्णपणे सुरक्षित झाल्याशिवाय बस सेवा सुरु करायलाच नको होती. कुठलीही योजना चालू करणे सोपे असते, परंतु त्याची बरोबर आणि योग्य अंमलबजावणीसाठी संयम आणि नियोजन लागते, ते सत्ताधार्‍यांकडे आहे का? Ref: http://esakal.com/esakal/12052006/FA9D2F32D9.htm

DNA has mentioned about the congestion tax that is being considered to be levied by airlines. This is to cover the costs that airlines have to born because of the air traffic congestion. The article nicely points out the various impacts on the aviation industry. Few airlines have started thinking of charging passangers a congestion tax which could be Rs. 750/- per passanger per travel to cover the costs incurred because the flight needs to be hovered over the airport. This is becoming a frequent incidence solely because of the lack of infrastructure. There is no question that someone has to pay the airlines for this loss. The question is who. The thought to levy the tax on passangers would just drove them away from the airlines and would force them to choose other modes of transport. Providing infrastructure is government's duty and hence government should be paying for the lack of it. Govt. is already collecting huge sum by direct and indirect taxes in various forms. It is a comm...

त्या गुलाबी वळणावरती भेटलास, आयुष्यभर साथ देईन म्हणालास, गोड स्वप्नांत गुंतले मी, तुझ्यासवे स्वर्गात पोहोचले मी. मधुचंद्राची गोडी, तुझी नी माझी जोडी, दॄष्ट लागली कोणाचीतरी, काढली कोणीतरी खोडी, तो काळा दिवस आयुष्यातला, पण कोणास ठाऊक होते, संध्याकाळच्या कातरवेळेस, माझे नशीबच बदलणार होते ऑफिसचा पहिलाच दिवस, तुझी वाट बघण्याची मजा, ह्रुदयात अनामिक हुरहुर, एका बातमीत झाली सजा बॉम्बच्या एका फटक्यात, उधळून गेला सगळा डाव, सव्वीस दिवसांचा संसार, उरला फक्त काळजात घाव तुझ्या आठवणींचाच आधार आता, जगण्याची उमेद देईल मला, देवा, पुढच्या जन्मी मात्र, त्यांच्या आधी नेशील मला!! जरुर वाचा: Married for only 26 days - 187 Mumbai Life Stories