Avial

Indian government recently announced the launch of Sakshat - a $35 tablet. The tablet has 2 GB RAM, no hard disk, USB port, and built-in Wi-Fi connectivity. It comes with a PDF reader, multimedia player, video conferencing, Web browser, and word processor. If all these work, I think we have a product which is worth every cent spent on it. However, I am still not gung-ho about the product. South East Asian countries manufacture electronic products that are imitations of big brands at a very cheap price. My Taiwanese friend claims that an iPhone equivalent and look alike costs $15 in the streets of Taipei. These products suffer from poor reputation; they are branded unreliable. Sakshat, I fear, might turn out to be one such product. Indian govt. should have waited till Sakshat was field tested before making tall claims about it. From business point of view, the press release stunt was unnecessary because the market was guaranteed anyway. Gaining international reputation being the mot...

One could have the balls to try mountain biking but the real challenge is to have them intact at the end. I believe that I do, because of the urge in me to get on the bike again and complete the trail that beat me. Alas, if only I could walk. Folks, I went mountain biking on Pacific Ridge Trail, Irvine, CA last saturday with a couple of friends from Broadcom. I have biked earlier on Whiting ranch wilderness park trail. This trail, facing NewPort Beach for a stretch, is supposed to be more scenic. The first third of the trail was narrow and winding with bushes on either side, demanding intense concentration. After a water-break at a summit, we started going down on a broader path (a highway by mountain biking standards) at a high velocity. Blame the lapse in concentration or the the view on my left and or the speed (that thrills but kills), I did not notice the sand in front of me. The sudden slow down along with my poor technique in navigating sand caused the front wheel to wobble and...

Austin, I am told, is the only liberal city in an otherwise conservative state of Texas. Though irrelevant to this topic, I like adding that :-). It is the capital of Texas, fourth largest city in the lone-star state and fifteenth largest in the country. Austin was a part of my long weekend travel plan that included San Antonio. I reached Austin on the 3rd of July, late in the night and left on the 6th of July before daybreak. Day One - 4th of July Meeting with Anuranjan and Navin Anuranjan Jha was my senior at CISL Lab, Columbia University who graduated just when I joined the lab. Anu (as he is fondly called) and me share a common interest - Running. We met for lunch (actually he picked me up from Kumar's house) at Trudy's, a Tex-Mex cuisine. We had some elaborate discussions on half marathon/ marathon training, music that inspires running, music in general, general fundaes on life, life, ... :-). To cut the long story short, we did a lot of catching up. After meeting Anu, I ...

I promised Kumar to visit him at Austin during the Independence day long weekend. However due to exorbitant ticket prices ($500 for round trip to AUS from SNA), I took a flight to San Antonio for my onward journey, where Kumar joined me. In retrospect, it was a wise decision as I might not have visited this historical city otherwise. La Alamo After watching Colbert interview (read make fun of) the mayor of San Antonio, Julian Castro, during the week before my trip, I was eager to visit La Alamo which is the venue of a pivotal event in Texas Revolution, Battle of the Alamo. During this battle, a Mexican army of more than 2000 soldiers were defended by a Texian army of 200 soldiers for 13 days before the Texians capitulated. Buoyed by a desire for revenge, the Texian army with aid from adventurers from United States defeated the Mexicans, thus ending the revolution. This monument tells the story of important personalities of this war. Artifacts such as the guns, swords, knives, letters a...