Wednesday, November 28, 2012

~ Russian Gandhigiri ~

Bangaloreans can take a leaf out of Yekaterinburg, the fourth largest city of Russia, for our eternal Road problems. Watch the video to understand how they get the politicians to work.


Anyone game for such a thing in Bangalore?

Note: The *RISK* of getting arrested is pretty HIGH going by the current plight of freedom & expression in India.

Moscow Times | LA Times

Saturday, November 24, 2012

~ Happiness can win ~


The warm video of Michelle Jenneke is warm. Her state of happiness & smile rubs on you, that competition need not be ugly & tense provided you have the right outlook. Enjoy the video.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

~ Bangalore Traffic Police & power of IT ~

Am impressed with the way Bangalore Traffic Police has begun adopting the power of Information Technology over the years.
  1. They got away with the paper receipts for booking offences to reduce or marginalize corrupt practices by introducing Blackberry mobile solutions. This gives tracking historical offences & also the fine one pays goes into the Govt coffers
  2. Under the BTRAC 2010 program, they introduced the Surveillance cameras 
  3. Also introduced enforcement cameras to regulate the speed limit
  4. Embracing and usage of Social Media - Twitter, Facebook - for better communication, interaction & management with the citizens, makes a good model for adoption for other cities
  5. They are coming up with couple of Traffic Management Centers to keep tab on the overall city infrastructure. 

Today they have announced that Citizens can now take pictures and share it with the Traffic Police on violations. Am gonna put my mobile phone to good use now. Fellow Bangaloreans watch out, Citizens are now armed. Good initiative by BTP. The Service is called Public Eye.




Not really concerned whether the offender will be booked or go Scot-free, I shall be doing my bit.


BTP Website | Vision (PDF) | Live Traffic Feed (Video)

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

~ Moto2 Thriller ~




Phew! What a race. Never seen anything like that before. Starting at 33rd grid position and moving up 32 places, thats essentially everyone on the race track to win the race.

Marc Márquez, the 19yr old from Spain,  has taken the Moto2 crown and moving up to the GP level. He will be replacing the Casey Stoner, 2011 World MotoGP Champion, for the Honda team. Am sure  the existing GP riders will be aware of what he is capable.

For the coming season, will be supporting the Doctor who is back with Yamaha. May be once Doctor announces his retirement you know whom I am gonna owe my allegiance to ;)

This race is definitely worth collecting.

Image: MotoGP

~ Dynastic game changer ~

Deceit is the tactic which is well formulated by the Prince of Dynastic Ruling Party. Came across a thoughtful post by Shining Path on Charming PM-to-be if everything goes in 2014 :)

He has lied in his affidavit on the year of passing, which is no big crime. Did we miss the VK Singh Date of Birth issue?



Apart from hogging media spot-light by spending nights at village homes in his constituency, the ground reality seems to be totally different from the stats which Shining Path has shown. 

Here is a colourful quote by Ram Jethmalani:

“It will help if you also tell the curious Indian nation what books you have read during the last five years; have you published any articles or any readable material on politics, economics, terrorism, war and peace? Is there any speech in Parliament, to the local Rotary Club or to a bunch of tiny toddlers with a single quotable quote that illumines or inspires and gives us some clue to your intellectual attainments?” [Click here to access complete article]

I hope there is more karma yoga than talk.

~ Drink no evil coffee ~



Am not trying to scare you with the *words* of evil &  coffee. The phrase is related to the current scrutiny of the World's µost reputed companies by the MPs in the UK, for tax avoidance.

The companies that are currently in the eye-of-storm are - Amazon, Google & Starbucks. 

Google, specifically, has this philosophy of making money without being evil. Guess that rule from their Corporate Code of Conduct is limited to how they use technology and not for their conduct of running a business nor accounting practise - finding loopholes in the system to avoid paying of taxes.

Am sure this is not the first time such a thing has occurred anywhere in the world. The audit & accounting firms around the globe always know the Tax rules/laws in the operating countries to help the Companies avoid paying high taxes. Have always wondered if the Tax laws are drafted with loop holes such that the CAs can come up with various methods of evading or avoiding taxation.

"And remember… don’t be evil, and if you see something that you think isn’t right – speak up!"

Conclusion on Google's Code-of-Conduct for you :)

Don't forget the concept of tax avoidance is way too common in Indian Businesses. The current Indian Govt itself is tainted with corruption & various scams - CWG, 2G, Coal, etc. Not to forget the recent acquisitions from the IAC that Government is colluded with the Corporate Bigwigs. So can't expect them to take on companies.

More news: BBC | Guardian | Reuters | WSJ | DailyMail (Image source)

Monday, November 12, 2012

~ Help: O+ve Blood ~


One on my friend's mother is in need of platelets as she has been diagnosed for Leukemia and is currently undergoing treatment in Columbia Asia Hospital, Yeshwanthpur, Bangalore. A blood platelet count test is performed every morning and based on the count, doctor advices a blood platelet transfusion or blood transfusion. So, the need might arise any day (today/tomorrow/next week/so on). The blood donor should meet the following basic criterias.

a. Should be of O+ve blood group.
b. Should weigh a min. of 60 Kgs.
c. Should not be under any medication (fever, flu, pneumonia, dengue, etc).
d. Should not have consumed alcohol in the past 2 days (considering the day of donation).
e. Should not have undergone any ear-piercing or tatoo'ing since the last 6 months.

The blood/blood platelets are collected at Columbia Asia Hospital, #26/1 Brigade Gateway, Beside Metro, Malleshwaram West, Bangalore 560 055

Point of Contacts:

Mr. Chidananda.G.K - 9901588995 (Primary)
Mr. Ashwin.B.C - 9880756359
Mr. Chetan.B.C - 9901588996

Request the donor to drop a message in advance to any of the above mobile numbers or to revert to the mail ID: chetan.chidananda@accenture.com or to ashwinbc@gmail.com

Please share across your contacts and help them have the contact details of donors in advance.

Sunday, November 11, 2012

~ Google House ~

Am sure Google wants to get into your home some day for sure.

Friday, November 09, 2012

~ Hug ~

Did you know which is the most liked photo on the planet?


Yes, Obama hugging his wife Michelle. Am sure of what the highest ReTweets (RT) count is currently. But the tweet from Obama's account stands at 803,611

Am sure that the photograph shall go into the history books :)