Thursday, June 29, 2006

Sarvam Mobilemayam!!

Reading at the title of the post itself you must have got the jist of this write up. Yes it is about the wireless world or shall we say the mobile world, we are into. Now having a mobile phone is not a luxury but is sometimes a bare necessity. Gone are the days when mobile was meant only for the elite class, now you can find mobile phone in every hand atleast in India.

With the many players in the field for providing you with the mobile hand set and connection to choose from the customer has a wide variety of choices never before. Today technology has provided us with choices that one now can have a very basic model with just messaging and calling to the most sofisticated model with camera, audio player, video player and whatever theat can be fit into a mobile handset.

These little electronic gadgets have changed way the we communicate in a big way. Few years back one used to search for the STD booth for calling his home, when he is far away from home. Now you can call (provided the network is there in the area you are travelling) without any bother to your home or vice-versa. When you have somebody's cell number most of the times you are sure to reach the exact person you wish to reach unlike landline connection. Gone are the days when a decade ago caller was charged Rs.16/min and the receiver with Rs.8/min.

With cell phones having in built audio-video players and camera etc, it has become quite easier to carry one gadget instead of many as many used to do when going to a trip or vacation. With bluetooth, infrared technologies you can also transfer data from one mobile to another quiet easily. The reach of mobile phones is amazing, throughout all sections of society regardless of the economic status.

Mobile phones with their usage has certainly change the way people behave or act in public places. You are now made to hear to the private conversation one is having with his mobile without bothering surroundings. Ring tones with all nuisances comes up all of a sudden from nowhere. With the cell phones usage, people spending time on telephone conversation has increased by leaps and bounds. No matter how many times the organisers tell the audience in a meeting, show or any perfomance to switch off their mobile phone or keep them in silent mode hardly anyone listens. So it comes hardly as a surprise, when in the middle of some important discussion the annoying ringing tone takes away the charm.

Cell phone buyers are often faced with problem of having plenty to choose from. More often than not one goes with the opinion of friends and of course the ads which influence the buyers quite a lot. Main concern for the cell phone buyers is the sudden decrease in price after they bought within 3-4 months itself. But that is the story with all the electronic items. So, you cannot predict the right time for buying the cell phone as is the case today with buying computers.

The most common question asked when a number is called is "Where are you?". Surely sometimes this is very annoying. It may prompt the receiver to tell lies.

Cell phones are here to stay. They have influenced our daily lives and continue to do so in the coming days with their new features.

Kannada Literature

Hi,

Following are some useful links if you are interested in Kannada Literature.

- Kannada Saahithya
- Vishva Kannada
- Kannada Saahithya Puta
- Sampada

Kannada Vishva Kosha
- Wikipedia

Raveesh

Monday, June 26, 2006

Big TIME in Small Towns

I was going through the TIME Asia, June 19, 2006 issue with the cover story "INDIA'S NEW DAWN" in the public library. When I was reading the initial pages, there was mention of Tier II cities in India coming up in a big way and so I thought why could not this magazine feature the growth of my native town, Mangalore. And then there was article regarding Bombay(now called Mumbai) as the the crucible of the new India. After a few pages, to my surprise there was mention of my home town Mangalore growing up, in "Life is Calling" by Aravind Adiga with the photo of Hampankatta Circle with flash lights. I was very happy that a small town of coastal Karnataka, capital of Tulu Nadu, being covered in an international magazine.

Truely, Mangalore has changed in last few years in a big way. It was tech giant Infosys which made its presence few years back. Then we had Mphasis coming and setting up shop here. With ONGC's project coming underway, Mangalore is coming up in a big way in the coming days.

Importance of Mangalore is evident from the fact that two national english dailies The Hindu and Times of India starting Mangalore Editions. Mangalore now has got a multiplex and an auditorium, claimed to be Asia's biggest. With Mangalore airport getting international status, city is bound to grow in a big way.

For Mangaloreans, Bombay had been the city of opportunities from several decades with many mangaloreans setting up hotel business or finding the job which was rare in Mangalore in those days. With the IT revolution, this has changed a bit with many of them going to Bangalore in search of jobs.

Infrastructure is the main concern here as it is with other Indian towns. Proper planning of the city is the need of the hour, if it has to avoid the state of chaos which Bangalore is facing now where most of the time is spent in the unavoidable traffic. Tier II cities like Mangalore, Mysore, Hubli and Belgaum have to be developed as the attractive destinations for investments if one has to reduce the burden on Bangalore.

Entrepreneurship is one distinguishing characteristic of Mangaloreans evident from the fact that four of the nationalised banks being started in Tulu Nadu, namely Corporation, Canara, Vijaya and Syndicate. One of the leading private sector banks Karnataka Bank also originated from Tulu Nadu.

With the city growing to provide with more employment opportunities one can expect all mangaloreans who have left Mangalore for better opportunities to return back. The day is not far when people from here need not look at Bombay and Bangalore as the only alternatives.

Following are the useful links in this regard
- Mangalore in TIME Asia
http://www.time.com/time/asia/covers/501060619/mangalore.html

- Mangalore in TIME International Edition
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1205363,00.html

- Mangalore in TIME Photo Esaay
http://www.time.com/time/asia/photoessays/2006/remaking_india/mangalore.html

Other News :
Happy to see one of my friends Shrinidhi's blog gets mentioned in The Hindu Business Line on June 26, 2006 in column by Swathi_CA. Congrats Nidhi.
Blogs are getting noticed, making news. So all bloggers happy blogging.

Till the next post comes up it is bye from Raveesh or as we say in Tulu solmelu.

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Good Old DoorDarshan Days

DoorDarshan or DD, seems like forgotten word nowadays. But there was one time, when only DD ruled.

Most of them if not everyone, in their 20's now, must have grown up watching DD. There was a time when we never used to miss Ramayan or Mahabharath at 9 in Sunday morning. Then we had Surabhi, what I can say about this program which used to be the complete 'Bharath Darshan',which used to come at Sunday night 9.

Movies only during the weekends, how eagerly we were waiting for the time to roll over to the show timings. Now we have channels, dedicated exclusively for movies, but the enthusiasm to watch the movies in TV, certainly has died.

Agreed that one has a lot of channels to explore now covering from news, music, sports, movies, religion and everything what you can put on TV. But what I have observed in the households I have visited is that, more time is spent in the browsing of channels than in watching any. And there is one more thing, not all of them have the same taste. So hardly anybody watches TV now with the same eagerness in the DD days.

Then there was Chitrahaar the programme featuring Hindi film songs and for Kannadigas we had the Chithramanjari. This used to be the only music programmes featuring film songs. Of course, now we have whole bunch of channels dedicated for music, serving TV audience.

One can never forget the impact Guddeda Bhootha (a Kannada Serial in DD in those times), made in Karnataka, particulary in Dakshina Kannada District. Even today, people today talk of the serial and the impact it made.

It is not that whatever we have today is worthless, the news channels broadcasting news 24 hours, watching movies in repeat telecasts, hearing music whenever we want, have certainly made our life lot better, but can not make such an impact such that the whole nation would come to standstill when there was Mahabharath on TV.

But still in the remote villages of India, one still watches the same old DD with the same eagerness as before.

Comments are welcome

First Blog

Fine,

Finally landed up starting a blog. Seems that I am little too late for joining the blogging community. But better late than never. Ok, I have named my blog "Ee Prapancha", stands for two things.

1. "Ee Prapancha", in Kannada means 'This World'
2. Also Ee here, stands for electronic, so 'Electronic World'

Nowadays, having a blog is like having a e-mail id. Everyone has one. Publishing a material on the web has now become much simpler. More often than not, it finds the desired bunch of readers too. Hope to provide you all with more articles in the coming days.

Raveesh

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