New and Improved - about time too!

Today I stumbled upon the official Taj Mahal tourism site. And to my utter surprise, I could not believe I was looking at an Indian tourism website! I mean, it was well designed, it had graphics, it loaded quickly, it was in one word "usable" - and that is to say the least. On a scale of 1 to 10, I would award it a good 8.5 for the quality of the work, information and presentation.



My experience has never been the same with other similar Indian websites. We are not talking about the rediffs and the indiatimes and the sifys here (they leave plenty to desire anyway!). I am talking about websites to do with the government and tourism etc. I have long been pained and ached by the fact that, having all the brains we do in India, a nation that is fast becoming the IT powerhouse of the world, it was disappointing (am using a polite word) to see some of the shabby websites that went up.




When the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation launched its new online booking system around 5 years ago, I was mega thrilled. But when I visited their website, I couldn't believe my eyes how stone age the website was looking, and the usability was disgraceful. When I saw this Taj Mahal website, my first instinct was to go check out the IRCTC website to see if anything had changed. And what came up, I was not prepared to believe! In actual fact, I closed the browser, reopened it, typed in the URL again. I was convinced I was in the wrong planet. I went to Google search, searched for "the official IRCTC website", and it still opened the same page! Surprise, Surprise! The all "New and Improved" IRCTC website!




The new IRCTC website, has dynamic HTML elements, much much better looking pictures - which does so much more justice to the beauty of India. I could not resist the urge to go look for more, and I found the official tourism website for the ministry of Tourism in India! And I was bowled over big time. First thing to strike me was the colours, bright, bold, beautiful, warm, welcoming, and it had that little x-factor - just everything India is!






It has got the whole works, and does me soooooo proud, I cant express enough! And about time too! I am over the moon!

Simple lessons of Life

My last real attempt at any form of Gardening was when I was around 10 years old, when we had a massive big garden and it was loads of fun working around it with my dad. As I grew older (wiser?) I thought plants were a complete waste of time for me.

That was until I inherited 2 plants when my sweetheart returned to home. 2 became 3 when some event hosting company I was working with thought it was clever to present people with baby cacti. Nevertheless I suddenly had these 3 life forms on my bedroom window sill that needed loads of attention and tending and caring for. Now I thought how bad can this get? A lil bit of water once in a while, and they will just sit content and flowering away happily and adding to the aesthetic value of my bedroom.

It was easy to start with, until I started forgetting and overlooking the care and attention they needed. And what was once a pretty little potted plant with an occasional peaceful bloomer, which looked something like this:



became this!


Alarm bells ringing! It wrenched my heart to think i had let the life evaporate out of this little plant - and all it needed was about 30 seconds of my time every day. Just wanted to be remembered. It was a weird feeling. Once in a while I would glance at it, and where once I would find a pretty pair of white flowers smiling back at me, I saw evidence of ignorance and remains of Life. I was sad, and even worse because it was something that meant so much to my sweetheart. If she couldn't trust me with one plant, how could she trust me with her heart?

But the ever supporting and motivating person as she has always been, she told me not to give up. And give up I did not. I kept at it, watering him everyday. Caring, tending, I even drove away flies that would come to "feed" on it. I stopped just short of sitting down and talking to it lovingly.

I woke up this morning and was going through my usual morning routine. For a moment I stopped in front of my window, and glanced down at the plant as usual before picking up the yellow plastic glass (the very same glass she used to feed them - silly as I am, I think they recognise that glass!) to feed them water. Just as I looked away, I traced my gaze back to the lil "dead" plant. And my heart started beating faster - could it be? Could it really be?! NO! But I almost shrieked YES! I looked closer, and there it was. The unmistakable sign of Life! A little, tender, pink budding leaf. He was ALIVE! I could not stop smiling ear to ear. The brave fellow lived, and all that love, attention and care finally paid off. There he was, making it through all the odds, finally sprang a lil leaf to tell me he is alive!

It was such a fond moment for me. Such a simple message of love and care, delivered so subtly and so innocently. Whatever it is in life, relationships especially - is no different to this plant. All it requires is some love and attention, and life will remain as beautiful as this plant.

iCommonSense

Security has always been a big concern for everyone - and more so online! Even grandparents surf the Internet today, and one way or the other all of us find the Internet slowly imposing itself on some part of our life. Some of us merely for networking, keeping in touch through emails, messengers, myspaces and facebooks. The brave ones venture into online shopping etc, and the even more brave ones venture into online banking!

Every other day we see some sort of campaign from anti virus vendors and online vendors about security and how to feel safe while using Internet. Technology develops both ways, while highly sophisticated security systems and browsers make your life safer and easier, the devil doesn't stop working either - the usual suspects are still at work to find better ways of beating the system.

Anyway, for long some of my more technically challenged friends have seeked my help to set their system back in good shape. I am not a terribly adept technical guy, I might have a few skills worth boasting about - but I tend to rely on a few simple and straight forward means to stay clear of security threats. Of course, I too have had passwords hacked and viruses and Trojan horses ail my systems for days before i figured it out - and I know what a pain it is! No, am not going to tell you what I was doing or which websites I was visiting!

Lets start with a few simple things. What are viruses and what are Trojan horses and what they doing in my system?! Paracetamol does not kill this virus and nor can you bet on these horses.

Virus programs are basically designed to kill your systems, they will either corrupt your files or your installed programs and OS eventually making your PC unusable. Trojan Horses on the other hand are just very desirable programs that don't have your best interest at heart. Simple enough? Lets not get bogged down on varieties and details. Good enough to know they are both bad news! And chances are that you will get hit by a Trojan horse more than viruses!

Lets talk about simple prevention measures. Do I need an Anti-virus program thingy? YES! Just get one! It will definitely do you less harm (if any) than a virus! Doesn't matter which one, or who recommends it. Just get any - something better than nothing. Don't worry about how it will slow your system down etc, for a simple home user it doesn't matter! If you are not a simple home user - this post wont matter to you. I normally just get a Norton or McAffee, works for me.

Virus and Trojan programs don't get installed automatically. You have to do something in some manner to initiate it. Most common is when you download a file or click on a link etc, especially from friends. Before you call your friend and scream "why the hell did you send me that file/link?" - think "Why the hell did I open that file/link?!". When you receive any message, e-mail or IM, which invites you to open a file or a link, read that message properly. Think! Does it sound like your friend? Is that the sort of file or message or link your friend would send you? If you are not sure, and you are dying or curiosity then quench it by asking your friend rather than diving in and opening what ever dodgy was sent to you. Most virus and Trojan attacks are designed to kindle your curiosity.

Another common way of picking up viruses is from download sites or file share networks when downloading music or movies. They are quite safe if you know how to play it safe. I normally look at the file size I am downloading to start with. If you are downloading a 5 minute song then the file size should at least be a few MBs - something between 3 and 5 MB. If its only a few KBs, its not what you want to download! Especially movie files! If you are expecting a full movie (2 hours in length) to be under 300 - 700 MB (depending on the quality) then you are in the wrong dimension of the universe. Secondly, take a look at the file extension. If its not an extension you understand then Google it to be sure its what you want. For those who love their file sharing networks, before you commence a download, check what you are downloading. Some file share networks like torrents can download multiple files under one ticket, you can select what files to download before you commence the download, and be sure to uncheck all the unwanted files.

Best way to protect your data online is by not putting it there! Trusting major service providers like MSN, Google, Amazon etc is fine - these guys put a lot of time and effort behind making sure you are safe. But most other smaller websites you visit, don't sign up if you don't need to. And don't provide anything more than the mandatory fields when you sign up. Where it doesn't matter, don't provide your real address or your real name! I always uncheck the part where it says "would you like to hear from us about offers?". I just cant be bothered with the spam!

If you are shopping and banking online etc, great! If you are not doing that yet, then there is no reason you shouldn't - if you want to. Lets admit it - online shopping is convenient. its also cheap and comes with loads of good deals. Whenever you are making payments, check your URL on the browser. They are normally a good give away. Most URLs (web site address) start with "http", as you may know. If you are making a payment online, normally the URL should start with "https", which indicates a secure connection - this is always a good sign! Also look for the Verisign symbol - if they have one, you have reason to trust them. I also tend to prefer "Paypal". Many of you may have come across them.

Some of you may have heard of phishing sites. These are basically sites that look exactly like your bank, email etc. login page, and trick you into entering your details. Now, what I always do is read the URL of any page i visit, especially if I am entering any information, be it payment or login. Just use your common sense and instinct, if the URL does not read correct or look obvious to the context don't trust it! You know it when your natwest login page URL reads "http://www.mxhndl.com/", its not where you want to be!

How do I know my system has been infected? Well, any unusual behaviour is a good clue. Unreasonably slow machines, various lights flashing at irrelevant times, files being corrupted, machine crashing etc are all good clues. That would indicate a virus infection. Run your anti-virus program and if that doesn't sort it out, get some professional help.

If you are just having issues with pop-ups or error messages from programs you do not recognise, chances are its a Trojan and not a virus. Go to your control panel and click on Add-remove programs. This will show you a list of all programs installed in your machine. Run down the list and check all the installed programs. If there are any programs that you don't recognise or bear the name of the program that was throwing error messages, click on it and click on remove. Be careful though, there will be a lot of pre-installed system software you may not recognise. If you are not sure, Google the names of the programs you don't recognise. Normally program names like "My Web Search" and "Super search tool bar" is a good give away. Its good to familiarise yourself with this installed program list when you first get your PC, so you have a good idea about what should be there. Check this list periodically to be sure only programs you know you installed and that were pre-installed are on the list. Anything you don't know or not sure of, check and remove. Simple and easy way to keep you PC healthy.

End of the day, 90% of usual issues can be avoided or rectified by keeping things simple and looking at obvious clues. Yeah, there are some clever chaps our there that can screw things up pretty bad for loads of people. Unfortunate, but nothing that cant be fixed.

Nevertheless, play it safe and enjoy your time on the Internet. Oh yea, I should mention - Internet is great! Its good, brings people closer, shrinks the world but nothing to beat the real world out there. Work on that balance and get out and get that sun kissed tan and wind brushed hair.

IPL is here!

Err... yeah, I know - its been here for a while. But never the less, since I have to make my writing look catchy lemme say - ITS HERE! And what a show its been. Sitting in UK, I missed most of it straight away. Setanta Sports (telecast IPL exclusively in UK) dont bring half the real action to UK - how sad! My girl friend told me about all the team anthems and the action - and I had to resort to You Tube to catch up on a lot of the behind the scenes. But never the less - big action, big players, high octane games, 20 overs - fits into my evenings nicely. And god there is some cricketing action to die for. Dhoni's captaincy scripting narrow victories, Morkel hitting a 124 m long six, murali's incredible bowling (yeah, if I haven't given it away already, Chennai Super king's is my team!)

That brings me to the biggest issue I had with IPL - what team do I cheer for?! Damn! I was born in Chennai, lived there for 13 years, but I associate home more with Delhi where I lived for 4 of my prime years. My favourite (the world's favorite) player plays (or atleast will do when his groin agrees with him finally) for Mumbai - yes, its the little master I am talking about - Tendulkar! My most favourite bowlers Warne and McGrath play for Rajasthan and Delhi. My favourite captain plays for Chennai, Hyderabad have bagged Rohit Sharma - confusing or what?! I realised after speaking to a few people I wasnt alone, and Soumya Bhattacharya echoes my thoughts very nicely in his article.

But in the end I decided to root for Chennai Super Kings. Why? Since I could not make a logical choice, I decided I will go nitpicking! I like their color - yellow yellow dirty fellow - ennada Rascala! Shivamani cheers for them. Ofcourse they have Dhoni, and I love his captaincy thinking. And I guess at the end of it, I am a tamilian! OK, for my Thamizh brothers - Thamizhan! Go Chennai Super Kings - GO!

My picks of the IPL tournaments so far:

• What a treat to see cricketing legends back in action, and still doing what they do best! Never thought I would see Warne and McGrath going again.


• Some real young talents to watch out for: Gony has got some real talent. We have seen Yusuf before too, but now you can see more and what he can do!

One thing I love about IPL

Its all about the players and opportunities. Where else do domestic ranji trophy players and zonal players get to play with and against greats like Warne and McGrath at this level?

One thing I hope they do something about

Cricket is a batsman's game. period. That's what makes Warne and McGrath who they are. But IPL has taken that to another level. DLF maximum sixes, no-ball free hits, orange cap etc. Bowlers are under tremendous pressure in this high scoring high run-rate game. I hope they do something about putting a little back in the bowlers hands. How about highest strike rate or economy etc?

Look Deeper

There has been a lot of talk about the bollywood showbiz around the IPL. For the true fans of the game - look deeper. Yeah, its all about money, but not at the expense of cricket. There is a lot of cricket here guys. Cricket is driving money - its not the other way around!

I wish and I believe IPL is here to stay. Go IPL - GO Chennai Super Kings!