Trip to Mumbai, India
My dad and I just returned from a trip to Mumbai, India, visiting family, and reconnecting with old friends (well..my dad’s old high-school friends, who were pretty awesome). Even though I’ve been here many times before, this trip was not like any other trip I’ve had here. Even though I’m living with my family, and being around my family all day, I feel more like a tourist than a person on a family trip.
I got to see a lot of Mumbai this time, most of which I haven’t seen before. In the past, I usually just visited a few places that we usually visit, and that’s it. I always thought of Mumbai as a second home, but at the same time, didn’t like it because a lot, if not all of the very little places I’d seen were noisy, congested, polluted, and dirty. Also, I was sheltered to a lot of things; and always told to be careful of everything and everyone.
This time, however, I learnt a lot and got to see Mumbai and the people that live here in a different light (given, a lot of Mumbai is still noisy, congested, and polluted. It seems a lot cleaner than when I was last here though). For example: even though people on the road seem to be in a rush to go everywhere, and people can’t seem to stay in the lanes while driving; everyone is still very helpful to one another to provide directions, etc. and there are no hard feelings for not giving someone way, etc.
Another moment that I though was quite touching(?) inspirational(?) I’m not sure of the word, but either way it showed true selflessness:
My Dad and his friend, who they call "Lamboo"
We went to see the colony where my dad was brought up, where we saw an old friend of his who used to work at a laundromat opposite to my dad’s old building. Turns out he owns it now. When they saw each other, he recognized my dad immediately, got up greeted him and hugged him. Not once did he ask “what did you bring me?” or anything of that sort; instead he said “materials don’t matter, they’re just going to break or get lost anyways. What’s important is that we’re healthy, and that we’re together. Come on, let me give you some daal and roti, you must be hungry by now”. For some reason, it doesn’t sound as spectacular in English as it did in Hindi. But trust me, when he said it, he said it in a way that would have opened anyones eyes to true friendship. To him, it wasn’t about what my dad could offer him, but what he could offer my dad.
Anyways, other than that sort of stuff, I spent the two weeks mostly exploring Mumbai, and visiting family. I got to see the Gateway of India, Lions Gate (where my Grandfather used to work), Victoria Terminus, the naval dockyard colony (where my dad was brought up), and a whole bunch of other places that I’m too lazy to list right now…
In any case, the trip was awesome, I had a lot of fun, and I got to see a lot of things that I haven’t seen before in Mumbai. My only regret is having stayed only two weeks. I wish I could have stayed longer, to see more, and to enjoy the life there. Mumbai has changed drastically from when I was a kid, and I can’t wait for the next time I go there to see what else has improved.
I just uploaded some pictures to my flickr (they’re really bad quality…most were taken from a moving car..), have a look. I’m not done uploading all the pictures yet.
P.S. I just want to say thanks to my family who put up with us for two weeks. And a special thanks to my cousin Laxmi’s husband Hari and their son, Varun for driving us around Mumbai, and spending a lot of their time showing me around.
My Favourite Google Chrome Plugins
A couple of friends of mine were asking about this, so I figured I’d post it on here.
Those of you that know me know that I primarily use Google Chrome as my primary web browser, and have been using it for quite a while now. To me, Chrome’s convenience and speed outweigh the resource usage.
I find that Chrome makes me more productive than most other browsers do, as a huge part of my day is spent on the laptop, and usually browsing the web for research, etc.
A lot of people prefer Firefox for the use of it’s plugins (Firefox has a TON of plugins), but Chrome’s extension gallery is growing day by day, and a lot of useful plugins have been ported from Firefox to Chrome.
Here’s some Chrome’s plugins that make my day a little more productive:
- AdThwart - Uses the AdBlock+ engine from Firefox to block annoying popups, and ads. (AdBlock works just as well on Chrome, but not AdBlock+)
- AutoPager Chrome – Automatically loads the next page on a website with multiple pages (i.e. Google) just by scrolling to near the bottom of the page
- Chromed Bird – Twitter client
- Feedly – I was looking for a good RSS reader forever, and I was finally satisfied when I came across this. It uses Google Reader’s API to pull your RSS feeds from Google, and displays it in a really nice, organized, presentable view
- Firebug Lite – A port of Firebug, from Firefox. Not as clean as the original Firebug, but still useful. I use it for checking over my code when I design websites, etc. Usually I leave it disabled until I need it.
- IE Tab – Allows you to run Internet Explorer’s engine within Chrome to be compatible with websites who require Internet Explorer (like sites that use ActiveX). I keep this one disabled as well until I need it
- One Number – checks Google Reader, Gmail, Google Voice, and Google Wave for your inbox updates
- Xmarks Bookmarks Sync – Yes. I’m aware that Chrome is able to sync bookmarks natively, but I like Xmarks for the reason that I can have those same bookmarks on Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, etc. Chrome’s built-in bookmarks synchronization is really good, but as far as I know, it’s limited only to sync bookmarks within Chrome.
https://chrome.google.com/extensions is a good place to find extensions for Google Chrome.
Crazy Cheezy Dreams
My friend Justin let me know about the “Dorito’s Viralocity” competition to name the new Dorito’s Flavour. Justin’s friend decided that it would be awesome if he could win the competition, and donate all the money to charity.
Personally, I think that he’s got a great idea, so watch the video, and favourite it at http://www.doritosviralocity.ca/Gallery/VideoDetails.aspx?v=6435
Wi-Fi on a Blackberry for DC/UOIT
So a few people have asked how to get Wireless on their Blackberries already..so I finally got it with a bit of help from my friend, Albert.
Before we begin: These instructions will only work on the most recent phones/OS’s. The latest Blackberry OS (v. 5.0.0.411)was leaked out on the internet, but any of the new phones (Bold 9700, etc. will work as well). More info available at http://crackberry.com/leaked-os-5-0-0-411-blackberry-bold-9000-and-blackberry-curve-8900
So, let’s begin:
Assuming you’ve installed the new O/S already, or you have one of their newer phones (I think most of the new ones with the trackpad instead of the trackball should be fine..haven’t tested any other than the Bold 9700 though.
Start by going to “Manage Connections” and select “Set Up Wi-Fi Network” then choose “Manually Add Network” (you can also scan, does prettymuch the same thing).
If manually adding, the network name would be CAMPUS-AIR
On the next screen, set the different values as follows:
- Security Type: PEAP
- Username: <your student number>
- Password: <your network password>
- CA Certificate: <choose any certificate, you’ll be ignoring it anyways>
- Inner link security EAP-MS-CHAP v2
- Token: <none>
- Disable Server Certificate Validation: CHECKED
Now you can save the connection, or if you don’t want to save, just click connect.
That should be it..
Feel free to comment!
Thanks to Albert and Drew for helping/validating things for me
Wind Mobile
Here’s something that’ll hopefully stir some things up with the Canadian wireless market. Currently there are 3 major players in the Canadian wireless communications industry: Bell (BCE), Rogers, and Telus. Wind Mobile applied to be the fourth, but got denied by the CRTC on the grounds that the parent company, Globalive doesn’t have enough Canadian control in its company’s structure.
However, on Friday, Industry Minister Tony Clement overthrew that decision, claiming that after going through their case several times over, they have come to the conclusion that Globalive has enough Canadian control to operate in Canada.
Rumor has it that Wind Mobile is ready to mobilize and will be ready to launch before Christmas this year, which would mean that there is a lot of pressure on the Big 3.
What does this mean for us as consumers?
As the saying goes: the more, the merrier!
In other words, having more competition will push the other “Big 3″ to reduce their prices and/or improve their services, if they want to remain competitive.
Pricing
Prices can be found at http://shop.windmobile.ca/ProductCatalog/VoicePlans/ for their voice plans
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