B for Blog

2009-03-13T08:46:00.000+05:30

"A person should not be too honest.
Straight trees are cut first

and Honest people are screwed first."

--Chanakya

Ever heard of Internet Search by Color ?

2008-09-13T05:55:00.011+05:30

Must confess I found some of the coolest ideas and fresh experience while sufring for kitchen and dining stuff recently at this new place that I discovered.

If you happen to remember the green colored pack of ready to cook "Paneer", all you need to do is

1. key in "Paneer" into the search box and heres what you get ...

2. Next, select the closest "green" color from the color pallete and the search narrows down to the green colored objects :) This is way too cool.

Of course you can narrow the search by Price and Brand too... but that is necessary anyways.

This one does few things:

1. Indexes all the shopping possibilities and provides you a wider choice, since it does not show sponsored/paid items, it shows all

2. Helps you with Price comparisons

Getting the right insurance

2008-01-20T08:09:00.000+05:30

Risk management is an essential part of life today. Its a vital component of one's financial needs especially when you have dependents in various age groups. Its extremely crucial to understand certain facts about getting an insurance policy for your various needs, but, there are certain thumb rules that apply irrespective of your specific constraints, if you want to reduce premiums.
Thumb Rules to reduce your premiums :
1. The more the coverage, more is your premium. Exercise discretion while deciding your coverage.
2. Do a thorough comparison across various providers. Most of these providers have calculators to compare rates such as the following one from Advantage Term Life.

3. Go for Renewable policies
4. Riders only if required
5. Take care of yourself :)
6. Do look at your employer's insurance coverage while taking up a job. Typically, group policies have better benifits and coverage.
7. Make use of the Quoting Service of companies like Advantage Term Life to get the best price around for your specific needs, online. It can be a daunting task to collect such info, but, online quotes can make it a cakewalk for you.

Alive, kicking and freelancing

2008-01-01T10:06:00.000+05:30

Well, am back ... alive and kicking :)

Discovered a few things in the last 4 months about free lancing. Must say it sounds really promising and satisfying to put to use your skills for solving REAL problems for companies and people across the globe.

Personal Recommendation :
Elance

Guru

Others that you may want to look at:

RentACoder :

DesignOutpost : For Graphic designers

Scriptlance

Bloggerwave is now ready for bloggers.

2007-08-16T23:07:00.000+05:30

Discovered another good service called Bloggerwave.
I owe a lot of such nice discoveries to one of my favorite sites viz. BlogSailor.
It carried a recent post on BloggerWave and I wanted to give it a try. Must confess, that it has been a decent experience till now. The response has been quicker than expected and of course favorable too, at that.

Well, am encouraged to understand that Bloggerwave means business. Need to discover further, and see for myself how the relationship goes, but, my first impression has been excellent.

Recommendation : Must Try it out!

Masterseek : Business oriented Search Engine

2007-08-14T21:03:00.000+05:30

Recently, came across Masterseek

Its a search engine that focuses on providing information about Businesses(Companies) and their products, their contact information, business profiles and services. You could search, e.g. based on the country of choice.

If you are looking for business partnerships, suppliers, vendors, opportune customers, investment opportunities and market analysis, must check it out. Just follow this

Income Tax India : ITR-2 Useful Info

2007-08-01T08:16:00.001+05:30

Had lot of trouble understanding the BFLA(Brought Forward Losses) schedule and CYLA and CFL etc. in the form. Found the following useful link on the incometaxindiafiling.gov.in site by simply searching on google. Search for "BFLA Schedule" and this will be the first link you will get. This has the "formulae" used in the ITR-2 form. It came in pretty handy for me to file it on the last day, confidently :)
Simply Click Here

I know the last date for filing returns is over, and BTW, thanks for participating in the poll !

Best Tool to convert your MultiMedia files : Hasslefree

2007-07-26T08:44:00.000+05:30

The best ever (also because its FREE !) tool that I have come across for encoding/converting your multimedia files is called SUPER(c) [ Simplified Universal Player Encoder & Renderer.
I would strongly recommend this because of the following positives :

0. FREE !
1. Simple Interface
2. Extremely intuitive
3. Quick !

To grab it, just click SUPER(c)!!

Happy encoding!

Watch Movies Online for free @ Filmzzz [dot] com

2007-07-25T09:03:00.000+05:30

This is an absolute super site that you going to love if you want to watch a movie FREE online. Well, of course you got a limited choice ... but, its not constraining by any means. Imagine watching Hollywood, Bollywood movies and Standup Comedies online for free. Check it out @
www[dot]filmzzz[dot]com

You will need to download a divx player, unless you already have one.

They dont host the movies on their server, but use the movies from Stage6. Once the movies are removed from Stage6, they remove the movies from filmzzz too.

Pretty cool !

TRPS Scheme : Income Tax India

2007-07-22T08:16:00.000+05:30

The new forms are out... and ITR-2 specifically is complicated. But, if you are aware of the TRPS scheme, you would be relieved of the hassles for sure. IT Dept has created this with the help of NIIT. They have trained close to 4000 guys to help you file your tax returns.
1. You could call the toll free number 1-800-11-8777
2. You could log on to www.trpscheme.com
3. You could download the detailed tutorial for each form, which also has a voice-over in English to help you out with understanding the specific details of the IT forms. The only flipside is that these tutorials are almost close to 40MB in size, so you would better be on a Broadband connection

Slide Show : Doddamakkali

2007-07-15T19:19:00.000+05:30

Slide show of the pics @ Doddamakkali :

Doddamakkali, 130 Kms from Bangalore

2007-07-15T18:54:00.000+05:30

Visit to Dodda Makkali, Karnataka, Bangalore ... sharing the collage
Its 130 kms from Bangalore, wonderful roads, except the last 8 Kms... but, its definitely tonz of fun.
Dont forget to stop over at Kamat Yatrinivas to have some amazing authentic Karnataka cuisine.

Google Docs : Putting it to use ...

2007-07-10T18:46:00.001+05:30

Cool use of googledocs. This is an embedded document created on my new domain viz. www.chetanvij.com which I bought over from google apps.

Another good example of this is here. Here the cool aspect is that you can see the sheet getting updated every 5 minutes, since its getting data dynamically from a query... Check it out here

Bid 4 Prizes : Reverse Auctions

2007-07-03T23:45:00.000+05:30

Pinch yourself hard ! This is just too good to believe...I bumped into this site called www.bid4prizes.com

What you can win ?
Sweepstake, free gift, Cash Prize ... like Plasma TVs, BMWs, Mac Book

On Bid4Prizes you get rewarded for "Minimum Unique Bid", not for the highest bid :)

Is it Free ?
Indeed, its free if you are ok with advertisements[Standard User].
If you want to avoid advertisements, you need to pay up $9.99 for a month[Premium User]

Is it tough to play ?
Not at all!!! Thats the best part of this. Its damn easy ... All you need to do is to enter your "lowest unique bid amount" and your "phone number". You can also play using text message on your mobile.

How many times can I bid ?
20 times!

Just check out this "How to video" and you can know it all !!!

What else ?
At bid4prizes every time you bid on a prize you win points for the Rewards Store, plus another chance to play for $1,000,000(paid in 40 equal installments, without interest) in the Arcade! The more you bid the more chances you have in the Arcade to win! Some of the other prizes you can win playing the Bid4Prizes Arcade include $10,000 in cash plus hundreds of other prizes like purses, backpacks, games, ringtones, and much more!

Any perceived Constraints ?
Am not sure if it is open for anyone other than US residents. Nevertheless, its too good to resist if I know you can get sweepstakes and even cash prizes for free !!

Happy winning!

Vythri Resort , Waynad, Kerala : Pics

2007-06-30T07:32:00.000+05:30

Wow, what a place Vythri turned out to be. 240 kms from Bangalore. Book it through the VythiriResortWebsite.
Wonderful place for unwinding. Many places around to visit, but, need lots of time to. Would recommend 3-4 days of stay if you love green, have time and want to be very very close to nature. The main attraction of this place is the natural stream flowing right in the middle of the resort. Well, this resort is located 3 kms up the hilly area. Very unlike usual resorts. You could choose to get an ayurvedic massage done, while also take a break with a game of basketball.

Managing your money

2007-06-29T20:50:00.000+05:30

Portfolio Manager

Recently discovered the PortfolioManager . Its a wonderful utility that lets you play around with your money (well, to try your hands on investing the money virtually ). It has an intuitive interface with pretty good flexibility. Options range from fixed income, through mutual funds till stocks.

Personal Finance : Expense Tracker

For Personal Expense tracking, I use MoneyManager and find it one of the best suited for ease of use and stability. And its free !

Kaleidoscope : The puzzle

2007-06-22T20:00:00.000+05:30

Well, stumbled upon a very interesting game viz. Kaleidoscope and had tonz of fun playing with my 5-year old daughter. It was a revelation the kind of interest it generated in her and to my surprise, she was having fun thinking about various options available to complete a pattern.

I play this and Sudoku pretty much each day and indeed have real fun playing these. Good brain ticklers. I recommend Kaleidoscope to those puzzle lovers. Its a good one to take along for travelling too. And, the best part is you can play independently. Am going to be hooked onto it for quite some time, I am sure. The Passion For Puzzles Blog and Mike's Site have some good stuff to try out...

Happy puzzling !
Note : For some reason the official website for Kaleidoscope Classic gives me 500 Internal error

Geographical spread of visitors to your site ...

2007-06-07T21:31:00.001+05:30

Discovered a nice service that allows you to get a nice graphical representation of the geographical spread of the visitors to your site. Try it out ... ClustrMaps

Giveaway of the day

2007-06-07T08:37:00.001+05:30

Licensed software ... .free for the day ! Or, so they claim... worth checking it out.

clipped from www.giveawayoftheday.com

Giveaway of the day - what's that?

Tell your blog or website visitors about us and have your own feed and logo featured on our page! How?
Click here to find out!

Well, that's a convenient initiative allowing you to get the best commercial software titles - for free. Every day we offer licensed software you'd have to buy otherwise, for free! Yes, we are giving away software, and you can download it from our site, right now and right here and our goal is to give away every good piece of software, sooner or later. Want to learn more about our project?

For game giveaways check out Game Giveaway of the Day.

For the latest freeware check out our freeware library.

Blackle ?

2007-05-25T08:32:00.000+05:30

Am sure lot many would have heard about Blackle ( www.blackle.com ). Its a google look alike, but, in the name of saving energy (They call it "energy saving search" ), there are compromises one has to make. Frankly, I really loved the idea when I heard it first. But, when I tried it out, I thought that in the name of conserving energy, it may affect eyes in an adverse manner.

The black background for search results is disturbing and takes much more effort to read through. You may argue that one needs to get used to it and that one will, but, I have serious doubts.

Another one I found was something called GoogleAll. Am sure there would be other google "clones" or wrappers. I would continue to trust Google and not the clones.

mGinger : Accept Ads and make Money

2007-05-25T08:26:00.000+05:30

Its simple!

Premise : You should be ok receiving SMS(Ads) on your mobile
Gain : You get money for each SMS that you receive
More Gain : You get money for each friend you refer and also a share for each dime your friends earn through this :)

Check it out for yourself at mGinger

Make money Blogging

2007-05-18T07:51:00.001+05:30

Opened up to various ideas of making money online recently. Well, blogging is one of the popular ways to do just that. If you love blogging, why not link it to BlogVertise.

I have just registered myself, and am really looking forward to get probationary go-ahead so that I can kick-off utilizing my passion for blogging. Got to know about this from my colleague AnujSeth
, who has been blogging for a while now and runs BlogSailor.

Do take a peek at BlogVertise. It should be worth the clicks! Keeping my fingers crossed :)

Life Condition and "Blink"

2006-10-16T18:06:00.000+05:30

I think the power of "Blink" as explained by Malcom Gladwell comes alive when we talk about life condition in Nichiren Diashonin's Buddhism.

Lousie Hay in "You can heal your life" also gives due importance to what I call "Life Condition".

Life condition is all about "Now". If I have to define my life beyond this moment, the Life Condition Now is the key.

Dont behave like a victim ...

2006-02-17T14:18:00.001+05:30

Sometimes, it just takes the right note to shake you up. While I was kind of sharing (cribbing) about my problems to a friend, he shared with me a very impactful note... "Dont behave like a victim".
It indeed empowered me to suddenly open my thoughts up and changed my life state altogether. Did a powerful daimoku and gongyo and guess what... am reaping benifits already...

Fun

2006-01-16T20:13:00.000+05:30

Was away on a team building exercise for a couple of days to Pegasus. It was indeed lots of fun. Physical Awakening (read shakening) of self. Realized how much weight I have put on ;-)

The one take away from the entire thing for myself was to take good care of my health. Have started to jog and have a controlled diet. Finding it lots of fun to experiment with controlled food intake at right times during the day, and having lots of water.

Need to reduce around 10 kgs of flab...

Evil

2005-12-29T14:26:00.000+05:30

For evil to sustain, it just takes good men to do nothing.

Change

2005-12-22T19:09:00.000+05:30

Change is imperative. Its the basic characterstic of life.
Life does not exist without change. Change happens, because there is potential for it.
Winter turns into spring, just because there is a potential for it.

Life takes its ups and downs, since there is a potential for that to happen. Why, then does one experience more ups than downs ( and vice versa ) ?
Well, this depends on your ability to invoke the potential. And that ability depends on your life condition.
What is life condition ?
The concept of oneness of self and environment in Buddhism clearly states that one is inseparable from one's environment. The life condition would therefore mean the condition of oneself (inclusive of the environment).

With the practice of Nichiren Daishonin's buddism, one can enhance his/her life condition, in order to be protected by creating a high life condition.

Its said that Buddhist gods protect you. Wondering what would Buddhist gods refer to.
Let me take a guess...
Exercising wisdom would definitely bring protection. It could be protection from something nasty. It got avoided just because you exercised wisdom in the moment of need. Am sure, there was a potential for you to 'not exercise' your wisdom, but, you did. This is probably your wisdom was invoked by your practise of Nam Myo Ho Renge Kyo. Wisdom might be one of the Buddhist gods, in that case. Just wondering ... still...

Lost ...

2005-09-30T19:43:00.000+05:30

Feeling lost...
Need to gain back the rythm and focus.

The Buddha in the theatre of the universe

2005-09-13T18:41:00.000+05:30

Interesting way of looking at it ...

A person can return or devote his life to anything. Each time we do this with a wish, it is like saying NAM. Even when we are praying to the Gohonzon or using our minds to think about a car or a problem or a solution to a problem, whilst our mouth is praying to the Gohonzon here we are doing Nam-car, Nam-problem, Nam-solution. But Nichiren Daishonin taught us to return or devote our lives to Myoho-Renge-Kyo. So when we chant Nam-Myoho-Renge Kyo, we must focus on Myoho-renge-kyo.
Every time you do Gongyo, imagine you are the Buddha in the theatre of the universe. This theatre is huge and has ten balconies going upwards. In each of the balconies are all the beings of their respective worlds, from hell-dwellers up to the Buddhas and bodhisattvas. When you do Gongyo it is important to focus on Myoho-Renge-Kyo, all the time.
If we do not devote ourselves to myoho-renge-kyo, with our lives, our ears,eyes, mouth, body and mind we will not be able to connect with the Gohonzon, or if we do halfhearted or resentful Gongyo, all that will happen is that all the beings, God and Buddhas throughout the universe will just throw tomatoes at us all day long.
But if we do a dynamic Gongyo and Daimoku really focusing on Myoho- renge-kyo, then all the beings of the ten worlds will benefit and they will protect us all day long. So if you please Buddhist Gods they will throw money and flowers onto the stage and when you have finished your Gongyo the whole universe will respond with a standing ovation and give thunderous applause because you have touched the lives of all the beings.
Nam is the bridge between yourself and the Gohonzon. Here you devote your life to Myoho-Renge-Kyo and trust with your life. The Gohonzon cannot let you down. Only you can let you down.

Keep going ...

2005-09-06T21:17:00.000+05:30

Started the day off with a brisk 45 minute walk. Yesterday' guidance seems to be working!

Experienced trying times today...
Kept going. Determined not to get bogged down. Its all about winning over your own shortcomings. Need to be equipped with the correct ammunition to tackle daily stuff.

Its quite interesting; the way study helps you face these situations.
The moment there is a difficult situation, I am reminded of sansho-shima. And it becomes quite an interesting ordeal, trying to fight the devilish functions. I end up thanking this beautiful practice and all the fellow members, each time I face and overcome obstacles.

Encouraged Saurav to face and tackle his situation.

11th Sep is the Chapter Kick off meeting.

Taking a look at Faith, Once again

2005-09-05T19:05:00.000+05:30

Excerpts from one of the guidances ...

Faith is not feeling refreshed after prayers & activities. Faith exists for us to change our lives.

Do not engage in "what shall I do" daimoku; i.e. while chanting, to think of strategies/look for options in your mind. The prayer should be I want to accomplish this... I will accomplish this. If while chanting, we think that our desires are unattainable, then that is the prayer that will be reflected onto the universe. And that is exactly the answer we will get back from the Gohonzon... Impossible/No solution..

Doing lots of activities with no targets and clear goals is no use, as it will not produce any changes in your life.

Avoid the following kinds of prayers:
1. Out of habit or ritual [ Without any targets or determinations ]
2. Out of delusion [ Trying to find solutions while chanting ]
3. Out of disbelief [ Thinking that this is impossible and will never happen ]

So, its important to determine first, and then chant.

Here is why our prayers may not get answered:
1. Unclear determination
2. No concrete targets in faith
3. Doing regular gongyo, but, no concrete prayer
4. Passive gongyo and activities out of obligation
5. A complaining and begrudging attitude about faith
6. Weaker seeking spirit
7. Not working hard in office or at home
8. Depressed because of various sufferings in life
9. Weak sense of mission for kosen-rufu
10.Sense of responsibility as a leader is weaker

We must have dreams which lead to hope and finally become reality when we chant! Therefore, we must have big dreams!

Various...

2005-08-29T15:02:00.000+05:30

Rajiv and Manju are blessed with a girl and a boy ... twins!

Had a decent MD commemorative meeting. Not a huge attendance, but, had a gala time singing "United we will stand..." with Nitesh, Mohni, Arun and Ranjan.
Shared my experience at work.. Took 7 minutes, should have taken max 4 mins. Good learning about how to prepare for a gakkai meeting. I am not doing too well for my block, but, I have the will( as I said earlier ) to make my block "rock".

2 Home visits, with Kailash.. Pioneer chapter NHR 1..

At work, trying to clean up the documentation mess. I need to...

Rack and Stack is necessary and tough. Need courage and balance of mind to do justice :-)

Inspired!

2005-08-22T19:03:00.000+05:30

“In our daily lives as well as in our struggle for peace, we are certain to win if we have a firm and unwavering determination to win, no matter what… deep rooted determination manifests itself as prayer, which produces the wisdom and action that leads to victory”

Yesterday, I shared one of my experiences at this month's Zadenkai. It was a wonderful discussion meeting.

They tell me that Delhi is different.. I kind of know what may be different in Delhi. I want to get the same energy in my block. I want my block to be rocking.

Want to share my experience at the Men's Division meeting next Sunday.

Want to understand what it means to say that true happiness lies in making others happy. I want to experience it.

Puzzle

2005-08-19T13:11:00.000+05:30

pUtTIng oNaLOtoF wEIgHt ... IpLAybaDmInton THeSEDAys ...

I know someone who can easily make sense out of this :-)

2005-08-06T22:25:00.000+05:30

Back after long

2005-08-06T22:09:00.000+05:30

Glanced through the blog... a refreshing reading. Thought its worthwhile to blog :-)

Well, lots has happened ever since the clutter in the mind... mainly due to the conditions at work. It took some harsh learnings to get me to the state I am in today. Am really enjoying work. I dont strive to strike a balance between work and home.
Guess, I was hungry for the kind of work where I am involved 200%...

I dont read much.. I am taking lot of pain to read the first Harry Potter.. I need to know what people find interesting in that :-)

Setting targets draws great results

2005-02-21T18:49:00.000+05:30

I have learnt, through this practice, that setting targets (though small), enables you a great deal to get a sense of achievement; which ultimately gives you happiness.

I find myself doing more and more daimoku, e.g. if I set myself a target of chanting for a specified period of time. If I do not set a target, it ends up being a formality. If I am putting efforts into this, I might as well do the best.

New Block... first Zadenkai

2005-02-21T18:43:00.000+05:30

It turned out to be a great Zadenkai.
The biggest plusses ...
a. Shallu was the MC
b. Great concept discussion : Itai Doshin
c. Good attendance (15 total)

Overall, it was pretty encouraging to have everyone engaged, despite of getting stuck in the I/O error fixing spree at office. Viswa had left the team that week, and we had 2 sev 1 bugs to fix. Spent 3 long days in the office. But, had this conviction that the Zadenkai would be a good one.

I want to see this block become a district.

The crank caller issue surfaced again. I lost my cool for a while. But, I am going to fix it really well.

Rewriting my resume. Have a back up plan ready. Am feeling a lot lot confident this time.

Enshrinement

2005-01-25T09:56:00.000+05:30

Kailash and Bharani were home this morning. Finally, we got the re-enshrinement done. Great begining for the day and the year.

Love Kailash's calm and sense of humor.

The guidance was crisp and clear. Expand your circle of concern, and the circle of influence widens. In other words, embrace the members' problems and your problems will be taken care of on their own...

Regarding the problem of not getting a breakthrough in the promotion at work, he asked me to base it entirely on faith, practise and study.

Its quite a challenge to practise without a goal. Well, then, Kailash said that we have the members' goals as our goals. Great perspective!

I do not seem to have the same rigour for the evening gongyo as I do for the morning gongyo. I want complete satisfaction from the way I practice. And, I am concerned that the evening gongyo is not upto the mark.

Kailash revealed that the morning gongyo is for a fresh begining for the day, when you set targets for the day. Focussed.
While, the attitude during the evening gongyo is to reflect on the way the day happened and express your gratitude.
Well, this perspective is more fulfilling than the approach of a mere 'ritual' towards the evening gongyo.

Sometimes, in order to fix a problem, one just has to change his perspective towards it... and the problem just vanishes.

The Dist General Meeting

2004-12-21T16:21:00.000+05:30

The last 'big' meeting for the year was great. Attendance of 101. Great energy.
I shared my determination for the coming year, for the block, and also participated in a group song.

The skit by the JPDs was great. It clearly conveyed that merely changing forms and circumstances of existence do not define true happiness. For true happiness, the change has to be from within, not without. Great stuff. Wish Sciya and Keisha grow up as truly capable JPDs and then YWDs and so on.

The other day, for the celebrations in the office, we went go-karting. Fun!

Running out of money for the house. Facing such a situation for the first time in life. Will tackle it for sure, based on the practice.

Clutter continues

2004-12-14T16:52:00.000+05:30

The clutter continues. I need to set a daimoku target for myself.
Cant afford to be in a low life condition. Gear up!

Bouncing back

2004-12-14T10:23:00.000+05:30

Life is cruel. Its about bouncing back with a vengeance, each day. Its a constant endeavour to be upto it each day.
The mess at home has started to clear up gradually. There are things lying all around the place. But, I did live upto my goal of starting the day with gongyo.

Get going !

State of mind

2004-12-13T18:59:00.000+05:30

Not feeling upto it today. Quite low on energy.
We shifted to the new place day before(saturday). The packers were quite nice. It was almost 10 at night before we settled down.
I just want to sit down and chant today to get rid of the clutter.

First Blog

2004-12-13T15:56:00.000+05:30

This is my first blog in B for Blog.
Blogger seems to be exactly what I was looking for...