Issued in public interest..

This blog is now closed. All updates henceforth happen at http://srivast.blogspot.com

Thank you for being a great fan following here, I hope you'll be my avid readers at the new place as well.

~ Ankur.

The end of an era..

The Great's Principle could have led you only this far. Beyond this, you've got to find your own path.

The era of the Great ends now. Today, the Great steps down from his throne. But do not be troubled, we shall meet again.

Farewell,
Ankur the Great.

Eureka?

I have a product idea.

What if there were a desktop editor (well.. not really a desktop editor), which could act like a gimp or a photo editor for whatever is being viewed on your screen. I mean like editing the screenshot. It should not be like just a text, or a photo, or a whatever specific editor, but a universal editor. Ok, let's call this (whatever it is) -- the editor, for the time being.

Now, what the editor should actually do, is act like a function toolbox, as in, say Powerpoint. What should essentially happen when you double-click the editor, is -- it should be there hanging like a spaceship (like those toolbars in Powerpoint), or maybe get embedded in the taskbar -- but that's not what the issue is. The issue is -- now whatever one can view on the screen should be editable. So, if I am viewing a webpage, and I need to encirle, mark, smudge, add a text box, or a special shape box, or whatever other function a photo/any editor has, I should be able to do that on the screenshot. And also remove it whenever I wish (Not like idiotic Microsoft Paint, which has no memory of how whatever looked like a while back).

This could be done by adding layers over the screenshot, like in gimp (that's why I mentioned it in the start, see I know my stuff!). So imagine you are reading a webpage, or a stupidly uneditable pdf, or two documents in two windows each sharing the screen, and now you feel the itch to draw connections between the documents. No sweat, just open this editor, encircle stuff, draw arrows, mark stuff, write implications, and bingo. Save it!

Later, someone else comes by when you are reviewing it all, and proves something you have written as wrong or incomplete. Swear whatever you wish against him/her. But no harm, get the editor, erase the stuff, write new implications. Done! Go wash your hands! Simple.

Well, potential problems:

1. What happens when you are viewing a document which extends beyond a page (which invariably is the case), and you need a scroller. How does this editor work then. Do you take several screenshots and keep marking and saving?

2. I guess you'll save it as an image, or whatever way a photo editor saves its stuff. Does that invite any problems while re-editing? Well, we're working with layers here, with or without merging them (as your choice), so what's the big deal? Whatever.

3. I do not know how to make it, neither do I wish to. :D

I just wish such a product already exists. It seems like a typical "Duh!" idea to me. It looks very useful, and simple enough for anyone to get the idea to make it. So is anyone out there who already has it? Or shall I just sell it instead?

Who said great ideas happen in a bathtub.

The Great.

The 50-book challenge..

Have recently finished reading 'Lajja' by Taslima Nasrin. Great book. Must read. So much so for the review. The real point is that this record of mine, of reading books with sad endings Vs books with happy endings, is just going from bad to worse book by book. Since January this year whatever I've read has been predominantly depressing. And I am depressed. What else?! I need a happy happy book now.

Oh and by the way, why have I been keeping record of books I read? Well, there's something called a 50-book challenge (which some of you might know of very well) that I've taken up unknowingly. And am I a big big loser! Have now picked up just the 15th book for the year - 'The Goal II - It's Not Luck' by Eliyahu M. Goldratt, and it's October already :(

Anyhow, the book is good, but isn't as captivating as the first novel - 'The Goal' (and by the way, if you are an engineer and haven't yet read this, I'd sugguest you drop dead!). This I say while I am just halfway through it and so the review might change. Have been trying to talk myself into picking up Lotr for long now, but I am just not being able to do that, which is very surprising considering my love for the movie(s). Plan to finish off Goal II over the weekend, and then pick up on my speed. I hope to do at least 25 this year. Even that'll be great!

Keeping my fingers crossed,

Ankur.

Random Browsing 1

Alexa Web Search - Toolbar Quick Tour

Came across this toolbar while doing some search for a project at workplace. Proved to be very helpful in what I intended to do.

The particularly interesting thing, which is the only feature on which it would score over Google Toolbar, is the Site Info thing. It gives quite a bit of info about the traffic behaviour on the open website, ranging from how many people visit the site, to what do they do once they are here. Also it lists all the websites which link in to the given page with their given rankings based on the traffic over the day/week/3 months. Yahoo is number 1, while Google is way behind from the top spot.

On the same lines, found out more about the Google's PageRank system here - Uncovering Google's PageRank System. Nice read if you are an illiterate in these matters.

Tadaa,

Ankur.

PS: This is my first non-test post from BlogThis!
PS: (Deja-vu!) The title to the entry is a stolen one, and has appeared on a lot of blogs I visit. But then, that's what it is - random browsing.

The Great's way

The Great's way

Testing BlogThis!

1 2 3 ...

Time flies..

Time does fly.

Today I turn two months old as a working professional, and I hardly have had the time to realize that. Look back, and think - 'What have you learnt?', and I can't comprehend anything. Maybe I haven't yet sat back, contemplated and thought about all that. Or maybe I haven't yet learnt much (anything!). Whatever.

I already have begun to realise that those good old days of doing only what you wanted to, are more or less gone. Now quite a lot of things seem to have been already decided for you. Or maybe that's a passing phase and I won't feel all that once I am fully and completely settled into my new surroundings.

Oh, time does fly, it's already time to go home!

Laterz,

Ankur.

This is a title..

So I gave it a thought on what to blog about. Came up with a few things and just discarded them all. Thought could write about what is status quo of my life, and when am I leaving from here and all that. But ditched that as I am mysel fnot sure as I haven't yet got the reservations done.

Then thought would post about how I am feeling in my few last days in here in the insti, and thought that this is such a common theme of blogging, and after so many people having left already before me in te past few weeks, it would just turn out to be another boring account and would say anothing new. So down the drain it went.

Then I got a feel to think of a list of what all would I like to do before going from here once and for all, but then I am leaving in such a hurry that I am not gonna be able to do even a teeny weeny bit of the list, so what's the use of putting up content which in high probability I will have to gripe about later anyways. So swoosh was the sound.

After which I ran out of subjects and enthu to think of more. So I decided I will not post anyways.

Great.

Bachelor boy..

When I was young my father said
'Son I have something to say'
And what he told me I'll never forget
Until my dying days

He said son you are a bachelor boy
And that's the way to stay
Son you'll be a bachelor boy
Until your dying days

When I was 16 I fell in love
With a girl as sweet as can be
But I remembered just in time
What my daddy said to me

He said son you are a bachelor boy
And that's the way to stay
Son you'll be a bachelor boy
Until your dying days

As time goes by I probably will
Meet a girl and fall in love
Then I'll get married have a wife and a child
And they'll be my turtle doves

But until then I'll be a bachelor boy
And that's the way I'll stay
Happy to be a bachelor boy
Until my dying days

--

Cliff Richard.

And I'm so soo happy to have been able to listen to this song after so soo sooo long ! Thanks to Jumbo and his server.. thank you roomie !

Current music: Bachelor boy - Cliff Richard :D
Current mood: Full

Ankur.

Deja Vu!

Finally it is here fellow earthlings, the complete Deja Vu experience!

I have successfully maintained two great blogs simultaneously for some time now. I cannot say whether it is better or worse than having just one blog, but it is different for sure. Kills the monotony.

And it was imperative for me to someday post the same posting on this blog of mine and the other blog of mine. And so today is the day.

Why am I making such a fuss about it ? No, I am not making a fuss :P I just wanted to do it someday, and so am very happy that finally am doing it!

The complete Deja Vu!

The Great | The Great

The 1 Gb fairytale, and more..

It's quite a fairytale story. About a month back I had around 30-40 Megabytes of email web space, if I included the 3-4 accounts that I more or less frequently visited, with a couple of them reminding me that I'm getting full. And in just over a month I suddenly have over 2000 Megabytes of space!

Gmail still is in Beta, and is giving login problems. Yet, in the past month it has proved how powerful it is. Rediff has effectively entered the market before Gmail, but seems to have committed the one and only mistake - like the bomb squad guys. Quite frankly, I do not really believe what Rediff claims, they cannot give that much space. And the fact that inbox doesn't even open now on Rediff only produces more smoke around the fire. With Google still in Beta, and even Yahoo just going to 100 Megabytes, I really have reasons to suspect Rediff's claim. And if those claims are false, God knows what happens of Rediff next.

Anyway regardless of what the truth is, the real fact is that the users are in an absolute win-win situation :D I really pity those guys, who over a month back, might have shelled out a few dollars to get around 5-10 Mb more of email-space! :P

Google rocks!

Ankur.

Revamped!

So here I am (again!), posting after this major revamping of my blog on a cosy, comfortable afternoon/evening, on an extremely pleasant drizzling day.

I have become a see-saw, it seems. Rolling from Blogger to Livejournal and then back, and then back again. Actually the brand loyalty thing makes me come back to Blogger time and again :), apart from the fact that Blogger offers the 'as you like it' service. Yet the friends and commenting feature on Livejournal makes me go back.

So there you see, a completely satisfying blogging website still does not exist. While Blogger scores mainly on the 'customization' part, LJ seemingly banks on 'community blogging' feature. If either of the two could introduce the feature it lacks, then it's gonna be a sure winner. Apart from that LJ's interface is simpler and slightly faster in comparison.

Only thing I fail to understand is that these features are not too tough to add, considering the fact that they already have such good sites up. So why not just go ahead and fight for it and win back your customers for ever and ever ? I just keep wondering.

So that is that about blogging and me. Yet I desperately pray for one blog-host that gives me all what I want. And I do not want too much ! :D

Ankur.

It seems..

It has dawned upon me very recently that I am keeping this journal alive just to be an active user of blogger. Brand loyalty you can say - once they gave me a gmail account, I just feel like not letting them down :D

And so one more post - this one.

Even though blogger has introduced the comments feature, it's still not most satisfying. One cannot know when a comment was posted. Also thread system is presently non-existent. The templates too are not very impressive. Blogger still has some way to go before it swooshes past the other blogging sites.

But with google around, I wouldn't think it's far off. Adios.

Ankur.

Blogger reloaded..

It's all new, and better. Good show blogger !

So this is my first posting after the new face of blogger has arrived, and I am happy. All new templates, lots of features, and most of all - commenting on blogger itself. Cool. Though this seemingly brings the existence of Haloscan.com to threats. Also, the comments to my old posts will be lost. But something has to be lost for what there is to be gained.

Blogger rules !

Ankur.

Bad writing practice..

Hello world,

Well today I will talk about this very bad writing practice people follow, without realizing how annoying it is sometimes. And it is - no use of capital letters, no punctuations, and use of sms language while writing - arghh, annoying !

It is okay to do it once in a while in an email, or on sms - but please not always. I think people just let it be, not giving it much importance. But I, as a reader, tell you today that it is one big repulsion and it is important.

You may say - I do not think while I write, and I just let my thoughts flow in and post it, as afterall I write the blog for myself ! But dudes, you do the for myself things in private postings. And even if not, it is good to let go of your comfortable bad practices for your own good _someday_. And that will benefit the reader too ?! And please don't argue that it is not a bad habit !

I think it is fine to make spelling mistakes - ie, that is the one's you do not know of - not the one's you ignore while writing because you just let it be. That's a careless attitude in life. And why not care ? Please ! You are not soo pressed for time, everyone else knows this.

I post this as I do not like reading such material which reflects more of carelessness, and which I read because I have to read that. It's annoying :(

Ankur.

I wish..

And I wish to know. Know so and so much..

of people and cultures
of travel and places
of foods and cuisines
of nature and earth
of life and philosophy
of music and dance
of God and Devil
of right and wrong
of science and paranormal
of you and
of me.

Ankur.

Hindi is weird O gultis..

I understand you, I completely understand you now O gultis of this world ! I now understand why you are so confused with this national language of ours - Hindi. And I shall try and never scold a gulti now for his wrong usage of this language.

Had this discussion with Aman, Sari and Taxi, and was completely blown over by the simple problems these poor gultis face (Taxi is a ghati , by the way!). There is no verb usage for a thing in Hindi. While one can make out that ladka aaya and ladki gayi, how does one know that ped kaata and lakdi giri ? For those of us who know the language well, it comes very naturally -- kind of a gut feeling. But for them, how do they decide ? What is the rule ? And I was bowled by their simple question.

And to add to it, we associate gender with words of English too, which are used commonly in Hindi. Therefore, how does a gulti know that bus chali and truck ruka ?!

And best is that ghaas kaati, but baans kaata !! Why ?!

Now at least I do not have an answer to it, except that it seems to be a gut feeling due to my close familiarity with the language for all my life. And I think it's fine if those poor souls do not have that gut feeling, as the rule behind it -- I don't know what it is. So my plea to the world is -- please do not scold a poor cute gulti who's trying to speak some Hindi !

Anyhow, am gonna find some Hindi stud and ask this to him first thing. It is something good, and I'd like to know that !

So gulti's of the world, rest in peace. Your Hindi is cool. :)

Ankur.

Ayesha Zulka..

Ok so I met(saw?) Ayesha Zulka. Big deal.

Back at the passport office yesterday, she was just like any other person. It is Bombay anyways, big deal you saw a movie star. But she is cute. Soo smiley. And pink ! Why do all these stars have to be pink ? She was slightly chubby too. But basic point is -- she is cute ! And that is the only reason I am posting this - to tell people that she's still the same.

Still same as in her role in Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander. So my toll of having a look at lead movie stars now is a paltry low-quality -- three. Them being - Urmila, Priti Zhangiani and Ayesha Zulka. That's it. 5 years in Bombay and this is what I am treated to :(

Anyway, this is so insignificant to even post ! :D And the real story is that after a full file-on-the-table time of 2 years, my passport seems to be nearer to my hands. And I am keeping my fingers crossed. Let's see if my motherland wishes me to go travel seven seas away or not.

Abhi going me. Oh and while I am leaving, I'd like to reiterate - Ayesha Zulka is still soo beautiful !

Bye bye,
Ankur.

I am happy..

I am soo happy..

I, a person who always loved books but never found time to devote to them, has finally started to actually _read_ them than just collect and keep in the rack.

I have read some 9-10 books in the last 3 odd months, and by my standards it's HUGE! I shall get membership to some good liby there in Delhi and read lots and lots more. This will be one of the first few things I wish to do there. Please remind me of it.

Just finished 'The Good Earth' (was great) and now have my hands on 'Vernon God Little' (heard it's great too).

Early morning, eating time. Byebye.

Ankur.

I bow to you ;)

..O blogger!

Thank you and love you ! ;)

Ankur.