My 3AM Jugaad Tomato Soup

To start with I am very proud of myself today. I realize that I have also developed a very good ‘Jugaad’ mind now. There is no doubt that I was a genius since bachpan, but now having the additional power of common sense and ‘jugaad’ makes me feel even more sturdier.

Well I am not very humble when I write am I! Anyways to start with what is Jugaad? It is a very common term used in India, and yes we Indians are so smarter than the rest of the world! There is a jugaad for everything in India! I just did a google search of what Jugaad means? I got the meaning in the search result, please note in the search result itself and not after clicking on any web link! Hell there is also a wiki page on Jugaad! Also there are books having Jugaad as part of the title!! Feeling Proud! :D

So let’s get to my epic Jugaad of today. So it’s 3AM in the morning, due to my 3-12 shift, my sleep time which is 4AM has not yet come. I finish my 'Pringles sour cream and onion' box (and boy I love it!! #Addictive), I gulp on my tetra pack chocolate milk and have some cookies along with it. Then I decide, let’s make soup!

So off I go to kitchen, first thing I notice there is no utensil to prepare soup in! Well there are but they need to be washed (and I hate washing clothes and utensils :P ), so I look around the house, search and finally get an old rusty tapelu, it’s a big one, but well it will serve the purpose.  I pour water in it, and put it for boiling, problemo numero 2, there is no sansi (pakkad thing), I was thinking of using a cloth or something when I am done.

After 5 mins…problemo numero 3, the old rusty tapeli is giving out rust along with boiling water, what to do now! No problem…keep calm and keep boiling! Had a quick look around…found a big chamcha…ok I will use that to transfer water from tapeli to my mug. About the rust?? Well basic science, solid is heavier then liquid as it has higher density, after I turn off the gas it will settle down again! (y) After that I use a jharni (filer thing) while pouring water from tapeli to my mug via the big chamcha!

Mug already has the soup powder, just stir it…keep it for 3 mins…awesome soup ready…awesome Jugaad soup ready…even if some rust got dissolved in water…body needs iron in one form or the other…at the end of the day the feeling of accomplishing a wonderful Jugaad is simply marvelous!

Life @ Star Date 67942.9

Today is Star Date 67942.9, and the state of my mind is same as it was around SIX years ago. It was 30^th July, 2008, 03:25AM in the morning and I had a curious little mind, searching for answers. I just had to get my thoughts out and I blogged them out. That was the time when I first wrote about Life, there are 18 labels in my blog about Life, some philosophical, some experiential.

The things I want to write about is that between the first Label of Life and the 18^th, I have learnt a lot, I have grown a lot. I have experienced successes, experienced failures. Had a lot of happy moments, and also lot of sorrowful moments. However I have learnt one thing, the harder you fall, the stronger you are when you get up. I have learnt that it is important to be happy, but it is also important to be sad, because unless you don’t experience darkness, you won’t realize the importance of light.

I always wanted to do something important, something useful for humanity. Having high goals and dreams often comes with a price; the mind often achieves what it envisions.  I have experienced this many times, when I hope for something to happen, it really happens. I have also had a lot of deja-vu moments in my life. But I still contemplate what the limits of the human mind are. How powerful is the human mind and what is the source of its power? I dint have many answers in 2008, which I have now, may be one day I will have all my answers!

Life @ 67942.9 is going very well. I am rocking away on my Nexus 5, also read about the upcoming Nexus 9 tablet, looks to be a good one. Also I got myself my favorite Digit magazine’s 13^th anniversary issue. The weather is wonderful in Pune, the onset of monsoon, it is very pleasant and windy, and there is happiness all around.

The FIFA World Cup 2014 is going on, and sadly I am not following it much. I don’t know, I have lost my interest in Sports. I remember watching a lot of Football (mainly EPL), Cricket, F1, Tennis and WWE when I was in school/college. Now I do some reading, some social networking, and I watch a lot of movies. I can arguably say, I have watched over 70% of the released movies (Hindi, English) of 2014 in cinema hall!

I am going through a very good phase of my life, but I am choosing happiness over my goals. It is really funny; there are basically two types of people. One who just want to enjoy life and not think about anything else, and one who are goal oriented. I am a mixture of both. I realize that if I am very happy, it means I am not focusing on my goals, and vice-versa.

Life is about experience, life is about meeting new people, knowing them. I have met a lot of people through school, college and my jobs. You learn from them, you interact with them, you become very good friends, sometimes your good friends have to go away and you feel sad, but then you find more friends. Happiness and sorrow is a state of mind, HELL… EVEN LIFE AND DEATH IS A STATE OF MIND!!!

18th June, 2014

 Another date blog post, and a post after long time! I had pretty hectic work in office for last 3 months, was feeling tired, took a vacation and went to Gujarat. Visited Rajkot, Baroda, Anand and Bhanvangar. 4 cities in 9 days, lots of siblings masti, lots of home food, card games, and eventually gaining a few kilos at the end of it all!

 I visited Rajkot first, I was really surprised by the amount of development in Rajkot, I could see lots of premium apartment buildings, actually more than I have seen in Mumbai. The highways in Gujarat are also incredible, to be frank I have visited US, and some top cities in Gujarat have infrastructure facilities and development of similar to what you would find in the US!

 Did a lot of shopping in Rajkot, then I went to Bhavnagar, it is a very memorable place for me and my sister. We just used to love playing on the big swing in the yard outside the house and brushing in the open air tap every morning! As soon as I sat on the hichko, I felt an indescribable feeling, it was good, it was happiness, it was wonderful indeed! Went to our kud-devta Dhudiya-dada temple in Babara, which comes between Rajkot and Bhavnagar. Performed our family traditions there, and back to Bhavnagar.

 Went for the movie Fugly in the evening with my little PhD sister Nidhi, it was a big mall indeed, movie was nice too! After that had some exotic hot bhaijias, tomato and capcicum bhaijias to be precise! :D Went to Takteshwar mahadev temple after that, weather was wondeful, cool and windy. Takteshwar is a temple on the hill, and you can see whole of Bhavnagar from it!

 Next morning started for Anand, first time visit for me. Reached there and meet mota mama and all. Anand and Valabh Vidyanagar are next to each other, Valabh Vidyanagar is the biggest educational hub of Gujarat, where a lot of NRI students come too! Visited my brother's college where he is Assistant HOD, the infrastructure and cleanliness of the college were really commendable! Really impressed!

 Went to Baroda after that. Played cards with Snehal, had Punjabi food, a relief after 9 days of aamras and Gujarati cuisine, also had Pav Usal there. Started by journey back home from Baroda! It was a wonderful refreshing trip, and a memorable one indeed!

 Coming back to the subject now, today we had Kaizen fair in office, and my idea was selected as one of the top 12 in my unit. I was given a stall and I was presenting my idea to all visitors and the judging panel. A new experience indeed. I was a bit nervous all day, but did all the required preparations, started getting good feedback from the audience and then it all went well!

 Also finally ordered Moto E for mom, form flipkart today. This has become like booking tatkal ticket in irctc...lol. Also today is Sparsh's 4th month birth anniversary, Kaizen fair achievement dedicated to you big guy!

The 9 Games on my Nexus 5

In one of my previous posts, I had mentioned about the games I had loaded in my phones. At that time I had Subway Surfer, Hill Climb Racing, Asphalt 8, Stick Cricket Premier League and Tennis 3D. However, three have been a few changes now.

To start with I uninstalled Subway Surfer and Hill Climb Racing, as I did not find any interest in them after playing high graphics racing and sports games. I also installed some new games on my cell. As I was done with the Stick Premier League, I uninstalled that too, and I installed Stick Cricket Partnerships. It is a multiplayer online game, where you partner with other players on the net, and try to reach certain milestones and clear each levels. I also got the original Stick Cricket, but that is not that great, most of the things in that are paid!

Another game which I installed and I am playing a lot is 'Teen Patti'. It is the Indian version of Poker. I remember back in 2011, I played a lot of Zynga Poker on facebook. I had started with 10K chips and I had reached 2 Million, and hell yeah I am proud of it! Currently I have reached upto 175k starting from 10K, I have played only a week till now. I really like these games, they help you in developing your judgment and decision making skills.

What else, I have installed 4 more games. First is KBC, however I have never won more than 40K in it….the questions are just much tougher than what you get on the television. Second one is chess, which I din’t play till now…lol .

Third one I got is Pool Billiards, it is a good game to kill time, but I would enjoy the real pool more than the one on my cell. Finally I got a wonderful little game called 2048. It took me some guidance on how to play it, but once I learned, it is indeed a bit addictive! So there it is…the current 9 games of my Nexus 5: Tennis 3D, Asphalt 8, Stick Cricket, Stick Cricket Partnerships, Pool Billiards, 2048 Numbers, KBC 2014, Chess and Teen Patti.

14th April, 2014

 One of those date blogs again. More importantly, another post for this year. The amount I blog is directly proportional to the amount of happiness in my life. I have blogged a lot in past few months... :)

 So today was 14th April, 2014, Monday. A day which everyone hates, first day of the week to go to office. For me it's a week off. There are lot of perks in production support. You get one week off on Monday, it helps for a movie buff like me, you get cheap tickets and shows are never full!

 Today was the plan to watch Rio 2. Also that I had watched Rio before, I was looking forward to this one. It was up to the expectation, liked it. After that, had my favorite Mexican cuisine food for lunch, and off to another movie: Bhoothnath Returns. I had not seen Bhoothnath, and did not have any expectations from this one, I went because my friend recommended it as a good movie. Well he was damn right.

 It is a laugh out riot movie. Amazing performance by all, especially the child artist. Really fun to watch movie, and it also has a message in it. The importance of voting, and what happens when you consider Voting day as a holiday and go out on a picnic or just relax. This is a very bad mentality among us Indians, first we don't vote and then we keep blaming the government.

 Well for starters, this movie did inspire me to go to Mumbai, just to vote, I won't have a holiday, as voting date in Pune and Mumbai are different, I will still try my best to go to Mumbai and cast my vote. I want to make a difference. We all should make a difference, and work towards betterment of our society, rather than just complaining and criticizing the government for not doing anything.

 The difference between us and the developed countries is that, in developed countries, everyone not only cares for upliftment and betterment of their surroundings and country as a whole, but they also come forward and take action. This is the thing we should practice too, I know it is easy to say and no one really cares. But to start with, lets just make sure we all make our vote count, let our vote make a difference...

Nexus 5 Fully Loaded - Tips & Tricks!

 So it's been over a month now. I am really happy and proud to own a Nexus 5. Why not? When you are using phone of the year 2013! Ne ways getting back to the subject, in this post I would like to provide tips and recommendations for any Nexus 5/Android user.

 To start with, the one feature Nexus phone users are proud to show off, is the Google hindi input. This feature is available by default only in Nexus devices, for other Android phones, you need to install 3rd party apps. When you enable the Google hindi input, you can input in Hindi in all the applications on the phone. To enable this feature go to Settings-->Language & input-->Check the box which says 'Google Hindi Input'. Also this feature may soon be available for other Android devices too, with the next Android update.

 Lets come to apps and games. So, I got a 16 Gigs phone, with 12 Gigs user available. A 4.95 inch display, 2 Gigs of RAM, a Snapdragon 800 chip set (fastest at that time) and a 2.3 Ghz of CPU. Well it was like having a million dollars, and deciding how to spend it lavishly!!! I was a bit apprehensive and cautious to install heavy games, but then I did it all.

 As far as games is concerned, I started with the humble Subway Surfer and Hill Climb racing. Played those for a week, then I got Asphalt 8! It is ultimate racing game to play on a cell phone for a gamer. I have played a lot of NFS's on my PS2, and the feeling you get of playing a game of same level of graphics and performance on a handheld device is simply amazing! Really enjoying this one, already reached Season 2 of it in a week. Only concern is, phone becomes a bit hot if you play for long times, so don't do that, especially for Nexus 5, as it is a fully sealed device.

 I also got the Stick Cricket Premier League. You can play 5 seasons of IPL or Aus equivalent. I started the IPL with Mumbai Indians team. You get some funds at start of the season too, to buy players/coaches. Apparently I have finished all 5 seasons, won the IPL trophy 3 times, came 2nd once and 4th once. Another wonderful and new game on the play store, which I installed is Tennis 3D. It took me some time to ace this one, around 30mins, but once I learnt some tricks it is fun. It is competitive, and I still need to learn more tricks to start winning Slams.

 So that was for games, lets come to apps. WhatsApp and Facebook were the first and basic installs.  After that I also got the Facebook Messenger, as the latest one lets you make unlimited free calls! Also installed Skype, as I use it for Video calls with family. I had not loaded music in my phone for a while, as my awesome collection was in Mumbai. I went home last weekend and got 4 Gigs worth of my favorite music synced to my Nexus 5. This phone does not come with a music player, you can play music from My Music app, but that is not that good. Got 'Rocket Player' for music, working pretty well, Good Easy UI, and some useful features too.

  I am happy and lucky to have lot of good friends who are experienced Android/Nexus 5 users. They also recommended me apps like 'Clean Master' and 'Digitally Imported Radio'. I tried a few stations, and 'Chillout' is the one I liked the most. There are several other crazy hard core Trance stations too, I got headache after listening them for 5 mins...lol.

 I am a movie buff, so I had also got the bookmyshow app in the first week. I follow cricket too, I tried the CricInfo app, din't like it much. Have installed CricBuzz now, which is also higher in rankings on the PlayStore. After installing all of the above, I still have 3.62 GB memory left. Not to mention, I have a 1.5 GB worth of a single game in the form of Asphalt 8, and 4 GB of music!

 Only concern I found was about the battery, and I guess not only for Nexus 5, this is applicable to all Android phones. It is more applicable to this sucker as it packs a very big punch, compared to most other lesser specs devices, but overall I am really really happy with my Nexus 5!! 

Untitled Part 4 – Mr. K & The Alteration of Singularity

Link to Untitled Part 3: http://cartikvyas.blogspot.in/2013/11/untitled-part-3-ant-relativity.html

Untitled Part 4

 Some questions always intrigue human minds. There have been many great theorists and physicists in the history of mankind; however the human species has a lot of limitations. It is the most powerful species on planet earth, thanks to the gift of a comparatively powerful brain which helps it to survive against other species. But that is just earth; it is way too small compared to the universe it resides in.  There are species in this and other universes, which are far more evolved and advanced than humans, some even more than the Primes.

 Mr. K did find the trick to travel in the exclusive fourth dimension of time. Mr. K was also a human to begin with, he also had his limitations, but with new knowledge came new powers, which further unlocked new knowledge and mysteries of the universe!

 Let’s talk about singularity then. Singularity is the moment in time, rather it is the start of time. Around 13 billion years ago, when the big bang happened and this universe was formed. What is there outside the universe? Human minds cannot figure that out, humans cannot even figure out the origin of life on earth yet, humans are still a very young species who have a lot to travel and a lot to learn.

 Mr. K went back in time, and did something that helped humans traverse the extensions of the known universe and beyond. The fact is, that very fabric of life could be altered, that parallel universes could be traversed, that infinity could be defined, and yes that singularity could be altered.

 For someone with average intelligence in the early 21^st Century on planet Earth, here is an explanation. In science studies, there are four popular subjects: Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics. Most science students who study them never think about it beyond the pages of their textbook. The lessons that the greats like Einstein and Newton taught us can easily be used to relate these four subjects.

 Things don’t happen automatically, there is a force, an unknown force. If you study The Ant Relativity, you will know that even humans are like Ants to some unknown, and more powerful species. A species which can see more dimensions, knows much more about the universe, and it rules the universe indeed, just like humans rule Earth.

 Coming back to Singularity Alteration, think of Physics in terms of all the laws of Physics including concepts like motion, gravity, friction, light, etc, i.e. the physical world. Think of Chemistry, as the world of Chemicals, the importance of chemistry lies in the gases which helped in formation and which support life on earth. Biology is the science of atoms, the science which basically talks about organic life. And finally the favorite of Mr. K: Mathematics. The science which is more superior and more powerful than any other. The fact that humans are not that evolved enough is because humans have not been able to do the Maths, the science of numbers, the power of numbers is beyond imagination.!

 To form life, the higher unknown, more powerful species would have to select 3 out of the above 4 forces. Physics is always there, Chemistry was added to support the Biology. Mathematics was left out. The better equation would have been, Chemistry is always there, and Mathematics added to support Physics. If you know what I mean, and if you understand what I mean, then Mr. K figured this out, and with it came the knowledge, and the power, and then the Singularity was altered.....

Link to Untitled Part 5: http://cartikvyas.blogspot.in/2014/11/untitiled-part-5-mr-k-and-7-dimensions.html  

Happy One Month Anniversary Little Sparsh!

Dear Sparsh, 

So you are now one month old. You had your first outings in the sun. You had your first family picture with mum and dad in the backyard of your lovely home. You also celebrated your first holi. You may not know, but even though I am miles away from you, I do see your wonderful sweet pictures and videos every day. Your smile, especially the one with eyes close, makes our day. You are indeed the apple of our eye.

 Today I will talk about a man. A man, who failed at business in 1831, was defeated in run for legislature in 1832, failed again at business in 1833. His fiancé died in 1835, had a nervous breakdown in 1836. He lost run for congress in 1843, lost the same again in 1848. Lost senate race in 1855, lost VP race in 1856, and lost senate bid in 1859. Finally he was elected 16^th President of USA in 1860, and he changed the course of American history.

 This is the story of the great Abraham Lincoln. He had so many failures in life, but he never gave up. He always kept trying; eventually he got the greatest achievement anyone could think of. All the failures that he had in life, only made him stronger and wiser.  

 Ups and downs are part of everyone’s life. Even you will face challenges in life. You may not be the best in everything, you may fail few times. Always remember, to never give up. Failures are just a stepping stone to success. Failures will just make you stronger, smarter and wiser. You will always have a very strong support system in the form of family and friends. Whenever in life, if you face any problems, and are not able to solve it, always ask help and opinion from mom and dad, don’t ever keep things inside you.

 Finally I would like to say, that as you are growing up, and as I see your pictures every day, I see a sense of wisdom in your eyes. You have great genes, it makes me happy, and I am sure you will do very well in life, and not encounter many failures!

Your Lovingly, 

Mamu.

Google Nexus 5...

 To start with I would like to look back in time. It was 28th November, 2010, when I bought my previous phone. Samsung Wave 723, it served me very well for more than 3 years. It has been a wonderful journey, and I will always remember you for all that you have done for me. Your 5MP camera with LED flash, and the 5.1 surround sound were notably outstanding. However, all good things come to an end my friend, it's time for both of us to move on. 

 The date for the upgrade of the phone in my life was 3rd March, 2014. A big upgrade too, Google Nexus 5, the phone of the year in 2013, and I would be a proud owner of it. The moment it came in front of my eye, my happiness knew no limits, I was on cloud 10...(cloud 9 is very dreary) It was like a wonder of the world is in my hand. The first time I turned it on, it said Google and I was like WOW…I finally own the great legend, the great masterpiece of my time.

  

 I went outside and got my sim-card cut, so that it could fit in this one. Then I registered my google account with the phone….and the rest they say is history. It is a wonderful phone. Superfast, super slick and super light. You get a feeling of pride holding it. Touch screen is very responsive, loads of Android features and applications. My previous phone had bada OS, and not many apps available. Finally, I am now on WhatsApp! The camera of the phone is too good, it has 8MP primary, and 1.3 MP secondary. I clicked a few shots in office yest, they came out wonderful.

 I also got Android 4.4.2 Kitkat pre-installed.  One of the icon called “Play Games” was not opening, but then after the apps update, it is working fine now. One can anyways access all the Games from the PlayStore. I have bought the 16GB version, and I have around 12GB available, I would have been happy for anything above 10GB, and so I am.

 One thing I noticed, and it is a known fact that Android phones eat a lot of battery, on an average the battery lasts a day and a half max. However, the charging is also ultra quick, or may be because my handset is new.  Lot of security features are available, there are 5 ways to unlock the screen, we can do it using Slide, Face Unlock, Pattern, Pin and Password. Lot of other administration features also available.

 My laptop seems redundant now, the only time I would use it would be to write my blog, or type an email, everything else would be done from the phone now…

Finally, thanks a lot to my sister and jiju for the phone, I am really happy to have it and am enjoying it a lot!!

Another India Pakistan Thriller!

 To start with, I would have been much happier had India won this one. We came sooo close; the good old Afridi was the difference again. India out of Asia Cup 2014! :(

 So my day started early today at 6:30AM. Pretty early I would say, especially after doing late shift in office and sleeping around 01:30AM. Had to catch the 0750 Deccan Queen train to Mumbai. I was kinda already late when I left my apartment, getting an auto in the morning was also a problem. Somehow, I reached station 5 mins early, and boarded the train on time...a relief to have not missed the train.

 Reached Mumbai, went to uncle’s place. Had wonderful and lots of good delicious home food, 3 farsan and jalebi along with the wonderful lunch was too good. Meanwhile Pakistan won the toss and chooses to bowl. Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli left early, however Rohit Sharma was in terrific form, and was making batting look very easy. He made a free flowing 50 for India before getting caught, mistiming on a short delivery. Rayadu also played well for his fifty in the middle order. Jadeja finished off well for India with a good knock of 50 too. India managing 245 for 8 in 50 overs.

 245 was not a winning total but a fighting total. India had got in Amit Mishra for this match, making it 5 specialist bowlers. Amit Mishra bowled wonderfully well ended with figures of 2 for 28 in 10 overs. Match was very tight, went till the last over, it was anyone’s game. Pakistan had an upper hand for most part, but then 3 quick wickets in final overs made it very interesting.

 Pakistan 9 down, around 10 to win in last over. Afridi still there and what does he do? 2 sixes back to back to seal it off for Pakistan. What followed on facebook was a round of abuses, some for Afridi and some for R. Ashwin, who was the unfortunate bowler on the receiving end in the last over. Man of the match was Mohammad Hafeez for his knock of 75 and his 2 for 38 in 9 overs. Jadeja did well with the bat, but was disappointing with the bowl, he was bowling too quick and not giving enough flight like Mishra.

 Ne ways, winning and losing is part of the game, and part of life. India already has a, not so strong bowling attack as I said in my last post too. If batting does not click, the chances to win becomes very less. India out of Asia cup, too bad...I had high hopes. Ne ways good news is I am getting my brand new Nexus 5 tomorrow, so looking forward to that!!