Comfort Habits

I am not obsessive compulsive about cleanliness. Do just enough to be called civilized. But there was one small comforting habit that I used to do when I was working for my previous company. This is how it went.

Step 1: Reach office, arrange my stuff, switch on the computer.
Step 2: Go to the washroom and wash hands till wrists with the available soap solution.
Step 3: Take the napkin and wipe both hands till no part of napkin is dry.
Step 4: Use the hot air blowing machine to remove any wet patches.

That's it. No more, no less. Pretty boring, I'd say. But NO! The feeling after the action of having dry, warm hands is simply unbeatable. Who doesn't like a warm hand shake? I surely hate sweaty palm hand shakes.

So there, that is my comfort habit. Washing and drying my hands. Sadly, my current office doesn't have a hot air blower. I do it whenever I go to restaurants or such.

Do you have any comfort habit? Please do share no matter how embarrassing it might be.

Tournaments are like parties

Page 2 | The tournament with an asterisk in the title | Cricinfo.com: "When the ICC hosts a tournament it is more like your parents throwing you a bash. They think they know what is cool, but they don't quite get it. They put on Maroon 5, invite over all your boring aunts and uncles, only have non-alcoholic drinks, and have the party on a weekday.

Lalit is more like the cool, slightly dodgy, uncle. He comes in with a DJ, free booze for everyone, invites your friends, and brings over famous people and the party goes crazy."

This I was reading on the cricinfo site written by Jarrod Kimber (http://www.cricketwithballs.com/). I liked it more for the way he described the ICC tournaments. Very True!

Revealed - Product Ponderings

I had written a blog about a product and all the various qualities of this product.

I asked you guys to guess what product it was. Nobody successfully guessed. Not even my own family members. (even after they were not allowed to participate)

Well here goes, I will start with the hints I gave and match it to the product.

Strong and Sturdy – It is so sturdy, it feels full even when it is empty

Lasts a lifetime – Looks like it, except maybe the exterior shell might breakdown

Made of quality stainless steel – Indeed it is. makes a really nice thunk sound.

Click Lock – I really like the way it locks.

Easy to clean – That's really required!

P. U. insulated – Guess why insulation might be required. To keep things hot/cold (give away)

First time in India - Everyone who has seen me with it has inquired about the price and raised their eyebrows when I gave it to them.

So what is it? It is my Lunch BOX!!

HAHA, anyway, I really like it. It has attitude as well. :)

So, I took the pictures but haven't been able to get them online. Will update this blog with them. (not sure when)

Old Memories

As a child going to a local primary school, I was never required to take any public transport. Often my father would drop all the three of us on a two wheeler (very normal in India) or we would walk for 15 minutes to reach the school (just in time for the assembly).

 

So, it was a quite an adventure when I had to travel by bus with my elder cousin due to the fact that a very close relative was getting married and my family decided to move to the house where the marriage was to take place. My sisters completed their exams and by sheer luck my exams were still going on.

 

Those were very memorable days. Every day of the exam, I would get ready with my exam pad, two pencils and an eraser. My cousin was free at that time and he would walk me from the relative's house to the bus stop. Catch a bus from there to my school.

 

This bus took an unusual route; it went through a new, hilly colony with open expanses with houses few and far between. The journey was magical. The roads were ill-formed and with the bus empty, the ride was much like a roller coaster. The mornings were cold and the seats, colder. The bus itself was freshly washed, with droplets of water still left back on the seat to be wiped off by passengers.

 

After the bus reached its destination, my cousin would shepherd me to my school to give my exam. While I was writing the exam he would spend time with his friends who were also our relatives. I was to meet him at their house.

 

One day after I finished my exam, I started for this house. I reached around 1 p.m. and by that time; my cousin would be ready to take me back. But this day, his friend came out and informed that my cousin had already left. I was flabbergasted; I did not know what to do. My vision was fast becoming a blur with impending tears. That is when he popped out from behind the wall. A gush of relief washed over me. And we went back happily.

 

Somehow, only this day seems clear in my mind. And the fact that I enjoyed all the days equally is a pleasurable feeling even to this day. It is something I will not do again, that is for sure. I would like to thank my cousin for taking care of me during those times, as his companionship was one thing that kept my fear of exams at bay.

Personal Climate Control Suit

We've seen a lot many innovations and inventions seep through NASA into ordinary life.

 

One such invention I want to come to our life is the Personal Climate Control Suit or the Astronaut Suit.

 

Why?? Because, I have seen people face lot of problems with Air Conditioning in various places.

 

Everybody wants a different temperature; people with cold don't want the A/C.

And cooling the entire office space isn't worth it. Why not only cool the immediate surroundings of the person.

 

IT companies have desks for people. All desks are provided with a wired internet connection, similarly, an A/C went that can be plugged into your suit to cool you as per your desired temperature. Or it can be a connection hanging from the ceiling, that will stay connected to the person/suit as you traverse paths through your company. Or a portable compressor that works of your body movement. A hybrid of the above two cases will really reduce power consumption.

 

Really works for people in a desk job with not much area to be covered. That way companies can save on electricity, people will have a choice of temperature either tropic or arctic.

 

Now to this really to work, the suit has to be made wearable with the least amount of work. Should be comfortable, movement should not be restricted. Should be fashionable (such that people can customize their own suits). I know, nobody wants to be seen in a plain vanilla white personal climate control suit or white is passé... LOL

 

It should be mass produced for it to be cheap. And there should be some standby suits in case one malfunctions. Also these suits should have self-electricity generating capabilities. Maybe put a piezo-electric inducer or whatever in the foot soles of the suit to keep generating electricity while walking. It should have proper ventilation of undesirable gasses released by us humans too.

 

This is just an idea; I can see this becoming a reality when there is real heat everywhere. Anyway, just give in your inputs as well. CIAO

Product Ponderings

A product generally lists its name, model and some special features. Whereas the product packaging has the brand name, some graphics, contents, material used to manufacture, place of manufacture and other sundry details required by regulation. That is for the regulated products like Medicines, food products etc.

 

Say, for example, a computer/PC will list the brand name (say, Dell), the model name (Optiplex 360), special features (Intel Core™ 2 Duo inside™) and such.

 

I wanted to present in this space a product that lists all these and more. So here goes!

 

Brand Name: Esteam (No that is not a spelling mistake for Esteem, it is an intended variation to keep in accord with the product being sold)

Company Name: AVCON™

Model: Splendour-3

 

Apart from these details, this product that I bought a few weeks ago proclaims the following:

Strong and Sturdy – right!

Lasts a lifetime – I will die, but it will go on!

Made of quality stainless steel – Of course it is!

Click Lock – Awesome!

Easy to clean – That's really required!

P. U. insulated – That's Poly Urethane Insulated – Real cool tech.

First time in India - Now we all love that, don't we?

 

Now you guys are given here a chance to take a guess at what this product is. I will give you all a chance for one week. Then will update the post with the right answer.

 

Terms and conditions: This quiz is not open to family members living with the poster

Cricket Musings

Yesterday night the Indian cricket team, the defending champions of the T20 world cup, was eliminated rather unceremoniously from the event. I was awake when the cookie crumbled to show the ugly reality within it. I decided yesterday night never, from here on, to forego sleep for such stupid events. Many of my friends will be pointing their fingers in an "I told you so!" fashion.

 

In the after effect, after the event, I began analyzing the team's defeat. I am not an expert, but as an Indian cricket fan have the highest qualification to be a critic. The side that played yesterday was so shoddy, it was appalling. Let's go by the batting order.

 

Gautam Gambhir – The only role he plays is of an opening batsman. He is good but is not in touch. As a fielder he is always on the fringes, very rarely making spectacular stops or taking stupendous catches. So he can be termed as not an all-rounder.

 

Rohit Sharma – He had a great IPL tour. But in the absence of Sehwag, pushed into opening, he has failed to deliver when it mattered most. Both his shots in the super eight games were played early, he has to slow down a little I guess. He is a good fielder. But nobody gets into the team only as a fielder.

 

Suresh Raina – Brutally exposed of his lack of technique at playing the short ball, Suresh Raina also is in the team as a fielder. As mentioned earlier, nobody gets into the team only as a fielder.

 

Ravindra Jadeja – He bowled well, but his batting leaves a lot to be desired. I have never seen a batsman hit so many shots and not clearing the ground. He is too young. He could have been what Yuvraj Singh was at his age, but he is not a Punjabi, thus lacking the power and strength to clear the boundary.

 

Yuvraj Singh – Gone are the days when batsmen feared to run when the ball was in his vicinity. Now they even dare think of taking twos near him. He was the culprit who failed to collect a wide ball fired in by harbhajan, giving away 5 wides off a ball that could have easily been only 2 runs. India lost the match by 3 runs. He is only in the team as a dangerous batsman. He doesn't bowl enough to be called an all rounder anymore.

 

M. S. Dhoni – The slated wicket-keeper batsman can be considered as an all-rounder, but with a missed stumping and 10 wides let go off Harbhajan Singh, he seems to be in the team only as a Captain. His scores aren't up to scratch either.

 

Yusuf Pathan – A bits an pieces player who can tonk the ball hard, been playing too low in the batting order to get a decent hit in. Bowls pretty well even in the 'power play' overs.

 

Harbhajan Singh – As an off spin bowler, he seems to be bowling too fast. He should have a session with the great Bishen Singh Bedi sometime to rejuvenate his bowling. His fast bowling has led to two 5 wides in yesterday's match. But he has really grown leaps and bounds in his batting.

 

Zaheer Khan – Bowling well has been the spear head of the Indian bowling attack. He hasn't done much wrong but has been a little slow in the field, being the oldest in the side, that seems to be his undoing.

 

RP Singh – came in for this game only and bowled really well. No complains.

 

Ishant Sharma – Running in a bad patch, Ishant is unable to threaten international batsmen with his bouncers, which are picked for boundaries. A rather disheartening fact is that he is not learning from his mistakes.

 

After all the critiques, I think this is what India should do in the next game.

 

1. Get in Dinesh Karthik as the keeper.
2. Keep Dhoni as the Batsman-Captain.
3. Opening can be done either by Dinesh Karthik or Yusuf Pathan.
4. Drop Rohit Sharma down the order, send in Yuvraj in at three followed by Raina.
5. Harbhajan has to slow down his bowling and use his speed only as a surprise ball.
6. Give Praveen Kumar a chance in place of Ishant Sharma, he has guile and can swing the ball both ways.

Now that the team is out of the tournament anyway, there is no risk in tinkering here and there. Your inputs are invited.