Alibag, Janjira and Kashid Trip from PUNE

19-Jan-2012

In evening, we started planning for 1 day beach trip by car, as my kids wanted to go to beach.

We finalized the map and plan. We looked at various websites to get an overview of the optimum time taken at various places. We thought of following plan

1) Leave Pune at around 6:00 am

2) Reach Murud by around 11:00 am (Google Map indicated 3.5 - 4 hours from Pune to Murud)

3) Go to Janjira and return back to Kashid at around 3:00 pm

4) Enjoy at Kashid beach and leave by around 5:30 pm and return back by 8:30 pm

20-Jan-2012 (Sunday)

Morning:

Me and my wife woke up at 5:00 am sharp as planned.

My 4 year son and 7 year old daughter also woke up "surprisingly" at 5:30 am without my efforts. Normally it takes 15-20 min for me to wake them. Probably the word "sea-beach" makes difference from "school" :)

Alibag beach

After getting fresh and having cup of tea, we started our journey at around 6:05 am by car. Didn't expect that I would be at right time :)

We got on expressway soon and quickly we reached Khopoli by around 7:15 am or so and whao!! reached Pen by around 8:00 am. Then we decided to take a tea-break and had some early breakfast just after Pen. The road was good and due to slight fog, there was very less traffic.

While having breakfast, we thought that we would reach too early and beaches are too good in the morning, so we changed our plan. We decided to move to Alibag first and then stay on beach for 2 hours and then cruise to Murud.

We started again at 8:20 am and reached Alibag at 9:00 am. Alibag is a nice place.. There are lots of zig-zags to reach beach !!. It was Anti-pulse polio day and so my kid had "2 boond zindagi ki".

After parking the car, we all ventured into the sea and played there a lot.

We got lots of garden tools, so my wife and daughter were pretty busy in making different kinds of castle :)

Queue at Murud for boat

By around 11:00 am, we left for Murud. It took nearly 1.5 hours to reach there. There was huge rush and many people were in queue to sit on boat. After nearly 3 boats had passed, we were lucky to get the boat and sat inside. My daughter/kid were traveling in the boat for the first time and they were enjoying "totally surrounded by sea".

Afternoon:

Finally, we reached Janjira fort at around 1:45 pm. We had already visited this fort few years ago and so we didn't need a guide. There was a person in the boat, who said that he would charge Rs. 40 per person and guide them about the fort. But nobody was interested. Even in the last, he asked us if we are interested, but we denied.

My daughter was interested in cannon, which were just above the gate and had some snaps.

Jaljira fort

I was telling her about the king/queen and the fresh pond lake. We had to catch the boat back again at 2:30 pm and after that we returned back to Murud. We had lunch "Maharastrian Thali", which was quite delicious. Then we moved to Kashid and reached there by evening 4:00 pm

Evening:

Kashid had totally changed. I last visited Kashid some 4-5 years ago and now there were many fun activities/club that had come up. There were good tides at 4:00 pm. So as expected, my daughter and son went into sea and enjoyed playing there.. My son was running behind tides and was informing him "No tide. This is not good manner. You should not touch me. You are good tide". At around 5:00 pm, we had to pull both kids out of sea, as I wanted to drive maximum in God's light. I planned to reach Pen by 6:30 pm or so.

I started from Kashid at 5:20 pm. But due to heavy traffic and narrow road, I could reach Alibagh by  6:05. Took a small tea/cold dring/petrol break and then continued towards Pen. OMG, it was highway and there were lots of cars/vans heading towards Mumbai.. It was too slow and due to few industries, trucks were also in queue. So we reached Pen by around 7:15 pm . Kids were already sleeping on the back seat of the car. From Pen we took road to ExpressWay (Khopoli) and then continued our journey to Pune. Finally we reached Pune by 9:45 pm. Took dinner and went to sleep quickly to be ready for Monday morning.

Thus we ended our 1 day trip successfully.

Few things that helped

1) GPS works. My wife's GPS phone was very helpful in deciding, if the route is correct

2) Some juices/quickly eatables stuff makes kid happy and makes journey better.

3) Google Maps :)

2 day trip to Ratnagiri, Ganpatipule from Pune - November 2010

As it was November time, we planned to go for beach this time. We had chosen Ganpatipule for the following reasons

• Good information was available on internet and one of my friend has visited few weeks earlier.
• I had already visited Divegar, Harihareshwar, Murud, Kashid and so I planned for something new.
• Google Map Zindabad

So we (me, my wife and 2 kids) planned a short trip to Ganpatipule (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganpatipule) on Saturday and come back to Pune (probably have dinner) on Sunday night. I wanted to have my cousin too along but he was not in Pune in this week.

Friday (19 Nov 2010)

I took some printout of maps and the various locations that could be visited in Ratnagiri and

Ganpatipule. Particularly the map and website http://sites.google.com/site/weekendtravelplans/ganapatipule was very helpful. I also saw that it would be around "full moon" and so tides would definitely be good during our visit to Arabian sea.

As it was just a day to leave, my wife did the preparation

• Home made cake
• Chips/Groundnut
• lots of cucumber
• 7-8 litres of water (with 1 kg chilled water early morning)
• Home made food vegetable
• Some toffees/chocolates
• Juices

We all slept by 10:00 pm in order to be awake by 4:30 am (alarm). We had planned to leave our home by around 5:30 am - 6:00 am in order to get very less traffic on highway

Saturday

Morning

My wife woke up early at 4:00 am and started preparing puris. I gave her minor help though :)

After getting fresh and cup of tea, we woke up our kids at around 5:30 - 5:45 am.

We left our home exactly at 6:00 am. We were on time.

We knew the route and decided to have the next stop (with petrol filling) nearby Satara.

So after around 2 hours of journey, after Satara, we took a (petrol)break and had tea. My kids were enjoying with various food items my wife had brought in the way itself. :)

By around 8:30 am (145 kms), we were at Umbraj. From Umbraj, we took a right turn to move towards the link road to Chiplun (on Mumbai-Goa Highway). Chipun is 90 kms from Umbraj. The link road is good enough just to have the speed of 40 kmph with few bad patches where we could not drive the vehicle even at 15 kmph. Anyways, I like enjoying driving and then, after crossing Patan, after a junction (45 kms from Umbraj), we turned left towards Chipun.

There are Kumbarli ghats and I decided my speed not to cross 40 kmph in turns. I myself violated it multiple times :). We saw monkeys on the ghat roads and my younger kid was seeing monkeys for the first time.

Around 10:30 am, we were at Chiplun. We took a short break of tea and puris (15-20 min). We bought a ball to play with on beach. After Chipul, we turned left towards Sagameshwar on Mumbai-Goa Highway and continued our journey.

Afternoon

By around 12:30 pm, we were just entering Ratnagiri. I stopped a person who helped me in identifying the proper route to various places. First we reached Thiba palace, a place where Burma king stayed for long time. It was not a big palace, but we still enjoyed the various sculptures of God and other things. We relaxed there a bit too. Next we planned to visit birthplace of Tilak (Tilakali). Birthplace of LokManya Gangadhar Tilak is a nice place. The person/guide showed us the various places. We had some snaps (as usual). I was feeling bit tired and also we didn't book any room before our departure. So then we decided to

proceed to Ganpatipule (around 30-45 min journey from Tilakali). We searched for a decent room and we got it in Ganpatipule inspite of heavy rush. We reached room at around 3:45 pm.

Evening

We all relaxed in the room getting some energy for beach in the evening. After having tea/snacks, we all proceeded to the sea-beach and reached there by around 4:45 pm. I thought that we were reaching bit early, but already there were hundreds of people on the beach !!

My kids enjoyed playing in the beach for long and they didn't want to come up. Forcefully, we had to pull our kids with promise of re-visiting the beach early in the morning. We thought that as the sun is set, it would be around 7. But amazingly we found that it was just 6:15 pm. We went back to our room and had bath and changed our clothes. At around 7:15 pm, we went to have our dinner at "Pure Vegetarian Restaurant" and we found a good place for dinner. We purchased few things like Ambapoli, which I saw on many websites and few other things. We all were very tired and by 9:30 pm, we all were asleep.

Sunday (21/Nov/2010)

Morning

We all were ready by 6:30 am to move to the sea once again. We washed our faces, because we wanted to visit the Ganpati temple first. We first visited the temple and then moved to sea. As I got little cold, I didn't venture much inside the sea. At 8:30 am, we took some snacks (poha/shira/misal pav/ vada pav/idli) at the hotel at sea-beach itself. Then we were back to our room in the lodge. We took bath and of course some rest. My kids were seeing the buffalo near to our room:). There were lots of papaya/banana/coconut trees. After again having a cup of tea, we checked out from the lodge at around 10:30 am and proceeded towards "Prachin Konkan". We cancelled our boating plan, as we do it regularly in Mahabaleshwar and Panshet (Pune).

We reached Prachin Konkan by around 11:00 am. We had already seen few pictures of Prachin Konkan and we knew that it was worth visiting once. They also allowed camera, which was great. Prachin Konkan is a good place where they have the models showing kinds of people during 5-6th century. More interesting were birds and masks in Prachin Konkan. We bought few wooden items for kids.

Afternoon and back to Pune

We had a good look At around 12:30 pm, we decided to move back to Pune. We first reached Niveli phata and then towards Chiplun.

Just before Chipul, at around 2:30 pm, we stopped at one good looking hotel to have some lunch and break. We for the first time, ordered "Maharastrian Thali". It was good one. We all enjoyed it (3:00 pm) and then we continued our journey towards Umbraj. We reached Umbraj at about 5:00 pm. We re-filled our car with petrol and then decided NOT to take official break, so that maximum driving is done in "God's" light. The speed was good (around 80-100 kmph). There were 2 toll nakas which took around 30 min :(

By around 8:00 pm, we were back to Pune. My wife prepared quick dinner and we all were sleeping at 10:00 pm.

It was good journey and the following things are important, if kids are along :)

1. Some regular refreshments.

2. Some favourite songs.

3. Things to play with.

etc.

Hope wishing you too a happy journey, if you plan :)

Defensive v/s Offensive v/s Dual

Defensive v/s Offensive v/s Dual


A day ago, I got turmoiled in a controversy over the Defensive v/s Offensive.
Sometimes, there is a feeling that one should be offensive and take more risks. On the other hand, if it goes wrong, then the person is to blame for being offensive and risking his "way of life".
As usual there are multiple positive and negative points to each of them

Let's take each with plus (++++) and minus (----) points and then take few examples for the same in "Indian" context.
1. Offensive
++++
(a) If succeeded, you are the star. You get a lavish lifestyle
(b) You become an icon.
(c) You think in a "different" direction

----
(a) The chances of being "Phunsukh Wangdu" in 3 idiots is rare. Not to talk about the proportion of people coming to Mumbai to become film star 20 years ago.
(b) If gone, you might be tempted to earn money/name/fame by "evil" section of the society.


2. Defensive
++++
(a) You stay on the ground knowing your realities.
(b) You are never "offsight" for few days/months/years.
(c) You stay "satisfied".

----
(a) You are always the one, who sticks to time as you are catching "Mumbai local train".
(b) Your thinking never goes to extreme. Only satisfying something "above" basic needs.
(c) Life is a daily routine, where you do something to earn/spend/save money.
(d) You look for more "Retirement" plans.


3. Dual

You are both Defensive and Offensive. You ensure while playing risks, those risks are "calculated". Or even if you play risk, you or your family members are not in dark about it. Your base is always strong (it could be family/money/education).
++++
(a) You have a strong base, so a proper kick up can make you the "charmest" in the world.
(b) You are very focussed on the thing you do. It is NOT necessary that you succeed in everything, but don't give up trying
There are hundreds of people, who failed but then learnt - Book

Examples of dual

1. Cricket - IPL
Initially, BCCI was giving very less amount to the players and there were only 2 formats - Test and ODI. But there were lot of "good" Ranji players, which could not play even a match in ODI. Nothing was being done. But as ICL (sponsored by ZEE) came up with 20-20 format, BCCI launched IPL. So they had original Test and ODI (being defensive) and also a new format IPL (offensive). It may happen that revenues/profits from IPL (new offensive) may exceed that of Test and ODI.

2. Football playing
To win football, both defense and offense is needed. Defence is to ensure that competitor do not ensure his victory by your loss and Offense is to ensure that you continue keep on trying the opposite. Whichever team has good offense and defense (and good luck), the team wins.

3. Software - Google
Google came up with Google Search in 1997. First it ensured that Google Search is fastest and widest. Then it ensured that it acquired/tied up with good sites like social networking sites. (Playing Defensive).

Then it realized that continuous R & D (or new applications are required). It has to be offensive. So it is trying to eat up the share of other companies, may be Microsoft Office (Google Docs/Presentations), Apple (Android) etc.

But while going offensive, Google always ensured that there is NO LOSS of users/customers who are using "Google Search". They are not shifted to different search like Yahoo/Bing.

Failed Examples
1. Yahoo - Played Defensive
Yahoo (at one time) had the best search engine. It had a very good share. But it was always playing defensive, just managing to secure its own market of "search". So there were failed talks of Microsoft acquiring Yahoo. But now they had started being offensive (offering more products)

2. General Motors
At one moment, it was pride for any human to have GM car. But in US, the gas was cheap and there was no inflation. GM was playing defensive. It didn't focus on R & D for other cheap alternatives. So today again GM is in offensive mode, with putting more money in enviornment-friendly, cheap technology.


I cannot quote any example of any company which was being offensive and failed for the sole reason that I prefer "success".

So this is the reason, I feel that playing the "dual" role is more important than being separately defensive or offensive

Enjoy !!

Adhir Garg

Holy Trip to Shirdi Sai Baba and Shani Shingnapur

Saturday, 31st January 2009, was the day we, my family, all decided to become holy for at least one day in the month:)

Planning

As planned, we all decided to go by car from Pune. I thought of driving the car myself around 500 kms.

There are two options of going to Shirdi (a) via Nasik and (b) via AhmedNagar. (Wikimapia) Reading on various websites, I came to know that AhmedNagar Road is bit lengthy but is very smooth.

Saturday morning we had to wake up at 5:00 am and leave home by 6:00 am.

Way to Shirdi from Pune

We all started in the morning by 6:15 am (we were late by ONLY 15 minutes). There was still darkness around (it is obvious in January last). Within few minutes, the car was on AhmedNagar highway. By 7:00 we were crossing KalyaniNagar. Great !! The road was good.

The sun had started to show its glory on us. By 8:45 am we stopped for Petrol and snacks just before AhmedNagar. We resumed our journey again at 9:15 am towards AhmedNagar. After enquiring for the Manmad road, which comes taking left turn from "Chowk", we were on the highway to Manmad. By 11:15 am we had reached Shirdi.

At Shirdi

Lot of guys pounced upon us asking us to park our vehicle. Actually ,they were trying to allure us to buy "phool maala" for Sai Baba, which we refused. After parking the car (Rs. 30/-), one of the phool-maala guy took us to Gate No. 4, but there was not a big entry.. There is a direct entry for all near the main highway itself. We should have caught the line there itself. We had brought our cameras/mobiles, which were prohibited in the area. hence we have to deposit them in the locker (2/- per camera/mobile) . It is near to Gate No. 4 !! We should have better kept them in the car.

Darshan

We were in the queue at around 11:45 am. This was our mistake as the aarti starts at 12:00 noon. Hence we were in the queue for around 2 hours !!. Many people were rushing and breaking the line. There was a part of mismanagement seen here. My small kid (4 months) started crying and we have to be separated out.

After being in round in 1 room and then in another, going the steps down and again going the steps up, we finally reached the "Samadhi Room", where we had darshan of the baba. It's so much relaxing after reaching the room. We took some prasadam from the holy place. My watch showed me 2:15 pm and that was the time, we all decided to move to Shani Shingnapur (Some pronounce as Singnapur). Feeling the urge of mouses inside the stomach, we paused at a hotel enroute to AhmedNagar. It is around 2 kms from Shirdi Sai Baba's temple.

To Shani Shingnapur

At around 3:00 pm, we continued our drive towards AhmedNagar. To go to Shani Shingnapur, around 40-50 kms from Shirdi towards AhmedNagar, there is a road which goes to Shingnapur. At such heated condition (when the sun started burning), we paused for a cold sip of "Sugarcane juice". We continued towards Shani Shingnapur. There was no problem, as there were lot of milestones. We reached Shani Shingnapur at around 4:45 pm

Similar to Shirdi, again lot of guys pounded over the vehicle asking to park the car in their areas. Again the reason was that to visit the holy place "properly", we need to take the bath and go in just one orange cloth. They would like to charge highly for it. But as we had to return the same day to Pune, we parked the car and visited the temple. While returning from temple, we took prasad (delicious barfi).

Back to Pune

By 5:15 we had left the Shani Shingnapur, and moved to Aurangabad highway to reach AhmedNagar, Aurangabad- AhmedNagar Highway is very beautiful and the car can speed up to 100 very easily. We reached AhmedNagar by 6:00 pm. Took a small break at AhmedNagar, and then continued towards Pune. Pune was 118 kms.

By 8:00 pm, we were at the Wagholi and by 9:30 pm, we were at home eating holy prasad and quickly-made-dinner. That's all for the trip.

I enjoyed the driving of around 500 kms. Sometimes above 100 kmph and fewer times because of bad stretch of the road

But the two best thing was that we

(1) Visited Shirdi Sai baba and Shani Shingnapur to get their blessings.

(2) Long drive of around 500 kms in a single day !!

May God Bless All !!

Shirdi Sai Baba ki jai !!

Enjoy !!

Adhir Garg

M-Factor In Life : y = m*x + c for success -Part 1 Career

What is y = m*x + c and M-Factor

Our life stands on this simple straight line equation.
For those who is not aware of this explicit equation of straight line, please look the following links.

http://thesaurus.maths.org/mmkb/entry.html?action=entryByConcept&id=2949
http://www.mathsisfun.com/equation_of_line.html#Countrynote

In brief,
for y = m*x + c
c - Some constant for the straight line
m - Slope of the line
x - always varies
y - final output dependent on the above 3 variables.

Let's relate this equation to few of the general things that exist

In this series the first is Career:

Career :

Take the example of changing the job from company X to company Y with reference to line equation:

a) c is the constant i.e. what you would have from company X. That covers your resume, your qualifications, your experience in your field say sales/engineering. This is assumed to be remaining constant while company Y hires you.

b) m is slope of your life. It is dependent on lot of factors e.g. time, your output efficiency, your skills developed in the time. For example your performance in the first few months in company Y would indicate the slope. It is not only performance, but minimum time taken by you to learn/grasp and apply new ideas and prove yourself.

The company can directly hire you seeing your resumes and your background verification, but they look to this M-Factor, so that how would the performance of yours would be leading to aligning of goals of the company Y. How much time would you take to be PRODUCTIVE? This I refer as M-Factor.

c) x is time variable, which decides the net output y. If your m is very high i.e. you are highly productive from day 1, then slowly your m would decrease. You need to take measure so that the product m*x always increases to a particular level. Obviously there are other personal/professional factors which we never have to forget.

d) y is the final output that you are delivering. This y should be always increasing. When there is a jump from company Y to company Z, then c for company Z should be y.


Mantra for success in Career :

1. Ensure that c for the next company is the y of previous company. Don't change your languages/learning frequently. e.g.

(a) If you had a experience of QA for last 5 years, then changing job of development profile in the next company might lead to decrease in the next value. c decreases
(b) If you are working on windows platform for last 10 years, it does not make any sense to you to jump to Linux platform. Remember hobby might NOT fill your stomach and pockets :)

2. Join the company where you see the value of m is high.
Ensure that y >> c.
We know that x (time) always increases, so your goals (for next few years) should be such that you achieve the desired "y". Your m factor should be such so that you can achieve the goal. The goal could be anything like Salary in FY 2010, my assets in year 2010, my knowledge in 2010, my friends/relatives in 2010 etc.

3. To ensure a big high in M (M Factor), you need to update your skills. It could be anything like going for higher education (Masters) or addition in your professional profile (like Membership/Languages) or Social domain (Your family/friends). We are all aware that lots of guys do join MBA so that the skill set increases or their career takes a jump.

Obviously you need to look at all factors to ensure your success in your career..

Best of luck in your career !!

Creative Story Writing....

Hi Everybody,

There was a "creative" story writing competition at my company Geometric, in which I participated.

Please find here the story :

Topic: “While struggling through each step in the desert, there was a splash of cool water on my back”

While struggling through each step in the desert, there was a splash of cool water on my back, and i realised that somebody was standing in front of me just like a mirage. I asked him “Who are you?”

I got reply “I am you, your inner self, who's been watching you since your firststep, even i can say your first breath.”

“How is it possible? If my conscience comes outside my body, how can i breathe, my heart can beat?”

I got a surround voice “It is you who think that you cannot live without me. But let me tell you, from the day one, I am independent. Whenever you commit a crime, petty or big, eg. Stealing a pencil from friend's bag, taking out money from father's pocket to buy cigarettes, fighting with friend even when you were cheating on him, bank robbery and the latest addition of murdering a couple for such a low amount of money few minutes ago”.

“How can you know about my deeds?” i queried, “I have never told anybody”.

“Thats what i am telling you, you never told such things to anybody, but i am aware of your each and every deed, because i m you!!”

“Where were you earlier?” I asked “when i didn't have money to buy a pencil and got thrashed from Headmaster. I was made to stand outside the class because of that”

“Where were you when my father continuously scolded me saying that you want money for buying cigarettes. Finally i took cigarettes and became a chain-smoker today?”

“Where were you when my friends teased me for the black scar on my face? So i have to give him similar mark so that in future, he never thinks of doing the same thing”.

“Where were you when i was hungry for days because of insufficient money. Who would paid debt if i had not done a bank robbery”

“I had to murder the couple because now i am a wanted criminal. If i had not done so, they would have told police and i would have been hanged”.

He replied “I was always with you, trying to tell you what was right and what was wrong. And now i want to tell you what would happen if you don't listen to me”.

“What should i do now? I am tired of this life. I have lots of money but nowhere to spend”.

Don't worry. I am always with you. I would tell you the right path, it is sure that you will be happy within your conscience”.

“What should i do?” i was crying.

“You should go and distribute your money in the charity and for the needed ones. For your life, i say that surrender to the police so that your misdeeds 'quota' gets finished here on this planet”.

Then only i woke to find myself in a pitch dark place.

How did you like the story ??

Enjoy !!

Computer C++ inline function module

Hi All programmers/reviewers,

I hope you would be aware of inline functions in C++. Here I will not discuss about "what is inline" and explain it, rather I would tell few important (in-line) about inline functions.

For information about inline functions, you can get the data using the links like
1) http://www.parashift.com/c++-faq-lite/inline-functions.html
2) http://www.codersource.net/cpp_tutorial_inline_functions.html
3) Inline or NOT to inline in C++ http://www.thescripts.com/forum/thread59977.html
4) Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inline_function

Let's take an example
//Declaration for C++ Tutorial inline sample:
inline int add(int x,int y);


If you are working on the code, you would have find that in most of the code, the inline function defintion is in the header file with declaration

//Definition for C++ Tutorial inline sample:
inline int add(int x,int y)
{
return x+y;
}


Why is it so ??
Let's take a simple example that the definition and declaration does not lie in the same file. Declaration lies in header file math.h and Definition lies in source file math.cpp

Let's go in the important property of inline functions.

It replaces the function called with the function contents inside the module. Here there is one condition attached that the inline function would work only in the same module e.g. if you have a module Mathematics which declares and defines the inline function add(int, int) and you have a different module called as Physics (has some file as phy.cpp) which calls the inline function as
s = add (a,b);
then the compiler (especially in Linux) is going to throw the reference error .. YES !! The reason is that the compiler is unable to open the function becasue the function is defined as inline in the other module.

How to Solve such issues ?

There are two ways to get the solution

1) Make the function as NOT inline. i.e. make the function as

int add(int x,int y) in declaration and define it in definition.

2) Declare and Define the function as inline in the header file itself. and then include this header file wherever the function add(int,int) is being called. This will ensure that the function add is also expanded as inline :)

So phy.cpp would be containing the line #include "math.h"


Enjoy !!
Adhir

One Day Trip to Kashid Beach, Alibag, Maharastra

Last weekend on Saturday, we had gone to Kashid Beach (location on wikimapia), it is a good one.

Getting Ready for the trip
My company Geometric Ltd, gives a quarterly budget, which we can utilize in our own way like going to hotel, this time we thought of going to Kashid Beach (also spelled as Kasid), Alibag, Maharastra. Few days ago itself, we decided for everything and yes we were having regular meetings to know the status.

We finalised on a 50 seater bus at around 23/- per km. We earlier expected around 40 people to go, but finally only 23 team members (and their families went there).

We had lot of snacks (like bhujia/namkeen/biscuits/choclates) purchased by my friend. Another one got the delicious Kaka Halwai "Bhakarwadi" and Kachori. She also bought the delicious idlis with nariyal-chutney.

Well we zeroed in on Saturday 22nd Dec to leave for Kashid Beach as the weather is cold this time.

Saturday 22nd Dec, Leaving Pune
The bus went through various routes in Pune to pickup few people and the bus reached office by 6:30 am. Rest of the team members caught the bus at the Hinjewadi office of Geometric, where we all started our journey at around 7:10 am.

We took the route via ExpressWay Lonavala - Khopoli - Pen and Kashid, as the route was good and we didn't want to spend our most of the time in "bus".

As the bus started, we had a lot of hulla gulla, Then idlis were served to everybody, who were just waiting something good to enter their stomachs. After eating delicious idlis, the two teams were created and the "antakshari" started. I don't know many songs, but still if some song was being sung, I was lip-synching :)

After Crossing ExpressWay
After we crossed the jam on the ExpressWay (near Lonavala), we took the Khopoli exit. By that time, the urge of having some tea/coffee started in the hearts of the guys n gals. We stopped at the dhaba to have tea, also opening few packs of namkeens to be eaten. After spending/relaxing there for half an hour, we moved on towards Kashid beach. After Pen itself, we could smell the salty water in the environment. The pungent smell of fishes was already existing there.

Reaching Kashid Beach
We finally reached Kasid beach at 12 noon (yes 5 hours journey with half an hour jam and half an hour break). All guys were ready to take a dip in the Arabian Sea. We changed our clothes, so that it was easy for us to play the games without getting the "better clothes" spoiled. We played Volleyball, flying disc, ring etc. there. Wow it looks too good to be at the sea and sitting with the waves striking at the back forcing us to be more on the sand. and again we trying to go back in the sea.

Lunch
By 2 pm, we all were bit tired and went to bus, where we had Juices to get relieved of the scorching sun. Another friend had arranged for the lunch nearby. We went for lunch and by 4 pm our lunch was over. It was a good lunch with "goli like gulab jamun) in the sweet. Papad, Rice, Mix-Veg was good. But food was 100/- per head.

Back to Sea
We again ventured in the sea @ 4 pm. Playing various games like Volleyball, flying disc was really a fun. The intensity of the waves had increased now. Everybody was ready for the snap, which my friend was taking. He knows very good photography, for which we really admire him. My daughter really liked the sea. We know this because we saw the same thing last year December, when the family had gone to Diveaghar, Srivardhan and harihareshwar from Pune.

After teams played their best volleyball, disc and other games, we looked at the sun indicating us to go back to Pune (it was sunset time). At 6 pm, the sun said bye bye to us and beach. What a big-reddish sun it was. It was seeming that Sun is letting us know that I am going but moon would be coming soon. Enjoy it. It was our last trip of year 2007.

Back to Pune
We went to the hotel, where few of us took bath and cleared our body from sand, so as to prevent sea-borne diseases being activated. We took the tea-cum-snacks @ hotel only. At 7 pm we again were back in the bus to move to Pune. This time bus driver drove fast the bus and we touched the Pune Office by 11:10 pm. We all were tired.

Few of us had our car/bikes parked inside the premises, which we took off and went to our home and bundled ourselves in the bed.

It was really a good way to enjoy the end of 2007 and the born of year 2008.

Happy New Year !! (in advance)

Weekend Trip to Mahabaleshwar

Last weekend, we all went to Mahabaleshwar from Pune. This is all about the trip. We stayed there Saturday night and were back in Pune by Sunday 8 pm. Thanks to google, as there are lot of websites about mahabaleshwar, we handpicked a few of them so that we are aware of all the points/distances.

Since 1st week of December, we all 3 couples, myself, Siddharth and Sachin (with their babies) were thinking of going somewhere around. As mahabaleshwar was near and a good one.. we thought of going there.

As we had two cars, we thought one more family can easily be accomodated with us. One of my friend's Sachin's friend was willing and so we decided to go to Mahabaleshwar on 8th Dec (Saturday) morning.

Leaving Pune
We had planned earlier to leave Pune by 7:30 am but (in actual) we left at 8:30 am :) We met together at Sinhagad Flyover and then we started our journey to Mahabaleshwar. We had tea earlier so we all were fresh.

Directly from Sinhagad Flyover we get the new Katraj tunnel, so we both I and Sachin drove at a good speed. Paying first a toll of Rs. 45/- before Narayanpur, we stopped at Reliance Petrol Pump to fill up the car's tank. We continued from there.. ghosh.. what a highway.. I was driving at 100 kmph but never felt that I was driving at a very high speed. After continuing, again we get a "ghat" and pay a toll of Rs. 13/- and after crossing ghat, we continued on the highway to Satara. At a point, where a flyover (newly constructed) exist, we took a right turn to Mahabaleshwar.

Reaching Panchgani
After few kms, we reached Wai and then Panchgani. Between Wai and Panchgani, there are ghats, so the speedometer could not touch 50 :( By the time we reached Panchgani, everybody was hungry, we stopped at one of the restaurants and ordered various snack items like Sandwiches/Dosa etc. Of course, tea and coffee were default for everybody :)

Parsi Point
After exiting Panchgani (we had paid an entry tax to Panchgani), on the outskirts of Panchgani, we saw the first "point", Parsi Point. It is a good point to have a break.. Lots of games/jhullas are there for kids, so the kids would really enjoy it. (especially if you child is around or above 2 years old. We were there for about 1 hour and really enjoyed there.

Kates Point
Then we again started our journey and drove towards Mahabaleshwar. Before entering Mahableshwar itself, there is a right turn to "Kates Point". It is around 10 kms from Main Panchgani highway to Mahabaleshwar.

Kates point does include Needle (Needal) point, Elephant's head etc. At Kates Point, you would get good carrot (gaajar), shalgam, and cucumber (kheera/kaakri). don't miss them :)

Entering Mahabeshwar (Venna Lake)
Again we proceeded towards Mahabaleshwar City. At the entry itself, we paid a "huge tax". 30/- per car and 15/ per passenger.. After paying the "entry tax" to Mahabaleshwar, we stopped at Venna lake, hardly few meters from "entry tax collection center". Venna lake is a good one. and as we were aware that boating does exist and we had make up the mind of boating, we opted for boating. The boating has two rates and are of two types

Before 4:30 pm
Rowing 120/- per boat (6 passengers can sit) - for half an hour
Pedalling 100/- per boat(6 passengers can sit)- for half an hour

After 4:30 pm, the rates are higher.

As we all were 8, we opted two boats Rowing and Pedalling, I wanted to probably shed my calories, I went for pedalling myself :) With all the passengers pedalling, it was great to venture in the lake. The water was good and my daughter enjoyed a lot.

Yes now the boating was over and we were feeling hungry for lunch, as the hour hand of the clock crossed 2 now..

Inside Mahabaleshwar
We went inside the city and parked our vehicle in the Taxi Stand. We saw a nearby restaurant-cum-hotel and we all rushed inside the hotel and had a good lunch :) After finishing our lunch, we first of all searched for the 4 rooms.. Oh that was the tough task ahead.

We first enquired ourself but were not able to get 4 rooms together. Even for the rooms, the charges were higher 500+. As it was not the peak season, we were knowing that we may get a cheaper option. Finally, we saw an agent standing near the "Taxi Stand". He took us to a number of hotels but we were not getting 4 rooms at a cheaper rate. At one hotel, we got 4 Rooms at 350/- each.. that's really cool... The room had TV, Hot Water and yes 3 beds in total. Two beds were 2*6 each and 1 bed was 4*6. So in case, you are a small family with two kids, one room might be enough :)

Bombay Point/Sunset Point
We all were tired and were looking for some relaxing in the room. But then we moved out to "Bombay Point", also known as Sunset Point. We reached the sunset point at around 5 pm. As it was fog, so it was not so clear, but we all really enjoyed it. There was horse-riding too. Yes, Me and my daughter sat on the horse. At 6:15 pm, the sun was setting, we capture the pics on the mobile and handycam we had taken along. There was a big "jam" after the sunset point. We went back to hotel took rest for sometime.

Back in Hotel
At 7:45 pm, we left the hotel and as the market was very near, we entered the market and did some purchasing. We had a good dinner at one of the hotels. and were back to the room by 9:30 pm and went to good dreams by 10 pm.

9th Dec 2007 (Sunday)

Next morning, we checked out the hotel at 7:30 am. We took the cars near the market and found a shopkeeper making hot vadapaos. We all ate vadapaos and drank tea/coffee. Beware that the rates written on the menu/display might be different from what they actually charge.

Visit to Temples
As it was morning, we thought of asking God to reduce our sins, we went to 3 temples (1) Mahabaleshwar temple (2) Panchganga temple - The water there comes from 5 rivers and is very good for drinking and (3) Ati Mahabaleshwar temple. All are in same campus.

Arthur's Seat/Monkey Point
Next we left for Arthur's Seat (and other nearby points). After enquiring from various people, the way (location) and taking good breaks, we finally reached Arthur's Seat. After car parking, you need to step down to a good number of steps to see Arthurs seat and other points. It is a good point and there were a lot number of people there. I would say that if you go to Mahabaleshwar, then don't miss Arthur's seat as it is the best point in Mahableshwar. After getting clicked a lot of pics, we decided to move to PratapGarh Fort.

Pratapgad Fort
Pratapgad Fort is one of the forts of Maharaj Shivaji. To go to Pratapgarh Fort, we first need to drove back to the city (from Arthur's Seat) and then got to PratapGarh Fort. It took us around 1.5 hours to reach Pratapgarh Fort. There is a saying that there are 450 steps on Pratapgarh Fort. It had the famous "Bhavani Mata mandir", which Maharaj Shivaji used to visit before the war. We visited the temple and nearby "hastkala center" was existing, which contained very good handicraft materials. We bought a few articles.

Leave Mahabaleshwar/Mapro
Then we drove back to Mahabaleshwar and then proceeded to say bye bye to Mahabaleshwar. After we crossed the entry point to Mahabaleshwar, we had our lunch @ 3 pm. Then our cars started moving to Panchgani. In the way we saw Mapro and Mala sales counters, which were really good and was offering Juice/Toffees etc at 10% discount. We bought a few of them. :)

Balaji Temple/Back to Pune
Now Non-stop we went to catch Highway at the junction point of Satara-Pune. Before Pune (40 kms), there is a good Balaji temple. We went to Balaji temple (around 6 pm) and thanked God for making it a good trip. We all were back by 8 pm @ Pune.


It was really a good trip we all enjoyed..

Enjoy !!
Adhir

How to Reach Domestic Airport, Mumbai & Delhi

Hi Everybody,

It is a common problem for the new travellers, who are booking low-cost airlines to reach the Airport. I had same, and so I had found out the cheapest and the better way of reaching the airport of Delhi (Palam Airport) and of Mumbai (Domestic).

Delhi Airport -> With lots of maps available for Delhi Airport, I am hereby listing good options.

1. Catch an Auto from ISBT to Delhi Domestic Airport - It costs around 120/- and takes around 45 minutes.

2. Catch a Airport Bus from ISBT - The bus (http://delhigovt.nic.in/dtcbusroute/dtc/Find_Route/getroute.asp) starts from Platform No. 6 of the intra-city, behind ISBT. The bus has a frequency of every 30 minutes (charges Rs. 50). but beware it goes to International Airport. So in case, you want to go domestic, catch this bus and drop - down at Palam Chowk. The Palam chowk is very near to domestic airport and you can get a local bus (after crossing the chowk) at Rs. 3/-. The same bus also goes to New Delhi Railway Station. The route of the bus is ISBT --> Red Fort -->New Delhi Railway Station--> International Airport. The time taken from ISBT back side to Airport is around 1 hour.

3. Catch a Metro (DMRC) . As of now the Metro facility is not available directly to airport, but still there is a near point to get to Metro.

a) Catch a metro to go Uttam Nagar - Fare from ISBT is Rs. 16/-

b) Drop at Uttam Nagar and catch a taxi to go airport. Fare Around Rs. 35/- (The driver might charge you Rs. 50/- too).

Reaching Domestic Airport - Mumbai From Pune OR vice-versa

1. Catch any bus service (Tours and Travels). They might charge around 500 -700 INR. and the time taken is around 4-5 hours. I found the following on internet

http://kktravels.com/coachbooking.asp

http://www.kingswaytravels.com/index_files/Kingsway_Mumbai_Airport.htm

http://www.mumbaiairportpickup.com/book-now.php

2. If you are coming to Pune from Mumbai Airport (that too in the night), there is one good option available. Outside the Mumbai Domestic Airport, come to Western ExpressWay (Auto takes around Rs. 10/-), get down near to Tours and Travels. There are lot of taxis which ply from Pune to Mumbai. They drop the passengers at the Mumbai Airport but are empty while going back. They charge Rs. 800/- (inclusive of toll on expressway) for the entire trip to Pune and drop you in the Pune city at your home :) But beware there are touts available which do charge some money. So normally, you can book the cab/vehicle paying Rs. 1000-1400 depends on your bargaining power. You can get good variety of options like Tavera, Indica, Innova to travel. They are very fast and can drop you within 3 hours (in night time). So if you are a group of 2-3, this option is really a good one.

3. If you want the cheapest option from Pune to Mumbai (avoiding late nights).

1. Catch a bus/train to Dadar from Pune. Train fare less than 100 INR MSRTC, (charges Rs. 200) is a good one as it is government backed and does not stop elsewhere.


2. From Dadar-East Railway Station - go to Dadar-West Railway Station. Get a ticket to Vile Parle. (I think it would be <>

i) Borivali - Fast train --- Does not stops at Vile Parle

ii) Borivali - Slow train -- Does stops at Vile Parle but the rush is huge.

iii) Andheri -- Best train because Vile Parle lies between Dadar and Andheri.

Travel by train takes around 20-30 minutes.

3. Get down at Vile Parle, Airport is very near. If you catch an auto it would charge you around 10/- INR. Time taken around 5-10 minutes.

So this mode requires around 5-6 hours but becomes very cheap mode of travel to Mumbai Airport.

I hope this would be useful to you.

Happy Journey

Adhir Garg

Trip to Neelkanth Mahadev Temple, Rishikesh

Hi Everybody,

I just want to pen down about my trip to Neelkanth Mahadev Temple, Rishikesh (map) on 11th Nov, 2007.

Around 20 years ago, I had visited Neelkanth temple with my parents (I was a kid and do remember very small things about it). So I thought that while going for Diwali, I would definitely pay a visit to holy temple.

Rishikesh lies in the Uttaranchal, a newly carved state out of Uttar Pradesh, lying in Northern India. Rishikesh is a holy place, where ONLY vegetarian(shuddh) food is served.

Way to Go Rishikesh : There are lot of ways to go Rishikesh (Rishikesh on wikitravel) especially if you are around Delhi region. From Delhi it is around 6 hour journey.

How to Go Neelkanth Mahadev Temple :
There are two ways to go Neelkanth Mahadev Temple
a) If you have your own vehicle, you can go via IDPL. I had my vehicle but because of risk on the hilly roads, I avoided it.

b) If you wish to take taxi (ambassador/jeep) on sharing basis, you need to go Ram Jhoola. I opted for this one. :)

In Rishikesh, reach Ram Jhoola on the left side. You can park your vehicle (I was in car). The Parking charges are 30/- for (any amount of time). The route to Neelkanth lies on the another side. There are two ways to cross the river to go other side.
1) There are regular boats which help the person to cross the river. They charge some amount. I thought it was of no use, because the second option of bridge was good :)
2) The regular Ram Jhoola, bridge is small around 500 m, and definitely you would like to cross it. It is free (as of now). It can be crossed within 5-10 minutes.

After crossing Ram Jhoola, you can enquire where do you get a vehicle to go to Neelkanth, it's hardly a 5 minute walk. (very near to Swargashram)

There are two modes of transport available from Ram Jhoola other side to Neelkanth. Both are maintained by taxi association. So need not worry, if they might ditch you. The people there are good and would help you in the best possible way.

1) Jeep - To and Fro charges - Rs. 80 and 1 way Rs. 45. I had observed, that these jeep wallahs only prefer those people who hire jeep for "to and fro". In about 1 hour, you can reach the base point where Neelkanth temple lies

2) Ambassador car - White in color :) - The ambassador car can be booked for Rs. 600/- for to and fro trip. This is a good one, if you are 4-5 members wishing to go to Holy temple.

Since me and my wife were travelling, we opted for Jeep. In around 1 hour, we reached the temple.

First of all, I was bit tired and thought of taking a bath in the waterfall "jharna". This jharna is not a proper one, but there are few people who bathe before entering the temple premises. The water there is very cold. So if you have your kids, ensure that they are not in waterfall for long time, else there are high chances that they might shiver a lot or catch cold.

We kept our bag and chappals at one of the shops near the jharna. The shop-keepers do this to ensure that you buy "pooja thaali" from them. Pooja thaalis range from various prices @ 21, @ 51 , @101 etc. Depending on your choice, you can go ahead and buy whatever you want.

After bath, we entered the holy temple premises. As it was bhaiya-dooj, so the temple didn't have a huge rush. (We thought it is good, as our time gets saved). After paying obeisance to Lord Shiva, we roamed around for the beautiful sceneries around Neelkanth temple. It is really good.

It took around 1 hour for bathing and visiting temple. After an urge from the stomach, we had tea and some snacks there. Then we were back in the jeep. luckily we were the 4th passenger to come back. The driver was waiting for all passengers to come. As all passengers arrived, the jeep dashed off to its base at Ram Jhoola.

Since we didn't want to miss Laxman Jhoola, we asked the jeep driver to stop at Laxman Jhoola for short time, which he agreed. We visited the temple at Laxman Jhoola and then we moved back to Ram Jhoola, crossed the Ram Jhoola and were back in car.

So overall it took around 4 hours for our journey after car parking @ Ram Jhoola, Rishikesh.

I hope this would be helpful to you all.

Bam Bam Bhole
Adhir Garg

3 hour trip to Wonder Funkey, Near Chandni Chowk, Pune

This Saturday, 27th October, we went to Wonder Funkey (www.wonderfunkey.com) by car.
I am just writing about the various options available there.

Location : The wonder funkey is located at around 2-3 kms from Chandni Chowk, as we move towards Satara on the right side. So in case you want to avoid turn and are from/around Kothrud, you can go to Warje flyover first and then move towards Chandni Chowk, you would find it on the left side.

Parking : The parking is free for all. Thank God !!

Entry Charges : The entry charges are 100/- per head.. Oh God too costly.. One of the better option is Membership.. With Membership of Rs. 750/-, you can have 3 other guests (free of cost) for an year + T Shirt + Cap (of funkey) and Rs. 750/- worth games.

Free Items : The free items (for which you pay 100/- per head) are
(a) Puppet Show - Really a good one.. It starts whenever, there are few people around the show.
(b) Disco - Really good disco, you would enjoy if you go with GF.

Rest all items are chargeable :(

Paid Items : There are lot of playing games, especially for age group 10 - 30 years.. Car racing (in many varieties) are a good option, if you like gaming. There are some games for kids too like boxing and getting a duck down, horse, elephant etc. These cost around 10,20 and increasing. and Yes, there is Bowling too..

Being Sunday (I suppose) there was a guy who wore the dress of monkey and was trying to allure the small children. It was good, considering that monkey is one of the animal which children learn at a very early age.

How they work ??
On the basis of the number of people entering, they give a ICard (similar to what if somebody is in Software office), In the starting itself, you can "recharge" your voucher to some amount, say Rs. 100 and then you can proceed on playing games/eating/astrology/portrait. which are "debited" from your I Card. You can refill it again. Inside there are many outlets to do so :)

Eating : For eating too, there were good options. Yes, it was bit costly, but still we enjoyed it. Lots of varieties are there for the food.

I think it is ideal for going for guys to spend around 2-3 hours at the wonder funkey.. Enjoy !!

Do Husband and Wife (if happily married) tend to commanality / convergence ?

A question came to my mind, that do the husband (H) and wife (W) converge to common physical/emotional features of their life ??

Normally a wife comes from different physical background. Her nose/eyes could be very similar to her parents e.g. they could be pointed and black where as a husband comes from different background with not so pointed nose and black-blue eyes. So do after a period of time, these features come together to form a new blend (genes within themselves) even without offspring (children).


Some people say that it could be because of their same habits, like eating, sleeping at one time and doing all things in common.
But there are lots of people in the world who wake up at one particular time and sleep at the other time (say 10 pm) but are they similar.. NO ..

There are papers (I got an abstract only ) "Convergence in the physical appearance of spouses" which indicates the truth in my saying. http://www.springerlink.com/content/u59r1291345u048p/
http://www.springerlink.com/content/74l268g8g317456r/
http://www.springerlink.com/content/q2u612426625w110/
http://www.possibility.com/epowiki/Wiki.jsp?page=EmotionalConvergence

Here is the truth that yes, they converge to common features, this in Artificial Intelligence is called as Mutation, where one of the chromosomes get automatically changes randomly. But there is something extra also. It could be termed as "diffusion" or "osmosis", where because of different availability outside the skin environment and being in touch, there occurs some changes (metamorphis), which tends to change the behavior of the person in touch. In my case both husband and wife are in touch with different bodies, so they are going to have some change in their own bodies which is

• Customized to live in the environment.
• Get the features of the other person.
  

So, it is touch of somebody, which matters here.

Again, I researched myself and looked upon various ancient Hindu fundas, which make my theory of diffusion/osmosis stronger.

1. Maharaja Agrasen -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exogamy, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotra

It was maintained by Maharaj Agrasen that a nupital alliance could not take place in the same Gotra. That is a girl of "Goel" Gotra could not marry a "Goel boy"', but could be married in any of the other 17 Gotra. This rule enunciated by Maharaj Agrasen promoted harmony and brotherhood among all the 18 Gotra represented by state units. This facilitated promotion of unity and nationalism among the state units. http://www.bikanerguide.com/agrasen/history.html

Probably, Maharaja Agrasen (by his experience or knowledge) was knowing that there should be changes that should be in the body/behavior, so he promoted harmony by marriages between different "gotra" and moreover, the advantages of both gotra can be used to generate a better offspring.

2. Aura -- If you are not aware that what aura is, I have a link for you and the meaning of it. http://www.ladybridget.com/w/waura.html

" The aura is the electromagnetic field that surrounds the human body (Human Energy Field-HEF) and every organism and object in the Universe.
The Human Energy Field as a collection of electro - magnetic energies of varying densities that permeate through and emit or exit from the physical body of a living person. These particles of energy are suspended around the healthy human body in an oval shaped field. This "auric egg" emits out from the body approximately 2-3 feet (1 metre on average) on all sides. It extends above the head and below the feet into the ground. "







Now let's see how the aura concept comes here..




In South, the concept of touch is very big. Here the pandit ji does not touch the devotee. Is it possibly because by this the aura of the priest might change.


Probably because of mixing of partners (as shown in picture), the aura gets mixed and the common aura is shared by both, due to which more of the characteristic of the couple gets converged.






So it seems that there are old scriptures which do say the same thing that there is convergence of the features of the couple, when they are together.

Some other day, I would write more..

till then bye bye

What does Google Want To Do ??

I was browsing internet and I thought what google wants to do in future.

Seeing a "sketchup" google was letting everybody know that google has entered the business of creating and viewing 3D models too.

In the viewing section of 3D models, lots of software had entered the scene that include

1. eDrawings - created by Geoemetric Software Solutions Ltd.
2. Arbortext - owned by PTC Software, Needham
3. Acrobat (I really worry what Acrobat might do to all existing viewing softwares). Their Version 8 is wonderful. Do have a look at it

But having a look at google sketch up, it was quite convincing that google is expanding not only in vertically and horizontal direction, but in each and every direction. That's great..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Google_products

Yahoo is going down. because it is not researching for new products.
Microsoft has no such MAJOR development after Windows, though MS surface is a good one. they have to do something major after Operating System, because I am hopeful that Google won't be left behind in OS too.

Few months ago, I got a picture of the Microsoft with all other rivals, depicting that MS is fighting in every domain with its competitors. If it was Lotus Notes (IBM), then OutLook. If it was StarOffice, then MS Office. But let's see what happens in future.. Is Google Doc/SpreadSheet going to takeover MS Word ??

The way google has expanded itself is awesome. Great Google !!

Enjoy !!
Adhir

Religion and C++

I am working on C++ since 5 years and studying Bhagavad Gita for a period of 4 years. I found a lot of similarities between religion and C++ (a computer software language) . Just wanted to discuss a few of them

OOP (Object Oriented Programming)

As in C++, we have OOP i.e. Abstraction, Encapsulation, Polymorphism and Inheritance, similarly in Religion, there are concepts.

a) Abstraction -- hiding data that are not needed. In Religion, the hiding of the data is done by suppressing those information/data which are not required e.g. Surya Grahan/Chandra Grahan. As these being specific cases, they are not dealt with in every scripture.

b) Encapsulation --grouping together of data and functionality. In Religion, grouping of the data/functionality is done. For clarity, various specific books like Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda and Atharva Vedas are there. For kids, who would be more interested in stories, there are various Puranas related to various gods.

c) Polymorphism -- allows a single name to be reused for several related but different purposes (http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/C++_Programming/Polymorphism) In Religion, there are various gods like Hanuman ji (for strength representation and devotion to God), Lord Rama and Lord Krishna (God's avatar at Earth). Goddess Kali/Durga for girl/women. There is a single God. Even other religion also say that god is one for all. In Hindu dharma He is ParamAtma, in Islam He is Allah and in Christian religion, He is God.

d) Inheritance -- Inheritance is one of the feature, which Hindu dharma has provided, the extension of the religion. Hindu dharma is not confined to texts. According to the times, the religion gets inherited and is transformed to various forms. Some people say that religions like Sikhism, Jainism and Buddhism are modified transforms of Hindu religions. Not sure about the saying, but picking up few points about each of them

d.1 ) Sikhism --> Sikhism has lot of relations with Hinduism (Sanskrit) like the meaning of the word Sikh, their religious symbol (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikhism) .

d.2 ) Jainism --> They believe in shraman i.e. ascetic behaviour in the elderly times. Jainism paid more interest in "Ahimsa", which is again one of the key feature in Hinduism.

d.3 ) Buddhism --> Puts key interest in meditation and Middle Way, which somehow derives from Hinduism as at that moment, hinduism was the "known" existing religion.

Now other than concepts, some other day I would write comparison between the actual "code-writing" of C++ and religion.

Enjoy !!

Adhir Garg

Marriage Registration Pune STEPS

STEPS FOR Registering the Marriage in PUNE

For helping the guys who wish to register their marriage at Pune, I am listing out steps.

Some 2 years ago, I had registered my marriage at Pune.

I am telling u the procedure I adopted.

The location of marriage beaureau is
http://wikimapia. org/#lat= 18.522708&lon=73.87081&z=18&l=0&m=a&v=2

Near SBI Main Branch (it is a very important pointer).

Steps

1. The forms for registration are available from the beaureau (at a very cheap price or free). I got it from one of my friend. I think they are available through internet too.

2. We need to fill the form (including the photograph/DOB/ Address of couple + Address Proof, with DOB + Photos for 3 witness). At that time, priest signature was not required. Or I had done some "farziwara". Need to make sure that all documents are attested. In case, they are unattested, there are lot of vendors outside, who put their attestation at around 5/- per verification. Take your Wedding Invitation Card too.

3. On Thursday evening, I had given the form for updating the details in their computer. I suppose you need not give any money to agents there. They would ask for a preferred date, which I had given as Saturday morning 10:00 am .

4. On Saturday, you need to go with your spouse, 3 witnesses with their attested pics and documents. and pay around 150/- (as I remember). Depending on the number of copies, you desire, you need to pay more.

5. You get married (officially) .

So it takes a maximum of 3 days (Thursday to Saturday) with total time of around 2 hours.

Thats All I remember .......

Enjoy !!

My First Blog ..

Hi Everybody,

This is my first blog.

This morning I had discussion with my morning tea friend. Yes, in office early in the morning. We had discussions about the old fundas of Hindu scriptures

1. The eclipse, which our elders used to ask us not to venture out as some demons would be ready to eat us :) The reality is that there are some rays, emitted by the planets sun/moon, which cause danger to the human body cells, so there are chances that the person might be getting some new disease (say cancer).

2. The Ram Setu, the present government is still undecided what to do now. Sometimes, it says that Ram is NON-Existing and sometimes the opposite. The existence of Lord Rama is known by scriptures (written in wonderful language Sanskrit). Similarly, how do you believe any religion is existing. Do you know any person in current 2007 who had met Jesus or who had met Mohammad. NO. There are some scriptures like Bible and Quran which ask people of their religion to read them and have faith in them.

3. I had read a news in rediff http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/sep/14death.htm about death of pilgrims. It was the fault of the kanwariyaas that they came in the mid-way of the train (if the rediff report is right), why should the public property be destroyed ?

Let me stop here for the time being....

Enjoy !!
Adhir Garg