Sunday, May 31, 2015

Brahmaputra And Lhasa

Brahmaputra, I learned today, starts somewhere near Delhi, near the Uttaranchal border with Nepal in a place called Burang in Tibet,  then flows eastword across Tibet beyond Lhasa then south into Arunachal Pradesh, and Assam (near Dibrugarh - near that house with the A/C) and then west towards Gauhati and then South into Bangladesh where, towards the end, it joins with Ganga.

Additional reading:
On Brahmaputra:
  1. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/77154/Brahmaputra-River
  2. https://shipbright.wordpress.com/2010/02/24/the-brahmaputra-river-china-india-and-bangladesh-the-dragon-is-at-the-headwaters/
  3. https://sandrp.wordpress.com/2013/07/17/brahmaputra-the-beautiful-river-or-the-battleground/


On Lhasa:

Traveling To Leh (Ladakh)


http://devilonwheels.com/india/travel-news-updates-f33/manali-leh-bus-service-resumed-2014-t1502.html (Note: this page is dated 2013 - information is likely not current)


Some interesting reading here:

Here is a lovely post on Leh http://in.news.yahoo.com/leh-in-a-nutshell.html. Another here in Hindu today Jul 2, 2017: http://www.thehindu.com/society/ladakhs-changthang-the-pashmina-plateau/article19194325.ece


More nice ones on Leh 

  1. http://in.news.yahoo.com/nubra-valley-via-khardung-la.html
  2. http://in.news.yahoo.com/the-drive-to-ladakh.html
  3. http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/travel/article3536138.ece
  4. http://www.happytrips.com/ladakh/travel-guide/things-to-do-in-leh-and-ladakh/gs48186744.cms
  5. https://leavinglondoninsearchofsunshine.wordpress.com/category/india/
This article is on traveling to Leh from Manali. Another post on Ladakh here.
This post is on the community - Drokpas, Brogpas or Dards - who live along Indus river.

Additional reading:

Where To Get More Free Gigabytes (GB) - Hard disk Space Online

Details of where to get free drive space available here:

  1. Zoolz:
    1. Zoolz Online bkp service review: https://www.lifewire.com/zoolz-review-2617951
    2. Zoolz Family Review: http://www.toptenreviews.com/services/internet/best-online-data-backup-services/zoolz-review/
    3. Lifetime 1TB storage: http://www.androidauthority.com/zoolz-cloud-storage-3-801678/amp/
    4. https://www.cloudwards.net/review/zoolz/
  2. 4 Unlimited backup plans: https://www.lifewire.com/unlimited-online-backup-plans-2625189
  3. 6 free online backup plans: https://www.lifewire.com/free-online-backup-plans-2625187
  4. https://www.cloudwards.net/comparison/ as on Feb 7th 2017
  5. http://www.1mtb.com/top-10-best-free-online-cloud-storage-services/: as on Jan 15, 2017
  6. https://hubic.com: 25GB free
  7. https://degoo.com: 100GB Free (https://ergonotes.com/is-degoo-worth-your-data/)
  8. http://www.cloudstorageboss.com/reviews/
  9. http://www.networkworld.com/article/2932962/cloud-storage/19-free-cloud-storage-options.html
  10. http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/test-centre/internet/14-best-cloud-storage-services-2016-uk-copy-3614269/
  11. http://www.mensjournal.com/gear/electronics/stop-paying-for-cloud-storage-20150930
  12. http://www.cnet.com/au/how-to/onedrive-dropbox-google-drive-and-box-which-cloud-storage-service-is-right-for-you/
  13. http://www.cbc.ca/m/touch/technology/story/1.2956017 (One drive has reduced free storage from 50GB to 15GB as of 30th Sep 2015, read this and as on Jun 2016 has reduced to 5GB)


Additional reading:

Having Backups and Security Issues: 
  1. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/news/what-google-knows-about-data-security-that-you-should-know-too-1.2965403
  2. Google (Store Unlimited) photos: http://googleblog.blogspot.ca/2015/05/picture-this-fresh-approach-to-photos.html?m=1: Google Drive FAQ for administrators
  3. https://support.google.com/a/answer/2490100?hl=en

Monday, May 25, 2015

Where Is Dawood Ibrahim?


How were the calls from Pakistan to Dubai intercepted? Does India have the ability? What other calls are getting intercepted? I am reminded of the movie "Enemy of the state"

How come India is not following up with UAE on extradition? Does India have a better relation with Pakistan than with UAE?

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Monday, May 18, 2015

Nice Budget Places To Visit In India

Summer Holiday Destinations In India



Cool places in South India

Himalayas - Travel



  • http://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/a-trekkers-guide-to-the-himalayas/article9036412.ece
  • http://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/the-other-side-of-the-himalayas/article9036410.ece - Offbeat hill stations in India

  • Nice Train Routes In India




    Homestays in India:


    Some offbeat destinations in India:

    Additional reading:

    Vaadi Raasaathi

    Of late I have been listening to this song apparently from the movie "36 Vayadhinile" - each time I listen to it, I am shell shocked. Since when did this kind of tune become categorized under music? What was the music director thinking when he recorded this song? 

    I am still dazed. Here is the review of the movie: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/tamil/movie-reviews/36-Vayadhinile/movie-review/47287365.cms. But that song!!!!!

    Hats off to Composer: Santhosh Narayanan and Singer: Lalitha Vijaykumar.

    Friday, May 8, 2015

    Ford Insulted Ratan Tata Apparently


    Inna Cheidarai oruththal Avarnaana
    Nannayam Cheidu Vidal

    Tatas went on to buy JLR (Jaguar Land Rover) from Ford. We never know what's going to happen next, do we?

    Talat Mehmood

    An article on Talat Mehmood. Apparently he sang in Bengali under the name "Tapan Kumar". 

    Airlines - Emirates, AIr India


    A friend of mine asked me the name of the busiest airport. 
    The busiest airports are Atlanta, Chicago and Dubai based on a google search. And then I read the link mentioned above about the Emirates' profits. And frequently I read about the profitability of Air India. And how buying dreamliner 787 was a mistake and how the loading of the dreamliner flights in Air India is about 50% while it was expected to be 70%+.

    I wonder how airlines like Emirates and Singapore Airlines do so well while Air India continues to remain in darkness.

    Thursday, May 7, 2015

    Negotiation - Coursera - MOOC










    The course had some interesting points to make:
    1. Let's say I am a CXO in a company that has made some important discovery (say a mineral find). During the time when the public is not aware of the discovery...my buying further stocks of the company will amount to insider trading and illegal. We all know this. But if I buy some land from a farmer in that area (the farmer doesn't know of the mineral discovery) - then the buying of the land at, what is a cheap price, is quite legal. 
    2. When I have quoted $300K to another person for the sale of my house (for which I have a set a reserve price of $250k in my mind and this is not known to the other party), the other person asks me whether I would consider a price of $260k - I say "NO". I am not supposed to have committed a fraud. A fraud as defined as presenting a data with intent to deceive. Note that I did intend to deceive by saying "No" - but then apparently during negotiation one is allowed these kind of "lies" and hence this is not a fraud.

    Hmm. Both the  points don't sit well with me. I am neither able to agree nor wholeheartedly disagree. The points that comes to my mind is how many more varieties (such as the two examples above) are there which I am not comfortable with but which are considered normal / acceptable by many other people?