Restaurants and Hotels in Bangalore - My Reviews

You can find reviews about restaurants close to your area in the popular forums like http://www.zomato.com/

Here, I put my experiences with Bangalore restaurants.


1.) Aagamam Veg Restaurant (Just opposite to Indira Nagar Metro Station)

Address:

3rd Floor, No - 545, C.M.H Road, Near Metro Station, Indiranagar IInd Stage, Bangalore
Timing: 12:00 noon to 3:00 pm Phone: 9742346664, 080-40956662

 Offer:
      Snapdeal offer : (Rs. 40 to avail a Buy-1-Get-1 offer on veg lunch buffet)

 Review:
      We, group of 8 people went on May 31, 2013 (Friday) for Veg buffet lunch.  The final bill without any hidden costs comes around Rs. 150 per person !.  They greeted us with the butter milk.  Then, they gave Tomato shorba soup which was not good.  After complaining to their manager, they replaced it with the babycorn soup which was good.  Then, we had Salads, Starters, Rotis, Rice items and Desserts.  The quality, quantity, taste, service, ambience, number of items all are good.  Kids can enjoy the metro train view as this restaurant is located just opposite to the Indira nagar metrostation.  I was thoroughly satisfied with this place.  It is really a steal offer ! enjoy.

Rating : 5 / 5

2.) Tamil Hotels in Madiwala :

There are 4 good Tamilnadu style hotels in Madiwala.


1.) Karaikudi Mess. - My Rating 4 / 5.
This is a lesser known Mess in that area. 
It is behind Gangothri hotel.

Taste             :  5 / 5
Atmosphere  :  3 / 5
Budget          :  4.5 / 5

2.) Surya Hotel - My Rating 4 / 5

This is a small hotel and always busy.

Taste             :  4 / 5
Atmosphere  :  3 / 5
Budget          :  4 / 5

3.) Hotel Pongal - My Rating 4 / 5

Taste             :  4 / 5
Atmosphere  :  4 / 5
Budget          :  3.5 / 5
 
4.) Madurai Vinayagar Hotel - My Rating 3.5 / 5

Taste             :  3.5 / 5
Atmosphere  :  4 / 5
Budget          :  3.5 / 5

All these three hotels are in the Maruthi Nagar Main Road in close proximity.
If you go from St. Johns Hospital (Hosur Road) to Udupi Garden (Inner Ring Road), You will go via Maruthi Nagar.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                                          Outer Ring Road
----------------------------------------------               ---------------------------------------------------------------

                                                            |                |
                                                            |                |
                                                            |                |
                                                            |                |
                                    +--------------------+         |  
                                    v                     |      |          | 
                                Karaikudi Mess |     |          |
                           ------------------------+               +------------------------------------------
                                                              Gangothri
                                                                 Circle            ===> Towards Udupi Garden
                           ------------------------+                +-------------------------------------------

                                                            |                |
                                                            |                |
                                                            |      |         |
                                                            |      |         |
                                                            |     v         |    Pongal Hotel
                                       Surya           |   Maruthi|
                                       Hotel            |   Nagar   |
                                                            |  Main Rd|
                                                            |                |
                                                            |                |
                                                            |                |
                                                            |                |
                                                            |                |
                                   Vinayaka         |                |
                                    Hotel               |                |
                                                            |                |
                                                            |                |
                                                            |                |
                                                            |                |
                                                            |                |
                                                            |                |
                                                            |                |
                                                            |                |
                                                            |                |
                                                            |                |
                                                            |                |
 Madivala Ayyappa                           |               |
Temple                                                |               |               
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                          Hosur Road
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------                                                                                                             St John Hospital 
                                                                                                                       Signal

Temples In Bangalore

1.) Someshwara Temple, Madivala :

                This is one of the ancient temples in Bangalore.
This temple is not known to many people even in that locality !.
It is a small temple, and Yoga classes are conducted in that temple every morning.
I like this temple very much.

>>
History: That’s Madivala in Bangalore. The temple is said to be a Chola period structure, making it one among Bangalore’s oldest. The earliest record dates to 1247 AD and refers to lands donated ''below the big tank of Vengalur'' by a resident of 'Veppur' (Begur), writes Meera Iyer
>> 

More info : http://www.deccanherald.com/content/14855/tv-talk.html

2.) Ragi guddada Temple, Jaya Nagar :

               Must visit temple.  It is located close to Central Mall in JP Nagar.
It is very clean and well maintained.  In the entrance, they give a plastic bag to keep our foot wears.
Also what ever the small money you give to the priests goes to the Hundiyal (Money locker) directly !.  It is a calm place in the bustling surrounding !

More info : http://www.ragigudda.org/

India's Mobile Price Comparision Websites

Do you want to search mobile prices across leading online stores in India ?

I see this facility in Sulekha.com, 91mobiles and in mysmartprice.com.

http://mobiles.sulekha.com/nokia_asha-205_compare_prices.htm

http://www.91mobiles.com/compare/Celkon/A95/vs/Samsung/Galaxy+Y+Duos.html

http://www.mysmartprice.com/mobile/nokia-asha-205-msp2396


Enjoy.

Once I bought cheaper 'spice' mobile phone for Rs. 1200.  It has hell lot of features for this small amount.  But it emanates lot of heat if I talk continuously for 15 minutes.  This problem was not seen with my older Nokia 6030 Express music phone.  So, I stopped using the cheaper phones.

So, check the SAR (Specific Absorption Rate) of your new phone before buying it. More the SAR value, more the radiation you would feel.  So, choose the low SAR value phone. 

Nokia phone SAR values can be found here,

http://www.nokia.com/global/about-nokia/people-and-planet/emf-health/sar/sar-information/

vinayagar chathurthi celebrations

Vinayagar Chathurthi Celebrations near my home in Koramangala in Bangalore. (September 4, 2011)
This is a typical kuthu dance. See the energy of these dancers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RqSsqP1Dq0

Kannada classes in Bangalore

Where I can learn Kannada in Bangalore ?
     When I asked Google ji, he gave me this list. :-)


1. Kannada Prasaara Parishat (B.V. Ragahavan)

Kannada Prasaara Parishat has commenced its next batch of Spoken Kannada, Kannada script learning and higher Kannada classes. The classes are held only on Sundays from 10 am to 1pm, at the Hosmat Hospital premises, Magrath Road, (Near Mayo hall Garuda Mall), Bangalore. For further details contact B V Raghavan - 94488 78569 / H V Nataraj - 98456 80958.


I attended Raghavan sir classes conducted in Hosmat Hospital (near Garuda mall) on every sunday from 10 PM to 1 PM.  He has 40 years experience in Kannada teaching and his experience simply glitters in his classes !.  Recommended for beginners.

2. (By omishra)

Near brigade Tower on Bridage road, adjacent lane has one English medium school. There "Kannada Sahitya parishat" Conducts spoken Kannada classes on every week end, Sunday morning 9-12. They also teach to write Kannada.

Spoken Kannada classes

December 22, 2007 — ellakavi

3. SJR Group of Institutions 
It conducts free classes to teach Kannada for non-Kannadigas in various parts of the city. They have 3 centers: one each at Shantinagar, Koramangala and Basavanagudi.

For details contact Ph: 9845989533.

Few links:

Kannada Learning Center

Learn Kannada

Source : http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shifting-gears/38501-relocation-local-orientation-help6.html

How facebook can ruin (or) rein your life

'facebook' changed the way we communicate with others.  What are its implications ?  These are few points I observe while strolling in the facebook world.

Negatives :
   * Privacy
   * Addiction and time killing

Positives :
   * New dimension in communicating.
   * Feeling of being in social life.
  
Privacy :
   Before 10 years, If I need to meet my friends, I used to meet them in some public place (or) in home.  We used to chat, eat and celebrate the time and leave it.  Full stop.
   If I try to mimic the same thing in facebook, I won't get even half of the real meeting feel.  Whatever I try to say will become status updates / comments.  I will miss that real touch and feel.  I have to be conscious of my privacy and who will see these posts before pressing Enter.  Whatever I say will become record which may not be desirable in the interest of our long lasting friendship.  Unlike business, We don't need records in our friendship. :-)
   Some applications like News Readers (Guardian, thatstamil etc.) post the news items whatever we read in their website and make it public.  This may be embarrassing sometimes if the news item is considered immoral one.  There are some virus applications exist just to extract our data.  Not everyone aware of this.

  Sometimes people bully you and cause unnecessary embarrassment in front of others.  This won't happen in a face to face conversations, at least the damage is repairable.
  Some of our public status updates like I will be out of town this weekend is of jackpot value to criminals. 
Addiction and Time Killing :
   I used to login facebook, when I am lazy, have nothing to do and this is the easy option to pass  the time.
Like TV, there is no end to facebook browsing and the kind of comfort this virtual world offers.  It is a curiosity which constantly urges us to see how many likes / comments we got for our post, Am I having more friends, Am I able to beat my friend in social world games.....to login / logout of the facebook many times a day.  It can distract us from our normal work.  It can make us ignore our immediate family and friends when we feel merrier in the illusory world.
   I also get into this problem, and I set a goal to myself to log in facebook only once in a day.
   There are no free, reliable applications to restrict our facebook usage.
   
New dimension in communicating :
  Facebook gives me the ability to connect with my child hood friend with whom I had lost my contact and he is working in some distant African desert.  I can even find mutual friends, friends based on my likes, pages relating to the areas I want to explore, up to date with latest happenings,... It is amazing.  It is indeed a new dimension in spreading the news, and being in touch with the distant friends in offline or in online.

Feeling of being in social life :
   Man is a social animal.  He needs approval, being liked (or) pissed off by others, share his feelings, thoughts.  It is true that facebook helps  to achieve this to some extent.

At last, I would say,
   Take the positives, aware of the negatives.
   Be with the change which is inevitable in any evolution.

Car Driving Tips For Indian Roads.

These are some of the car driving tips I learned in my car driving class.
This is applicable to Indian Road driving conditions.

One another good source of information :

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/owning-car/131014-article-safe-driving-indian-highways-ghats.html

1.) Vehicle Control and Mechanisms :

      a.) Foot Control
      b.) Hand Control
      c.) Vision Control

      a.) Foot Control :

                                 (ABC : Accelerator, Brake, Clutch)
                                 ____           ____         ____
                                 |_C_|          |_B_|         |_A_|

                                     |                |                 |
                                     |                |                 |
                                     |                 \               /
                                     |                   \           /
                               Left Leg            Right Leg

                        Figure: Position of Clutch (C), Brake(B), Accelerator(A) inside the car.

            Accelerator and Brake must be controlled by right leg.                           
            Clutch must be controlled by left leg.
     
            Clutch is used while changing the gears.
            Brake is used to stop the car.
            Accelerator is used to drive the car speedily.

            * Press the accelerator from outer edge of your foot ball gently, with your heel resting on the floor.
            Do not press from your foot fingers or from your middle foot.
        
            * Press the Brake (or) Clutch from middle of your foot, without your heel resting on the floor.
            Press the Brake / Clutch gently to fully.
            You can rest your left leg on floor when not using the Clutch in clear highways.
  
            Note: In automatic-transmission car, Clutch won't be found.
                Even in this car, Brake and Accelerator must be controlled by right leg only.


            * Clutch Riding : Driving while applying clutch and accelerator at the same time.
               This will reduce the mileage, and increase wear and tear in your clutch belts (Rs. 35000)
               which is costly.  Clutch belts are changed usually after every 30000 Km.
               So, avoid it by not pressing Clutch and Accelerator at the same time.
               Apply the Clutch and Brake in a 'See Saw' motion.
         
             * When you start the car, always press the Clutch.
                Though it is not needed, it has two advantages.
                   1.) When the gear is not in Neutral, the car won't stall (or) jerk.
                   2.) It reduces load on battery and starter motor to crank the engine
                        as starter motor don't need to power up the Clutch.

             * When you are in lower gear (1st, 2nd, 3rd gear with maximum 40 Km speed),
                Press the clutch and apply the brake.
             * When you are in higher gear (more than 40 Km speed), gently tap the Brake to bring the
                 speed to 40 Km, the press the clutch to apply full Brake, (and reduce the gear if needed.)
   
            Some interesting mail thread about applying brakes for you.

       b.) Hand Controls
              i.) Steering Wheel
              ii.) Gear lever
              iii.) Handbrake

              * Steering wheel holding position :
                     Imagine the steering wheel as a clock.  Then, hold the steering in
                      3 to 9 position. (For the persons less than 6 feet height)
                     10 to 2 position (For the persons more than 6 feet height).
                     When holding it in two hands, hold it firmly (not tight, not loose).
                     When holding it in one hand, hold it tightly.

               * Gear lever: Gear shift positions is usually drawn on top of the gear.
                     Upshift the gears sequentially. (1st gear to 2nd gear to 3rd gear to....) as the car can not
                      withstand the sudden power given by the engine if we move the gear from 1st to 3rd.
                     While downshifting gears, recommended to downshift sequentially (4th to 3rd to 2nd to 1st gear), but you can also down shift with 2 difference like (4th to 2nd gear, 3rd to 1st gear). I may be wrong here. Check with experts.

                * Handbrake: Minimal braking system to break the backwheels.  Cable based brakes something similar used in motor bikes.  Used while parking the car (or) moving off the car in slope. In a speeding vehicle, don't apply foot brake and hand brake simultaneously, as it can topple the car.

      c.) Vision Control :

         1.) Meters :
               -> Speedometer : To measure the speed in Km / hour.
               -> Trip meter      : To calculate the distance travelled in a trip.
               -> Tachometer    : To measure wheel Revolutions per Minute (rpm)
               -> Odometer       : To measure the distance travelled by the vehicle.

         2.) Gauge :
               -> Fuel Gauge    : Swings between F and E (Full or Empty). Indicating Fuel tank status.
                                           Should not be Empty.
               -> Temperature Gauge : Swings between C and H (Cold and Hot).  Should not show Hot.

         3.) Warning lights :
               These lights glow when the vehicle is ignited, and it must go off when the vehicle is started to move.
                -> Oil pressure lamp : Indicates whether oil pressure is sufficient.
                -> Brake fluid oil lamp : Indicates insufficient brake fluid.
                -> Battery charging light : looks like battery container with - and + symbol inside.
                                                       Insufficient battery.
                -> High beam light : Used only in highways.
                -> Turn cum Hazard indicator light : When your vehicle is breakdown it should be turned ON so that other vehicles can notice this vehicle in night. Vehicles are recommended to be parked, facing the traffic while attending the breakdown.  Left turn and Right turn indicator lights should be on when making that turn.
               -> Malfunction indicator lamp.

• Before applying the brake, check the left, center, and right side rear view mirrors. 
• When you are going to stop the car in a corner of the road, check your left side rear view mirror, and center rear view mirror, Put left indicator, move to the left.
• There are two basic types of car engines. 1.) Carburetor engine which uses choke, 2.) Multi Point Fuel Injection (MPFI) engine.  MPFI engines are used currently.  So, what is the difference between them?
• Do not press accelerator while starting off the MPFI engine. Move off with Clutch and Brake power.  When starting keep your foot on Brake without pressing it, so that you can apply it quickly in emergency.  If you cover accelerator, you might accidentally apply it in case of emergency.

CAR DAILY INSPECTION CHECKLIST

                            CAR DAILY INSPECTION CHECKLIST     



        For better and safer car driving, you have to do daily inspection of your car.
        Daily inspection of your car consists of 3 stages.
        They are, 1.) Outside the car, 2.) Inside the bonnet, 3.) Inside the car.
              
    A.) OUTSIDE THE CAR
        1.) Around the vehicle : Go around your car and look for any obvious
                                             damages / problems.
        2.) General cleaning  : Clean the car door, mirrors, body parts with a
                                           clean cotton cloth.
        3.) Tyre pressure      : Check and ensure right tyre pressure for every
                                          wheel of your car.
        4.) Hub nuts & bolts : Check the wheel hub nuts and bolts are intact.
        5.) Wheel Chokes     : Remove any stones / particles stuck in between
                                             tyre buttons.
        6.) Spare wheel & jack : Ensure that spare wheel and jack is available.
          
    B.) INSIDE THE BONNET
        1.) Engine oil level       : Check and ensure the engine oil level and its
                                            color is good.
        2.) Brake fluid level      : Check and ensure the brake fluid level is good.
        3.) Battery Electrolyte :  Check the battery electrolyte condition.
        4.) Fan Belt            :      Check the fan belt condition.
        5.) Wiper Water Coolant level : Check the wiper water coolant level.
          
    C.) INSIDE THE CAR
        1.) Seat adjustment     : Adjust your driving seat in such a way that you
                                            are able to comfortably sit and access ABC
                                            (Clutch, Brake, Accelerator), Gear, Steering wheel.
        2.) Mirror adjustment   : a.) Left/Right side 'rear view mirror' adjustment:
                                  Adjust your left side and right side rear view
                                  mirrors in such a way that you can see your car
                                  body and its rear edge in 20% of the mirror,
                                  and road side view in 80% of the mirror.
                                  In the 20 % given for viewing car rear part, align the
                                  mirror to see the tail lamp in middle of that segment,
                                  so that you won't tilt the mirror too much, either facing
                                  the sky or the ground :-)

                                                     20%      80%
                                                  +----+------------+
                                                   |Car |     Road       |
                         Tail lamp seen--> o     |                    |
                                                   |View|     View      |
                                                  +----+------------+
                                               Left / Right Side Rear View Mirror Alignment
                                    
                                   b.) Center 'rear view mirror' adjustment.
                                   Adjust the 'center rear view mirror' in such a way
                                   that you can see the backside windscreen completely
                                   in the 'center rear view mirror'.  Now, your rear
                                   view mirror focuses on the entire backside
                                   windscreen glass there by you can see the vehicle behind.                             
        3.) Seat belt             : Ensure every one is wearing the seat belt.
        4.) ABC Control     : Check Accelerator, Brake, and Clutch is working.
        5.) Hand Brake       : Check handbrake is working fine.
                                          Before moving off, disengage the handbrake.
        6.) Gear lever          : Check whether you are able to change the gears.
        7.) Meter Gauge      : Check the various meters like speedometer,
                                         trip meter, odometer.
                                         Check the gauges like Fuel, Hot and Cold gauges
                                         Check any malfunction indication lights are glowing.
        8.) All doors and windows locked.
        9.) All lights and indicators.
        10.) Documents        : Ensure that you have following 4 documents
                                   while driving in India.
                                     i.)  DL - Driving License
                                    ii.)  RC - Vehicle Registration Certificate
                                   iii.)  Vehicle insurance
                                    iv.)  Pollution under control certificate

India's top books selling websites

Nowadays, I buy books mostly through online shopping.  This saves me a great deal of time and money.
So far, I bought atleast 10 books through Flipkart, and their service is simply superb.
The online books retailing space is seeing an increased competition in recent times.
This is good for the customers as they would get better deals.
Here, I list some of the leading online books retailing websites in India which I used to check for prices before placing an order.

1.) indiabookstore
         - Here, you can compare the price of your book across many book stores. Excellent, isn't it !

2.) Flipkart
         - My first choice. Excellent service, price, customer support.  Now, the prices are not competitive enough.

3.) Junglee
        - Amazon's Indian wing.  Competitive prices.  Don't forget to check here, else you will miss big deals !

4.) Homeshop18
       - Competitive prices.

5.)  Google books & Google library
       - To see the preview and prices across leading websites around the world.

6.) Landmark
       - Good collection. Prices may not be competitive.

7.) uRead
       - Competitive prices.  Google preview option available.

8.) Infibeam

9.) Bookadda

10.) nbc india

11.) Rediff books

12.) Penguin books


13.) amegabooks
         - Ordered one book; Not received the book since the book is unavailable; Amount got refunded.

Spiritual books :

vedic books

zen publications

Must Have Windows Desktop Software Applications

1.) Duplicate Files Finder :

      Ever since storage devices becomes cheaper, we lazily create many duplicate files in our hard disk.  This can create a headache when we run out of free space (or) when we can not organize our files in a meaningful structure.  'Duplicate Files Finder' free application comes in handy in this situation.  It is really cool.

         http://doubles.sourceforge.net/


2.) Desktop files search tool :

    'Google Desktop' is an application to search your desktop for specific file or text.
    Google, the leader in searching, often provide better and faster results than the built in search engine provided by the desktop operating systems.

http://download.cnet.com/Google-Desktop/3000-2379_4-10328117.html?tag=contentBody;pop

3.) Open source password management tool :

    'Password Safe' is an open source application to securely save and manage your passwords.

http://passwordsafe.sourceforge.net/

My Favorite Quotes

1. Motivational

    * Failure defeats losers. Failure inspires winners.
                                                  - Robert T. Kiyosaki 

    * The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
                                                  - Eleanor Roosevelt

    * You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.
                                                  - Buddha


     * You cannot believe in god until you believe in yourself
                                                  - Vivekananda.

     * Pain is inevitable, Suffering is optional.
                                                  - Buddha

     * Rather go to bed without dinner than to raise in debt.
                                                  - Benjamin Franklin

     * An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.                                                  
                                                 - Benjamin Franklin


     * I hear, I know. I see, I remember. I do, I understand.
                                                  - Confucius


     * A little knowledge that acts is worth infinitely more than much knowledge that is idle.
                                                  - Kahlil Gibran

    * God created the world, Man invented the boredom.
                                                 -

    * When you have faults, do not fear to abandon them.
                                                 - Confucius

    * If I have seen further [than certain other men] it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.
                                                 - Sir Isaac Newton

    * I keep the subject of my inquiry constantly before me, and wait till the first dawning opens gradually, by little and little, into a full and clear light.
                                                 - Sir Isaac Newton

    * If I have ever made any valuable discoveries, it has been owing more to patient attention, than to any other talent.
                                                 - Sir Isaac Newton

    * Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.
                                                 - Confucius

    * A ship in a harbor is safe, but that is not what a ship is built for.

                                                 - William Shedd

    * If I don't feel the fire in my belly, I will soon find it in my bums.
                                                - Saravanan Palanisamy (It is me :-))

    * Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great. 
                                               - Mark Twain 
     *  We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about.
                                             - Einstein

    * Change breaks the brittle.
                                            - Jan Houtema

    * When the going gets tough, the tough get going.
                                           - Joseph.P.Kennedy.

    * The less confident you are, the more serious you have to act.
                                            - Tara Ploughman

2. Writing and Reading

    *  Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word.
                                              - Stephen King

   * Description begins in the writer's imagination but should end with the reader's.
                                             - Stephen King on Open endedness

   * Feedback : Write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open.
                                             - Stephen King

Diet in a sensible way

                There is more wisdom in your body than in your deepest philosophy.

                                                                                             - Friedrich Nietzsche.

               

    Now a days, if you flip through any magazine, you can not miss to notice a diet advice column.  It usually preaches us to take this fruit (or) vegetable, how much calories and nutritional value it has, what should be your daily calories in take, how to achieve six packs, etc.  Also, there are plenty of quick weight loss programs available in the market to burn your valet, sorry your extra flesh.  

    Shall we follow them blindly ?   IMO, no.  You may end up in abusing your body.

    I happened to read this book, 'Dont Lose Your Mind, Lose Your Weight' by Rujuta Diwekar.  Rujuta is a dietician for many celebrities like Kareena Kapoor, Anil Ambani,....  She breaks many common misunderstandings about diet. She proclaims to eat well to lose your weight and provides a complete picture of our digestion system and the kind of foods we can take.  She wrote this book in a simple English with (humorous) real stories about her clients.  The most important things I learned from this book are :

1. Nutritional value (Carbohydrate, Protein, Vitamins, Minerals, fat) is more important than calorific value of your food.
2. Taking crash diets with fruits (or) vegetables alone is dangerous.  Your food should be balanced.
3. There is an Indian saying, 'Eat like Maharaja in morning, like ordinary person in afternoon,  and like beggar in night'.  This is very much true.
4. Don't start your day with Coffee as it is the major reason for your delayed breakfast.  Instead treat yourself with a good breakfast.
5. Have your dinner light, and it should be 2 to 3 hrs before you go to bed.
6. Any diet is incomplete without regular exercises.
7. Instead of 3 big meals, take 5 small meals.  It usually turned out to be a 5 big meals for me, so I don't follow this :-).
8. Have a predictable eating and sleeping pattern.  i.e.) Take your food and sleep at the same time everyday.

      Though the author repeats few points in many pages, it is a useful book for any one wanting to eat / diet sensibly.

eWastes

Do you know how your electronic waste is recycled ?
An interesting video about eWaste recycling mafia.

Alcoholism is a disease, not a social status

 Before 15 years, liquor shops were located well outside town limits, and drinking was considered taboo.
 Tamilnadu Govt introduced TASMAC system as a solution when it was unable to tackle illicit liquor menace.
 Additionally, TASMAC generated huge revenue to run Govt machinery than any of its departments.

 Agreed to an extent.  But, It is now bleeding to see rampant TASMAC wine shops in every corner.
 Govt takes great interest in providing accessiblity to TASMAC shop than to any other govt services like  school, hospital !!.

  Slowly, drinking became a social event and accepted by the society.
  Most tamil films (including good films like 'Nadodigal'), portrays boozing as an element in a get-together.
  The TASMAC system should be checked and regulated. The govt. need to realise that it is obliged to provide better, safer, healthier, productive environment to its people than choosing lame option.  I understand that it is not possible to totally eradicate drinking from the society, but it should be regulated heavily.

  I congratulate Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK political party) for its stance in regulating / banning TASMAC.
    An interesting article by my favorite writer Jeyamohan to every Kudimagan :-) (Citizen) on alcoholism and its hazards.

நமக்குள் இருக்கும் பேய்

An inspiring speech

Western Ghats info

Attention western ghats lovers ! Here is a good news for you.

A new initiative is announced by Indian Govt to store all pertinent information about beautiful western ghats in a single place soon. (www.westernghats.india.org)       TOI news item about it

Environment Awareness

I like this video about our mother earth.

HOME - a film by Yann Arthus-Bertrand

Same film in youtube