Feb 27, 2007

Airtel Ban Gaya CrorePathi



Right from the day A.B. senior started presenting KBC -1, I was pretty much interested in that..I remember once in those days of land-line telephone system, I used to sit at home and try dialling those inaccessible Mumbai telephone lines and try to answer the questions given by them..
In those days, there was no funda of questions being flashed in the screen during the program..U call them ,if u r fortunate to get connected they'll ask u a question, for which u have to dial the answer in that IVRS . I remember getting connected twice and answering those questions, only to lose out in the next round of random selection... Now, in KBC-II and KBC-III after the advent of airtel, the situation is actually much worse..

I subscribed to an airtel package ( 99/- ) wherein they SMS me the questions and I've to SMS the answers to get shortlisted for random selection.. The charges are 2.4/- per SMS..
To tell u how airtel makes money, just have a look at the KBC entry questions coming out everyday.. ( This is from the collection of Airtel SMSes that I've been receiving almost everyday ..I dont have the entire collection as I deleted many )


1. An ENT treats which part of the body
A . Eye B. Ear C.Skin D . Hair

2. Which of these sports are exclusively meant forPhysically challenged ?
A. CommonWealth B. Paralympics, C. Winter Olympics, D .Summer Olympics

3.Which of these cannot be usually bought with ration cards
A. Rice B.Petrol C . Kerosine , D . Wheat

4.What are 5-day cricket matches between two nations called ?
A. Exams B.Tests C.Innings D.Holidays

5. Which of these is an ancient tradition in which woman chooses her husband ?
A. Swayam vara B. Sambandh C.Swayambhu D .Sanskar

6. Which Business group is setting up an automobile plant in Singur
A. Aditya Birla , B. Bharti, C. Tatas D .Walmart

7 . ( Crappiest Question ) Which character in TV Serial Kyunki Saas Bhi Bahu Thi is nicknamed 'KT'
A. Keshu Tufani B. Krishna Tulsi C.Kanta Tai D.Kishan Talwar
-- For academic interest, does anybody know the answer to this ???

-- I guess anyone using a cell phone can answer all the questions except last one.. Now, if Airtel receives one lakh SMS atleast, they make 2.4 L per question..Wonder how much they have earned till now...


-- Having said this , there were some reasonably tough questions which they sent, upon which I wasted my money by sending SMS.. I think I've contributed some 800/- odd to this stupid Airtel KBC fund :( .

And yeah, if u too are interested, u can check the entry questions coming out every day at
http://kbclive.indya.com/question.html


Ajith

Feb 21, 2007

Motominged!!!!



Should have put up this post sometime back.. Neways, better late than never.. I finally said a temporary goodbye to my good-old Nokia 1100 .. Switched to Motoming - A1200 , which I bought through my friend at Motorola getting a good discount :) ..

I'm no geek to review a mobile-phone.. So, restricting it into some points..

Pros

Stylish, Voice quality is good, Camera is good, Opera web browser is OK,Pretty stable, Hand writing recognition is fine, Battery charge stays on for quite a good time...etc

Cons
It has only Realplayer support..I havent yet managed to install divx codec in it :( , There is a business card reader, which is actually quite useless.. The phone has a 200 odd pages user manual along with it, which I chucked after 2 days.

Aftermath
Seriously irritated with the Airtel customercare centre.. Had a hell lot of trouble for enabling browsing in it... Still lot of things to sort it out on that front.. Notably, though I can browse blogs through it, I'm not able to comment..The comments page just refuses to load.. And, orkut is not working properly in it :(((


More news :-
Went for a trip to Pookkot lake in Waynad with my parents and brothers.. Trip was good.. Calm and serene place.
Currently engrossed in reading Orhan Pamuk's ( Last year's Nobel Prize winner ) "Snow" ..Very very good book..Will be writing a review once I finish :)

Ajith


Feb 6, 2007

Some Lighter Moments :)



Lot of tough things have been happening over the last few days , so thought of posting something light.... Below are a few funny incidents taken from my life which I could recollect now.. No malice intended towards the characters involved in the stories..Only intention is to have some good laugh

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1.

Venue NITC College hostel..

X and Y are two inmates in the hostel...

X comes and knocks Y's room ..

Y : Aaraa ?? ( Who's this ? )

X: Ninte Appan..Thurakkeda vaathil ( I'm Ur father..Open the door )
-- Considering the REC lingo, this was actually a very moderate answer :) --

Y Opens the door and X comes in to find another person in the room..

Y introduces to X the person inside the room.. "This is my father ,Mr. ....... "

-- I was not present there to watch X's face....I wish Y had taken a snap of the occassion :)

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2.

Venue: Oracle Hyderabad -- A few days after I joined

My team mate ( X ) and one of my best friends there was watching a video in which a beautiful girl ( I must say , very very beautiful ...kind of model looks and all :) ) was introducing her team members... The pause in which he was watching was too good.. He was sitting as close to the monitor as possible , with his jaw supported by both hands and giving all possible attention to that girl ..

3 managers,including our manager was coming back after a tea break and they saw him..

Manager 1: Whats this ?
X: uh..oh..This is ATG team introduction.. ( In his anxiety to exit the media player , he paused it..so that it was only that girl in that screen :) )
Manager 2: Arey, Yeah kya hai ?
Manager 1: Why r u seeing this ?? ( laughing )
X : Oh..that..I..I wanted to know them..uh..oH..

All laughed and went :)

( PS :- Very few ppl know that X was actually running the video which was shared in my computer :) )

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3.

Venue : NITC hostel, some days b4 our final yr celebrations.. There were a few minor skirmishes among us final yrs and some of the juniors.. At around midnight , a rumour spreads that a few final yr students are getting beaten up in the basketball court by some juniors.. Around 10 - 15 students took whatever they could get ( read Hockey sticks, Cricket bats, stumps etc etc ) and ran towards the basketball court....
................
................
................
...............
...............
-- The date was April 1 - 2004 :)

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4 .

Event : Was supposed to be my first booze session

X : ( Already in very high 'spirits' ) See Ajith , You dont know what u r missing by staying away from booze.. U r missing some of the finest pleasures in this world ...
Me : Ok ..Agreed..I'll taste it once and see if there is anything so magnificent..
X: Aah..Fine. He takes a bottle which he was drinking and mixes a drink for me ..
( At this point I was actually thinking a lot..abt the 'principles' and all..and was not paying attention to what he was doing )..
I took the glass and took the drink..Kind of taste of pepsi ..
X: Yeah..I mixed Pepsi ..
-- 5 minutes ..no effect...
X:Ok..I'll mix another one..
-- I took that too.. No change at all.. I couldn't see the world 'rotating' or stars 'twinkling' as was described..

X: Man, ur capacity is awesome..Even I get kick after two pegs. Ok..I'll mix another one..

-- This time I saw exactly what he was doing .. My booze buddy had already finished the small rum bottle.. In his high spirits, he was not realizing that he was pouring an empty bottle again and again to my glass :)

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5.
This is actually a very good quiz question,which I repeat once in a while in the quizes which I get to host here n there...

Venue : ISB , Hyderabad
Function..ISB ACE Corporate Quiz 2005 .
QM : Joshyula Krishnamurthy..( Mastermind India , University Challenge Finalist )

The first Q : -- Once to a question posed by a Journalist, Laloo Prasad Yadav answered , " There are no such grounds in Bihar " .. What was the question posed by the journalist.. ?

-- Nobody could answer..Even none among the famed kcircle fellows present there, not even the audience --- Finally the answer was, Or rather the Q posed by the journalist to Laloo was
"Would you resign on moral grounds " :)

-- I consider this as the best trivia based question that I've ever heard :)

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( Added later : If u want to know how to waste Government money, learn it from Kerala Politicians.. Read this story )

Hope u had a nice read :)
Ajith