Chronicles of Nikhil Baliga

Baba Gyani Triviani believes in: " A smile is the only curve that sets a lot of things straight " Everyone watches sitcoms - of some kind or the other. Personally, I love jokes which involve wit and sarcasm and I hate jokes that have slapstick and goofy behaviour. And among sitcoms, I love the shows that have characters that grow on you - The characters become like people who are around you, and you feel the pain when there is a break-up and joy when they make up, all the while making you laugh... So, the following are my favourite sitcoms in no particular order. My Top 10 Sitcoms 1) Friends Most of you would have guessed this as the number one show - Friends is my favourite show and needs no introduction. Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, Chandler, Joey and Ross - These six characters have the largest fan-base without any doubt. Spanning across 10 seasons, you will feel these characters around you - and associate several parts of your life with scenes from the show. Therefore, this is

Swami Gulagulaananda said: " If I am going to hell, my blog is coming with me " Several friends of mine who have read my blog asked me to disable comment moderation. Well, for two reasons - One, they find it annoying for having had to wait to see it get posted, because in cases of debates and discussions, it slows it up to the time when I come online and approve it, and in the meanwhile, other people who could have probably replied to that, won't be able to, because they may not come to read the comments again later and there is an opportunity lost. The second one is errrrr.... in case I die. No no, I am not just saying it. This was something that was told to me. Well, so why don't I have comment moderation turned on? Long long ago, I had written a blog entry that was a rather interesting one. Let me summarise it for you. There was apparently a man called Michael Thevar, who had gone through a lot of trouble in his childhood days, being born a Dalit. (Dalit Christian

Swami Nikhilaananda said: " The browser is touted to replace the entire desktop. I disagree " Google's Chrome OS says that we can live in the browser in the future. Since most people spend a lot of time on the internet, Google believes that that is where the future is headed. A browser is no doubt one of the most popular applications run these days - With internet becoming cheaper and more people coming on social networking sites, the browser is the next big thing. So, which browser is the best browser? A quick chart Click on the image to enlarge The chart on the left shows you a quick breakdown of different browsers and its market share. While the number of people polled here is very small, it definitely represents a random population. The chart also shows the break-up of operating systems. This chart is taken from this blog's visitor statistics. Which browser do you use? See results of poll taken at the bottom of this post Internet Explorer The browser that most p

Baba Gyani Triviani said: " Here is a tip for all you love birds who suck at drawing hearts but have drawn hearts " Here is a trick that will help a lot of you who want to draw a perfect heart but don't know how. The idea dawned upon me quite a long time ago, but was put into practice in my first year of engineering. One of my friends wanted to ask a girl out, and he wanted to do something, well, errr fancy... Not conventional. So, he wanted to cut out a perfect heart on sheet metal (That's a metal sheet for non-mech people) and paint it red, put a ribbon on it along and gift it to his sweetheart. But his problem was - How to draw the heart? He asked me to help him out. Well, playing cupid is not exactly my forte (and for those who didn't know, I also play Agony Uncle..... for a nominal fee of course :P) but I had this idea of drawing the heart. P.S. - Yes, he did use this technique successfully, and the girl loved it!! :-) So, how exactly did I stumble across th

Swami Nikhilaananda said: " Brrrr.... it's so freezing cold, now I know why Bangalore used to be oh-so-awesome " Bangalore used to be a very very cold place till warming (Global/Local - depends on the type of programmer you are) started. In the past few days, weather in Bangalore is changing so fast that I feel it is more of a trailer than the actual show. One day it rains, one day it's so freaking cold that I can barely feel things I touch (And I was beginning to think it was leprosy) and the very next day is gloomy and next day is bright and sunny. In fact, yesterday was very hot and today morning, there was mist everywhere. Here are four photos that I have to share - Mind you, it's taken around 8:45 AM. It was much higher in the morning... Apparently around 5:00 AM, it had a reddish-orange tinge that made it seem like Martian atmosphere :P ( Click on the images to enlarge ) Taken from the seventh floor - Nothing seems to be visible beyond the metallic r

Swami Nikhilaananda said: " Some times things that seem perfect may not be really perfect... But there will be workarounds " I was happy with the great number of apps that Android has to offer and went on an installing spree ( Click here if you are looking for great Android apps ). And then, I got a warning saying that my phone was reaching the limit of its internal phone memory. Well, my phone Samsung Galaxy 3 ( Read review here ) is not a high end one, but is a great phone nonetheless. So, the internal memory is not huge - But I have an SD Card (memory card) and should have been able to utilise all that space. But unfortunately, there didn't seem any straightforward way of doing it. Also, unlike iPhone/iPod, where I can connect the device to my computer and move apps in and out, I didn't see such a feature in Android How to do it? Well, there are a couple of workarounds for it. Astro File Manager Astro File Manager is a great app that you can use

Swami Nikhilaananda said: " Chrome OS may not become a success, but Android will rule " If you own an Android phone, and are looking for some good apps, below are 15 apps that I use. I personally love them, and use them a lot - They are not arranged in any specific order. See if you like them too. If you feel there are some other apps that are great and are not on this list, leave a comment. Looking for a phone? If you are looking for a low cost Android phone with amazing features, click here to see a review of Samsung Galaxy 3 . Running out of space on your Android phone? After installing many apps, you may run out of space on your Android phone. Now what? Should you start uninstalling apps? Check a solution out . Looking for a great game on iPod? If you are looking for a great game for you iPod/iPhone, check out a review of one the games here. 15 Android Apps 1. Google Navigation One of the most useful tools, this may come pre-installed in your ph

Swami Gulagulaananda said: " It's simpler to tackle problems with divide and conquer - Crowd Sourcing is the next big thing " When a very large problem has to be solved, and I mean one that involves a very large number of people, it is often simpler to use the people themselves to solve the problem. While this can have a very wide range of scope, let me limit myself to a simple problem that we see everyday... Traffic. Everyday, while commuting, we see scores of people breaking traffic rules - Some times, we ourselves do it, but for the sake of simplicity, let us assume that everyone around us are rule breakers while we are law abiding citizens. It is physically impossible for traffic policemen to be everywhere or to catch everyone. Putting up video cameras is a possible solution, but needs expenditure, approval etc. Mobile phones have become ubiquitous - From rich businessmen through professionals, from auto rickshaw drivers to vegetable vendors and

S wami Nikhilaananda said: " Ah yes, the good o ld days " When I was young, I used to love playing games like Super Mario and Super Contra.... and an endless array of games of that type - Come on, you all know that type. They used to be ubiquitous till the computer came along with its MS DOS games like Prince of Persia and Bouncing Babies. Anyway, if you played those games before and miss playing them, below is a way of reliving those good old days. Steps to play TV Video Games on your computer 1) First, download the emulator Computer This is basically what runs your game. Here is a link from where you can download the emulator. This is just one that I found and used and it worked great. There might be others too. If you find something that is much better than this one, please leave it as a comment. I will add it to a list. Phone If you have an Android based phone (touch based esp), you can download an app like Nesoid Lite . It is my personal opinion

Swami Nikhilaananda said: " I always feel that these two quotes are contradictory - 'Appearances are often deceptive' and 'Clothes maketh man " Today I walked into Cafe Coffee Day wearing shorts and an old T shirt, with long unkempt hair. I wanted to take some cold coffee home. So, I directly walked up to the billing counter and said - "Three Arabian Heights"... The waiter had been looking skeptically at me all along. He said "Ehhh?". That moment was so irritating. I could have sworn he thought I would come to him and say "Anna, please spare some change for me" :P I got irritated and got a smouldering look on my face. I demanded for the menu card in Kannada... Then another waiter who was standing next to him mumbled something. I guess he didn't understand what I said. He then said that they had run out of Arabian Heights, and I took plain old cold coffee. He switched to English after that... So did he judge me based on cov

Swami Gulagulaananda wondered : " How many other things are we missing as we rushthrough life? " In Washington DC, at a Metro Station, on a cold January morning in 2007, this man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, approximately 2,000 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After about 3 minutes, a middle-aged man noticed that there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds, and then he hurried on to meet his schedule. About 4 minutes later: The violinist received his first dollar. A woman threw money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk. At 6 minutes: A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again. At 10 minutes: A 3-year old boy stopped, but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turni

Swami Nikhilaananda said: " Pfffttt... all this hype about Web OS makes me wonder " With the recent release of the Google Chrome OS, a web operating system, the whole world is geared up to see if there will be a paradigm shift in technology, in the way we use our computers and operating systems, and so on. So, what's a web OS anyway? If you use a desktop or a laptop, you make some changes in some files on your system. Then, the changes are only on your system. The files are saved on your system. A web OS however, stores your files on some thing known as a cloud, basically a central repository, and therefore becomes device independent - You will be able to access these files from anywhere. That sounds cool, doesn't it? It definitely does sound cool, but frankly it is not. Why you ask? Let me give you a simple example. In my company, we work on something known as a VM - A virtual machine basically. The actual system is centrally housed in the United States. I

Baba Gyani Triviani said: " This is a public service message from Artistick , our Swami's creative team " Click on the image to enlarge

Baba Gyani Triviani asked: " It is important to learn the right lesson " Some times, we tell things with an intention, but we end up giving a different idea to the listeners. Let me tell you two small stories. Read it till the end... --- A time management guru was speaking to a group of type "A" personalities. He placed a wide-mouth gallon jar on the table in front of him. Next to the jar was a collection of fist-sized rocks. He carefully filled the jar with the big rocks, until he could fit no more. He asked the group, "Is the jar full?" Everyone responded, "Yes." He then pulled a large bowl of gravel from under the table and proceeded to pour the gravel into the jar. The gravel fit into the spaces between the rocks. He again queried, "Is the jar full?" "Probably not," was the group's reply. He reached for another bowl, this one filled with sand. He dumped the sand into the jar. The sand

Baba Gyani Triviani said: " Burrrppp! " Here is a list of some of the restaurants I have been to, and my opinions - You can take them as a brief review. I am talking only about buffets in the following restaurants. The list is not complete, and I will be updating it frequently. I won't waste a lot of time, describing too many things - Short and sweet, I say... The idea is to only tell you whether you can avoid it or venture... or whether it is really worth it. You can find more information on other websites if any of these catches your eye Jalsa Highly recommended Food tastes excellent A large number of dishes Plays very good music and nice ambience Service is excellent Price is very high Mainland China Recommended Food is very good Variety is good A very nice ambience, feels sophisticated Excellent service Price is moderate Barbecue Nation Average Starters and desserts are excellent. Starters are no good for pure veggies Good s

Swami Nikhilaananda said: " Just when I thought I had read many books, I stumbled across this list " The following is a list of 100 titles that I stumbled across - apparently a list that was created by BBC - but I have made a few modifications here and there. I agree and believe these are some of the best books that have to be read by one and all. Use this as a guide and checklist and start reading them. I am... :-) You can start placing your orders from Flipkart The Book List 1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen 2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien 3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte 4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling 5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee 6 The Bhagavad Gita 7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte 8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell 9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman 10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens 11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott 12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy 13 Catch 22 - Josep

Swami Nikhilaananda said: " So true!! " Below is a wonderful post [Not my original, I was tagged in it on facebook - Thanks Anil Pai] which I thought I should share with everyone. I kept saying "Oh! So true" or just nodded and smiled... See if you agree with me. You know you grew up in the '90s in India when... 1) You know the words to ‘In-pin-safety-pin’ and ‘akkad-bakkad’ by heart 2) Cricket is almost a religion for you, and you idolize at least one of Rahul Dravid/Sachin Tendulkar/Saurav Ganguly 3) You have read at least some Chacha Chaudhary or Tinkle comics 4) You’ve watched Shaktimaan on TV at least once in your life. And you can immediately recognize the character when you see him. 5) You watched corny dubbed versions of Small Wonder, Silver Spoon, and I Dream of Jeanie 7) A visit to Pizza Hut used to mean a special treat 8) You have seen Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Hum Aapke Hain Kaun at least 5 times each 9) You still remember the theme song of Hum Paanch. (