Bangalore to Jakarta - 2

Indonesians are warm people, usually soft spoken. I'm not just getting this notion from the deluxe hotel where I was treated nicely, but in my opinion, everyone whom I met here was nice to me! My experience only strengthened this notion.

Even the newspaper that I read regularly (Jakarta Post) did not use very strong words. Criticisms, if any was also mild. (I could not avoid comparing our country's very aggressive media!)

Despite devoutly following their own religion(s), people do not show up their religion or spirituality. Not just that, they also show curiosity in other religions and cultures and that is a commendable behaviour. (The majority people are Muslims, but Christianity has good presence and so is Hinduism, though restricted to a few places like Bali).

Before coming, I read in many travel websites about the Taxi drivers at the Airport who would chase you to go with them. Of course, so many drivers/people asked me if I need there service. But what surprised me was, when I politely declined, they just gave in and went away.

There are many taxi companies, but the most reliable ones are Blue Bird and Silver Bird both operated by the Blue Bird Group. SilverBird is the executive taxi. BlueBird is the economical and good one. I'm not familiar about the other modes of transport, as I always took a BlueBird.

At the first sight, Jakarta is very attractive, big city and has good roads. But I heard from the locals that frequent traffic jams and pollution are major problem.

Cars and Motorcycles are the most common vehicles found on the street. I found that we can even hire a motorcycle (with a rider, as we would hire a taxi), but I never tried it. I did not see many trains. I heard that they have long distance trains too, but no sleeper coaches.

Food is the only problem I had in this country where vegetarianism is not very well understood. I am "lacto-vegetarian" (that is, can eat vegetables and dairy products). So every time I had to either literally plan my meal or starve (Thanks to my local colleagues/bosses, who took care of me as if I were one among them and made sure that I get good food when I was with them. But the side effect was that they also had to learn what it takes to be an Indian vegetarian).

Also there were some contrasts. In my opinion, the people dress in a conservative way, however they tend to be very modern in their outlook. Before arriving, I also heard that Jakarta and the surrounding regions are densely populated, which I mistook as very crowded. Yes, it is, but not as much as the Indian cities.

I found another thing that is different from India: only one language (Bahasa Indonesia) is used for commercial and official communication, at least in Jakarta. English is used to only with people from other countries. It is very difficult to find boards or even signs in English. While Indonesia also speaks hundreds of languages, I could find that the nation is somehow unified with Bahasa. I obviously had language problem, but most people seem to understand some English (And whenever I had tough time asking/explaining something, I would make some gestures to make them understand and the other person and I thoroughly enjoyed it!).

(To be continued)

Bangalore to Jakarta - 1

I haven't updated this blog for long. I recently visited Jakarta on business and I'm going to use that as an excuse (and opportunity) to update the blog!

(I originally wanted to make a dozen posts about my visit, then it occurred me that, it should not become an excuse for people to go away from my blog, so I'm going to do only three!)

While I have travelled to US a couple of times, I've never visited any Asian country. Not even Singapore which people from India often visit. So, with some pre-conceived notions about my destination, I was sitting in the flight to Thailand (The country of my transit).

After an easy flight, I landed in Bangkok. However, the big terminal confused me. While immediately heading for transfer, I was misled by a Monitor Display and went to a gate where I should not have reached before getting a boarding pass. So, I anxiously returned to my starting point but alas..I got lost and ended up in a different place! It was a Posh Business Class Lounge. With only short time before my next flight, I went here and there before somehow managing to locate a correct queue for "Transfers"!

I hope that Bangkok, while opening their state-of-the-art Suvarnabhumi Airport, also put up clearer signs (For instance, instead of just saying "Transfers" and opening multiple counters without any signboards, put signs like like, All Thai Airways Flights or All Flights to Jakarta etc.)

Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta International Airport is not as big as Bangkok, but it looked very different from any airport I have ever seen.

Getting an Indonesian Visa was a breeze. I didn't have a visa before my arrival. Indians are allowed to take a Visa on arrival (you pay $25 for a 30 days tourist visa, Business visa is not any different, except that it is safer to bring your documents - like invitation letter etc.). Once immigrated and clearing customs, I entered this fascinating country...!

(to be continued)

Knowledge is Power

I have a bad habit. I'm sure many of us have it too. Anything that I acquire, I'm very excited about it initially. It could be a DVD player or a dress. As Marshall Brain sums it up beautifully, we have the excitement for material things sometime and eventually it dies.

Often, the main reason for this initial excitement is that the object is "hot" in the market. Yes, we fall prey to ads and peer pressure to go on acquiring new things forgetting we already have a lot more with us (as well as *in* us, but that is altogether a different topic).

By the way, some people (including myself and an avid reader) acquire books like that.

It applies to software too. When I hear about something hot, I go out of the way to buy or freely download, install and use it. But after a short while, something else becomes hotter and I totally forget that I have this one available.

This is how I recently discovered Microsoft Reader which I had installed almost two years ago and forgot. I was exploring my desktop programs aimlessly and suddenly stumbled on Reader. So, I opened it and somehow started reading a short story which I had read when I first installed the software. Titled "Knowledge is Power" written by Freeman Tilden, it is a quick read, entertaining and the theme is as relevant today as it was in 1900s, when this story was written. Incidentally, the theme closely matches with that of this post. I recommend reading it, available as free download for MS Reader. For those who don't want to install MS Reader, a web version is also available.

Checking email post option.

w3schools.com

Found W3Schools when I was stumbling to learn XML at my work. I found the XML Tutorial at this site very easy to read and comprehensive. There is a lot of information and links to related technologies (such as DTD). Highly recommended resource for web developers and those who work with Web Services.

Free Software Magazine

I was delighted to read the first issue of Free Software Magazine - Courtesy Digit Magazine April DVD. The editorial says:

"Free software’s popularity is growing daily.
Even non-geeks are discovering that most of the web sites that they visit run on free
software (Apache); there is a valid alternative to Internet Explorer (Firefox); and their internet provider’s network is secured by free software (Nexus, free firewall, etc). And yet, until today there hasn’t been a single magazine dedicated entirely to free software.

Now, this project (publishing a magazine) is not risk-free. In the publishing industry you need numbers to make everything work. The more you print, the less you pay. The more readers you have, the more likely you are to get paying advertisers and so it goes on. At the moment, nobody really knows what these numbers will be for a magazine on free software, simply because there’s never been one.

If you believe in this project, please let the whole world know about it, use all those means that made great free software projects successful: talk about Free Software Magazine in your blog, user group mailing lists, social networks, professional web sites, IRC, etc. This way, you will help the magazine gain momentum and obtain the exposure it – and free software – deserve."

The first article, about File Format Wars was a good read. The author argues that [proprietary] file formats have been used to avoid free market competition, making it harder to customers to switch to newer
and better products. Read this story for example:

"When it comes to engineering, many projects for buildings, mechanical parts, furniture and bridges are stored in the DWG file format of AutoCAD, produced by AutoDesk. In 1998, competitors launched cheaper products based on an equivalent format. AutoDesk’s reaction was not limited to improving features, service and discounts. Their advertising campaign focused on reminding people that only AutoDesk’s products were 100% capable of keeping existing projects completely accessible."

The first issue of the magazine is available for download (pdf).

Book clubs and meetings

Here in Bangalore, we have a book club to discuss what we read. While we have only a few colleagues participating and the meetings are not that regular, they are real fun and informative. Depending on how people drive it, the meetings can turn into heated debates or hilarious discussions. It is here I observed that despite the proliferation of new media, almost all people have a soft corner towards books and reading. You get to know ardent book-lovers in such meetings. In addition, people who are otherwise silent can easily open up here.

Recently a friend of mine asked my suggestions to coordinate a book club of his own. Here are some possible discussions that we took up that he would want to look into.

1. First decide on how we want to organise the Club, how often to meet, what we want to read, etc. Other topics:

2. What do you plan to read in 2005?
3. Do you have a list of books you want to read?
4. What were the best books you read in 2004?

5. Have some book categories (or genres). I have these:
Biographies & Memoirs, Business & Investing, Children's Books, Computers & Internet, Food & Cooking, Health, Mind & Body, History, Home & Garden, Literature & Fiction, Reference, Religion & Spirituality, Science & Technology, Sports & Games, Travel, General, Mathematics, Language, Books & Reading, Romance & Relationships, Humour and Philosophy.

A site such as amazon.com can have an exhaustive list. Find out who is interested in what topic. It will be amusing (& amazing) to know that people have varied interersts.

6. Each one of you can discuss or talk about the book that you've just read.

Have the meeting informal and provide snacks and drinks. You can have the meeting at any frequency, but we find it convenient to have it every fortnight.

India and Wi-fi

It's long since I wrote. I'm happy that many of my friends are catching blog-fever.

I was surprised to read this from Malayala Manorama YearBook 2005:

India is fourth largest in the number of Wi-Fi hotspots in Asia just after Japan, Taiwan and Singapore. It has around 180 hotspots. Of that, 130 are in Bangalore.

Living in Bangalore, I'm yet to figure out which places are hotspots. At my workplace, I'm able to connect to Wireless LAN. I should take some time to get to one of the published hotspots and try connecting to it with my laptop.

I heard that Chennai, the southern Metropolitan city, has one in Airport and one in Central Railway Station.

Allconsuming.net

Lateral Thinking

Recently I came across the book How to have a beautiful mind by Edward de Bono. This book claims to improve your thinking skills by introducing different thinking topics. The author is known for his books, courses and techniques on Lateral Thinking. For starters, Wikipedia has a brief introduction and some examples of Lateral Thinking.

Living in fear

A blog talks about living in fear of getting exposed in the online world. I guess many people including me have this fear, as it's a question of our privacy. There are measures that we can take to protect ourselves.

Yet some people think that privacy is okay to an extent, but may not always be good.

Writing a blog

I orignally started this post as, "It is Friday and I'm already in the weekend mood". Too conventional to start a post. Isn't it? What to do, despite staring at my desktop for so long, I could not produce anything else beyond this. I realize how tough it is to produce a material which is readable, entertaining and/or informative (If it is for my consumption only, such as my personal diary, that is a different story). Given my starting trouble, I'm amazed how on earth people can produce posts as big as a modest proposal for making India 100% literate within three years.

The main problem with me seems to be the topic. What should I write about? Should it be the recent Tsunami disaster? Or a book on Software Enginnering? Or a sensational singer who passed away recently? I'm confused.

But the bottomline is, blogging has turned out to be more difficult than I thought it to be.

Reading list for 2005

Here is my reading plan (just plan) for 2005. Subject to revision!


Beloved - by Toni Morrison, an novel about an Afro-american lady and her kid, that happens around the time of Civil War

Laughing together - Tales from countries of Asia-pacific - Written for young reader, but can be enjoyed by all.


Swami and friends - A novel about a schoolboy and his friends set in the mythical South Indian town of Malgudi.

Straight from the gut - Autobiography of GE's former CEO Jack Welsch


Wild women don't wear no blues - Essays by Afro-american women writers on love, lust and freedom


Why men can't listen and women can't read maps - A book about men-women relationship

Asimov's new guide to Science - A wonderful book expounding various aspects of physics
and biological science, a bit outdated, as science is a fast-changing subject, but still a good read.


Teach yourself Digital Photography - Introduction to digital photography for an
Ameteur.


The power of intention - By Dr. Wayne Dyer - A book that shows how to use the so called "Intention" (the highest spiritual force) to achieve whatever you want.

Life & death: excerpts from Bhagavad Gita by Swami Prabhuphada.

How to have a beautiful mind - New book by Dr. Edward De Bono, author of "Six thinking hats".

My first Blog

I liked this essay, Robotic Nation by Marshall Brain, the creator of Howstuffworks.com.