Puzzle: Network, Evolution, SIM, Sperm

I have a Nokia dual SIM feature phone (not Android) in which I have inserted one Airtel and one BSNL SIM card.

Now, since this morning I find that my Airtel SIM in the phone is not enabled. While BSNL is fine. It's not as though the Airtel Network is unavailable but the whole SIM is disabled at home. When i go about 4kms away from home, the Airtel SIM gets enabled and everything is normal. I tried this twice today - 4km in two different directions. The phone worked fine but come closer to home, it gets disabled.


I checked another phone with an Airtel SIM. As expected it works perfectly fine in my house while at the same time the Airtel SIM in Nokia is disabled.

The question is why.

Is it a SIM problem? Is it a phone problem? Is it a network problem?

Should i change my house? Because of an issue with a Rs1000 phone or a Rs25 SIM issue? That doesn't make sense.

Is it possible that the real culprit is the BSNL SIM which disables the Airtel SIM near my house intentionally - so that I give up in frustration and end up porting my Airtel to BSNL?

I am reminded of a certain behavior in some animals. Males in certain species, before copulating with a female, remove any residual sperm residing inside the female in order to ensure that the female is impregnated with its own sperm and not by that of the other male. 

Once we move into a house, don't we clean it to ensure that nothing of the previous tenants remains? Exactly the same.

The only males that seem to clean house are males of certain species - during, rather before, copulation. 

Is BSNL doing something similar in my phone?

Today, 15th July, I visited Airtel showroom. I got a fix from them. They changed my network settings on the phone from automatic to manual and that seemed to solve the issue. 

I guess BSNL didn't do any hanky panky. Whew...

As to why automatic Network selection should create some hanky panky in my phone, I have no clue.

When We Hear But Don't Listen

I have a subscribed to a newspaper. I had problems reading it on their app on Android.

Here is the issue raised with them.

Hi, 

I have a yearly subscription. I think the last payment was made in July 2018.

I have 2 android devices. In the first one (Motorola), the subscription details are shown correctly in the app and i have no issue reading the articles. In the 2nd device (Panasonic) the subscription is shown as inactive and I am unable to read the articles. The message shown is that I have to subscribe.

I wonder why I have an issue in the Panasonic phone (Android 7).

Can you help me pls?

Thanks in advance.

Their reply:

Thank you for contacting! I see you are trying to link your Google account with your subscription. To access content with your Google account please be sure you completed the full registration for the link up. Here are instructions to help guide you.

Once you have subscribed through Google Play, you will be prompted to create a profile which will allow you unlimited access to the website, in addition to the app you purchased through. If you do not link your in-app purchased subscription you will not receive full access to the website and mobile website.

If you missed this step when you purchased, please follow the directions below:

Open the app you purchased your subscription from 

Go to Settings

Select Log In or Create Account. Follow the instructions to create a profile 

If you are having trouble linking your Google Play purchased subscription to your sign in credentials, please let us know.

Thanks!

Unbelievable. I thought a bot had responded to the issue. The response above was a mail from the customer care.

Vividh Bharti Announcers

I listen to Vividh Bharti often. Some of the RJ's have terrific voices. Yunus Khan, Neha Paranjape, Neha Sharma (and of late Anuradha) to name a few. Apparently our voice carries more information than just sounds as per this link: https://thehumanevolutionblog.com/2016/03/10/properties-of-our-voice-encode-information-about-health-fertility-and-body-shape/

Here is a link about them: vividhbharti.org/the-team/. Look also here: http://airaphotos.blogspot.in/2011_09_01_archive.html

A friend sent me a link on vividh bharathi and lovely audio of Amin Sayani here: http://www.hindustantimes.com/music/air-s-80th-birthday-ameen-sayani-narrates-the-story-of-binaca-geetmala/story-DdBhtZad8J30QYNbBYkzsI.html



Additional reading:

1. http://vbala99.blogspot.com/2015/10/sunheri-yaadein-days-of-vividh-bharati.html
2. http://vbala99.blogspot.com/2010/02/my-music.html
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTX-s-lvHx8 - Anuradha

Constipation And Overweight

This is a remedy I heard on the radio today.

Honey + lemon juice plus + warm water

Note:

1. Do not drink tea / coffee for about an hour after drinking honey lemon.

2. Pure honey does not mix / dissolve in water. It will settle to the bottom..if honey dissolves it's not pure.

3. This is good for constipation also.

From Spice - Pune.

WhatsApp From 2 Phones Simultaneously - Same Number

How do you access wa from two smartphones - for the same number? I do it all the time btw.

For example, one of your phones where was is installed is getting charged and you want to continue chatting (and there is no extension card and you don't want to stand next to the wall forever) or you and your husband want to chat with your son from different phones.

Phone/Internet Location / IP Used in A Legal Case

https://newsstand.google.com/articles/CAIiEC24XTnV1GfoBd5IXieTm0IqGQgEKhAIACoHCAowzrL9CjDC7vQCMK2y1gU

I always used to wonder about phone location being used in legal cases to prove / disprove the presence of a person at a location. 

Now in the link above, a person was proved to be online and hence acquitted from a murder rap. Since the person was online as per the Google's IP records. Now he could have 

1. been online on a computer / phone and taken a break and committed murder. Especially on a phone. Even from a laptop with a mobile wifi or Jiofi (or its equivalent).
2. Someone else could have been using his phone from a phone or even from computer and accessing stuff online. 

That my user id was online from 4PM to 11PM - does it necessarily mean I wasn't doing anything else offline?

MNP (Mobile Number Porting) - India

I am now trying to find out what recourse one has when a mobile number porting request is denied by the donor operator (existing operator). The porting is:

• Is within same circle
• All payments have been made till last bill
• Payment additionally has been made of Rs 150 in excess of unbilled amount at the time of initiating porting request.
• There  is no other porting request initiated on the same number
• And the number has been with the donor (existing) operator for more than 90 days.

In the current case the donor operator is Reliance Telecom.

What should one do? What options does one have. I am shocked to find the horror stories across most operators here. Is this how desperate operators are to hold on to existing customers? 

Additional reading:

1. http://telecomtalk.info/trivial-problems-faced-by-users-on-mnp-in-india/132747/
2. http://www.vodafone.in/discover/get-started/switch-to-vodafone-mumbai: This link identifies the reasons why a porting request may be denied.

Telephone, Radio, Train, Car, Cycle Songs

After my previous posts on Horse Songs and Piano & Dance Songs, here is a post on Phone, train and cycle songs. As with other posts this is just a beginning and I expect to edit this post as when I come across other such songs from the golden era. 

A nice train song is Chalte Chalte Yun Hi Koi Mil sung by Lata in the movie Paakeezah (1972, MD: Ghulam Mohammad). Another nice train song is Hum Dono Do Premi sung by Kishore and Lata in the movie Ajnabee (1974, MD: RD Burman). RD Burman gave some good songs in the early 1970s. Zeenat looks gorgeous in a (green) sari. Even though she is not plump, sari also suits her well.

A very cute train song is Yeh Rang Bhare Baadal sung by Rafi and Asha in Tu Nahin Aur Sahi (1960, MD: Ravi). The train is shown often. The woman, Minu Mamtaz I guess, looks good.

Mere Sapnon Ki Rani Kab Aayegi Tu sung by Kishore for Rajesh Khanna in the movie Aradhana (1969, MD: SD Burman) is a lovely song. The photography is beautiful and so is the narrow gage toy train and Sharmila (and the very young Farida Jalal who comes later on in the movie). The Darjeeling scenery is gorgeous and so is Sharmila reading a James Hadley Chase novel) while Rajesh Khanna is driving by on a jeep. 

A sweet train song is Lata singing (for a very cute Sadhana) Hum Ne Tujh Ko Pyaar Kiya in the movie Dulha Dulhan (1964, MD: Kalyanji Anandji). Raj Kapoor was 1924 born and Sadhana was born in 1941.

The song Rukh Se Zara Naqaab sung by Rafi in the movie Mere Huzoor (1968, MD: Shankar Jaikishan) is a melodious one. Jeetendra sings while in a train thinking of Mala Sinha. The train compartment is of an old design - wooden colored compartments. The music aligns itself with the sounds of the train. 

Raahi Matwaale Tu Chhed Ek Baar sung by Talat Mehmood and Suraiya in the movie Waaris (1954, MD: Anil Biswas) is a beautiful train song.

A relatively new melodious train song I like is Chhaiyya Chhaiyya sung by Sukhwinder Singh / Palghat Sriram and Malgudi Subha in the movie Uyire / Dil Se (1998, MD AR Rehman). The visual in the song is absolutely stunning. I think part of the song (where they show the train crossing a bridge high above the road) was shot in Kollam district in Kerala. Incidentally the dance in the song is also very appealing.

Another new nice Tamil train song is Chiththirai Maasam Pournami Neram sung by P Susheela in the movie Raman Eththanai Ramanadi (1970, MD: MS Viswanathan). This song is melodious in direct contrast to the title song of the movie. And it is very similar to the (non-song) sequence in the movie Thillaana Mohanambaal. Sivaji Ganesan in both movies while Padmini was there in the Thillaana movie, KR Vijaya supported Sivaji in the Raman movie.

An offbeat train song is Chaattai Kaiyil Kondu sung by Cheergazhi in the movie Anantha Jothi (1970, MD: TK Ramamurthy) - a cow song (not a horse song!) with a train sound. Nice combination.

A sad lovely train song is Asha Chhilo Bhaalobhaash Chhilo sung by Kishore in the Bengali movie Ananda Ashram (1977, MD: Shyamal Mitra). Since the song is so nice, I happened to notice the lyrics. Wonder why I am reminded of the song Na Kisi Ki Aankh Ka Noor Hoon sung by Rafi in the movie Laal Quila (1960, SN Tripathi). The sadness is overpowering in both the songs - just like Raha Gardishon Mein Hardum in Do Badan (1966, MD: Ravi).

Kelvi Piranthathu Andru is a lovely train song in Tamil. It is from the movie Pachchai Vilakku (1960, MD: Viswanathan Ramamurthy).

The song Kaise Bheegi Bheegi Pyaare Hain sung by Rafi and Lata from the movie Apna Ghar (1960, MD: Ravi) is a cycle song while the beat would make you aver that it was a horse song. The song is beautiful, nevertheless. The pair go doubles cycling in the song.

A melodious cycle song is Maalaiyum Iravum sung by PB Srinivas and S Janaki in the movie Paasam (1961, MD: Viswanathan Ramamurthy). The guy is Kalyankumar. I wonder who the lady is. 

Maalaiyum Iravum sung by PB Srinivas and S Janaki in the movie Bantha Paasam (1962, MD: Viswanathan Ramamuthy) is a lovely cycle song with Kalyankumar and Devika in the song sequence - reminds me of Nenjam Marappathillai. Matter of fact most songs in both movie are good.

You have to listen to Mukesh and Lata in Bikra Ke Zulfein Chaman Mein Na Jaana in the movie Nazraana (1961, MD: Ravi). The music is sooo beautiful. Vyjayanthimala is slim and beautiful. They do show a couple of cycles right in the beginning of the song. And notice it's a Ravi song in the early 60s.

A lovely song is Ban Ke Panchhi sung by Lata in the movie Anaari (1959, MD:Shankar Jaikishan). Nutan and Shubha Khote are shown in the song sequence. Nutan, like Jayalalitha, is a good singer as well.

A beautiful cycle song is Santhippoma Ini Santhippoma sung by PB Srinivas and LR Easwari in the movie Chiththi (1966, MD: MS Viswanathan). The music is gorgeous in the song. I guess the effect of Ramamurthy was still there on the music director Viswanathan.

The next cycle song Vaadikkai Maranthathum Yeno வாடிக்கை மறந்ததும் ஏனோ - is a reasonably good one. It was sung by AM Raja in the movie Kalyaana Parisu (1954, MD: TG Lingappa). 

Now we come to an interesting cycle song - Cycle Pe Haseenon Ki Toli sung by Manna De,  Rafi and Asha in the movie Amaanat (1977, MD: Ravi). It's one of the most awful songs I have come across. Ravi created this song? OMG.


A beautiful cycle song picturized on actress Nanda by a music director who is not known for such songs is Kaise Bheege Bheege Pyaare Hai Nazaare, sung by Suman Kalyanpur and Rafi in the movie Apa Ghar (MD: Ravi, 1960). The tune of this song reminds me of another Hindi song from that era. I am yet to figure out that song which has the same tune as this one.

Saanson Ke Taar Par Geet Gaaya Pathhron Ne sung by Mahendra Kapoor and Asha in Geet Gaaya Pathharon Ne (1964, MD: Ramlal) is a lovely cycle song. Rajashri and Jeetendra look terrific. You get to see a lot of sculptures too. Surprising that Jeetendra was still acting in movies with Jayaprada and Sridevi in 1980's twenty years later.

Mein Chali Mein Chali sung by Lata in the movie Padosan (1967, MD: RD Burman) is a decent song. The music is average, Saira Banu and the color and the scenes make it worth watching. Worth hearing? Hmmm not quite.

An old Tamil cycle song is Vantha Naal Muthal sung by TMS in the movie Paava Mannippu (1962, MD: Viswanathan Ramamurthy). This is a slow song showing Sivaji Ganesan riding a cycle. I wouldn't rate this song as my favorite.

A decent cycle song is Jab Din Haseen Dil Ho Jawaan sung by Rafi and Asha in the movie Adaalat (1958, MD: Madan Mohan). Strange to see Pradeep Kumar and Nargis cycling. Not only that, the video on youtube seems to have a strange aspect ratio with low height and larger width resulting in everyone looking pregnant (with twins) :(.

Jalte Hain Jis Ke Liye sung by Talat Mehmood in the movie Sujata (1959, MD: SD Burman) is a beautiful phone song. If I am not mistaken there is a lot of Bengali influence in this movie. Read the wiki entry in the link above.

I love Johny Walker, the comedian for whom Rafi a good many songs. Jaane Kahaan Mera Jigar Gaya Ji sung by Rafi, for Johny Walker, and Geeta Dutt is a melodious phone song in the movie Mr and Mrs 55 (1955, MD: OP Nayyar). 

Neend Ud Jaaye Teri Chain Se Sone Waale is a sweet phone song sung by Suman Kalyanpur picturized on Shashi Kapoor and Nanda from the movie Juaari (1968, MD: Kalyanji Anandji). 

Aaj Kal Shauqe Deedar Hai sung by Rafi And Asha in the movie Leader (1964, MD: Naushad) is a phone song. You can give the song a skip. What Naushad was thinking about when he created the tune I wonder.

The next song Hello, Hello, Hello, you guessed it, is a very sweet phone song - sung by Rafi and Asha in the movie Minister (1959, MD: Madan Mohan). Madan Mohan has created some lovely melodies in this movie.

One of the best phone songs is Chaand Zard Zard Hai sung by Rafi and Asha in Jaali Note (1960, MD: OP Nayyar). This is one song that will make any unromantic person start tapping his toes. This also has a whistling towards the end.

Now we come to radio songs.
Thamizhukkum Amuthendru Per sung by P Susheela in Panchavarna Kili is a very nice Radio song. KR Vijaya looks very young and pretty unlike her normal plump self. 

Zindagi Bhar Nahin Bhoolegi sung by Rafi in the movie Barsaat Ki Raat (1960, MD: Roshan) is one of the most beautiful radio song in this collection. Madhubala is lost in her love for Bharat Bhushan. Roshan and Rafi have created pure magic. Though I am not particularly keen about looks, Bharat Bhushan really makes even me yearn for some facial reaction, something lively.

Next we have Amitabh in Abhimaan (1973, MD: SD Burman) - the song Meet Na Mila Re Man Ka sung by Kishore. You had Roshan in 1960 in Barsaat Ki Raat and SD in Abhimaan in 1973. Just 13 years, both music directors of the highest class. Yet the Abhimaan song if you listen in isolation is decent. But when you hear Barsaat Ki Raat, you want to take the radio in Abhimaan and throw it, perhaps at Bindu?

A beautiful train song is Mein Hoon Jhum Jhum Jhumroo sung by Kishore in Jhumroo (1961, MD: Kishore Kumar). This is one of the yodeling fun songs that Kishore is famous for. 

That reminds me to tap into nice car songs. 

The first that came to mind was the Mukesh sung Jo Tum Ko Ho Pasand Wahi Baat Karenge in the movie Safar (1970, MD: Kalyanji Anandji). This was during the heydays of Rajesh Khanna. I wouldn't consider this a classy song.

The next which happens to be a beautiful car song is Aise Tho Na Dekho sung by Rafi and Suman Kalyanpur in the movie Bheegi Raat (1965, MD: Roshan). The trees, the colorful flowers, the gardens and Pradeep Kumar and Meena Kumari are worth watching as much as the song is worth listening to.

A nice car song with Ashok Kumar is Badli Mein Chhupe Chaand Ne Kuch Mujh Se Kahaan Hai sung by Hemant and Lata in Shatranj (1956, MD: C Ramchandra). Interesting to see Ashok Kumar paired with Meena Kumari.

I was listening to this song Hai Un Ki Woh Nigaahein sung by Asha. The lilting music and the rhythmic beats were reminiscent of OP Nayyar. No the song was from the movie Aankhri Daao (1958, MD: Madan Mohan). Nutan sitting in the back seat of a car singing this song. So beautiful - Nutan and the song. I think this is the first time I have come across a song sung by a heroine in the back seat. And another girl sitting next to her whistling. Amazing. Incidentally Nutan is also a singer. 


A lovely and interesting car song is Chaand Aahen Bharega sung by Mukesh in Phool Bane Angaare (1963, MD: Kalyanji Anandji). It's strange to hear a car song from Mukesh. Somehow I would never have associated Mukesh singing in classy circumstances. And looking at Mala Sinha, I get a feeling she looks like the Tamil actress Lakshmi (the heroine in Julie) - very classy looks in this song sequence.

A lovely car song is Vaazhnthu Paarka Vendum sung by PB Srinivas in the movie Shanthi (1965, MD: Viswanathan Ramamurthy). This must have been one of the last movies where the due created music together. And surprising that the movie was in black and white despite being released in 1965.

A very old and sweet car song is Jeevan Ke Safar Mein Raahi sung by Kishore in the movie Munimji (1955, MD: SD Burman). Looking at the video one wonders - Does Nalini Jaywant ever smile? She has the original pout. 

Another car song with Dev Anand is Hum Hai Raahi Pyaar Ke sung by Kishore which also includes a whistle. This is from the movie Nau Do Gyaaraah (1957, SD Burman). May be Osama Bin Laden loved this movie so much and that's why he chose the date nau gyarah (9/11).

A nice car song is Paravaigal Palavitham Ovvondrum Oruvitham sung by TMS Iruvar Ullam (1963, MD: KV Mahadevan). An interesting thing I want to mention here. No matter how nice a Tamil song is compared to other Tamil songs, they seem to be wanting (in music) when compared with a Hindi song of the same era (1950s and 60s).

Additional reading:

• http://vbala99.blogspot.com/2011/04/piano-duets-in-hindi-movies.html
• http://vbala99.blogspot.com/2011/10/melodious-horse-songs-in-indian-movies.http://dustedoff.wordpress.com/2012/06/19/ten-of-my-favourite-car-songs/
• http://vbala99.blogspot.com/2010/12/old-indian-movies-songs-and-actors.html
• http://vbala99.blogspot.com/2011/02/music-directors.html
• Someone else has written about Cycle songs. This is another nice post on Train songs by dustedoff.

No Paper, Please

I read this article today. I was reminded of my own thoughts when I was 14 or 15 (back when there was no credit card / ATM card. I used to wonder why we all needed to carry cash around. Why couldn't we have some kind of a personal ID that would indicate the amount of cash we had? If I wanted to give you some money, I could say give it to Bozo. Voilaa if the money could be "paid", cashless, from my ID to yours, we would never need to have paper notes, metal coins.

I have had a strong dislike for physical things and preferred "soft" copies / electronic alternatives. Even now I have almost completely stopped reading hard copy books or newspapers. What a waste of paper!

I remember the times when we were to travel to our home town 2000km away. My father would go to the railway booking office and stand in line for a few hours. There would be immense crowd. God help you if you had to change your travel date or cancel your ticket. If you were in city A, you could not book a ticket to travel from city B to city C. And now all these are thing of the past. 

In late 1980's if you had to call a number in the US and if you didn't have a telephone (India's teledensity was 1%, meaning 1 telephone per 100 people, you had to go to the post office, fill in a form and give it to the person there. When your turn came, the person would dial the number you had mentioned in the form and transfer the call to one of the telephones for public use in the post office and you took the call on that phone. And then would start the loud "HELLO, HELLO. I am speaking, HELLO HELLO". If you wanted a fixed line telephone, there was no mobile phone then, you had to book a phone and it would take about 7 to 8 years for your turn to come and get the phone installed.

Now the teledensity is 50%+. Almost everyone has a phone. You can call anywhere from a park. But the "HELLO, HELLO. I am speaking, HELLO HELLO" continues. Network and signal quality are not so good.

Coming back to the cashless system, while I had idly imagined such a mechanism decades back, it seems to be a reality in Sweden.

Money For Nothing And Bits For (Almost) Free

I was reading this article (http://www.linkedin.com/news?actionBar=&articleID=767954867&ids=0Rd3kTejsUdzsIdPkRcPkMe3oTb38TdzkPdPsSdOMNcz8NcjkUdzsIdPoUd3kVdPoT&aag=true&freq=weekly&trk=eml-tod-b-ttle-4&ut=2XTzpsSK6NG4U1) now.

Almost unlimited storage on the cloud for almost no money. Only thing is one has to send and receive the files to and from the cloud which can kill you in bandwidth costs or time for up/downloading.

But assume there comes a time in 2014 when network is reliable and dirt cheap like this company is making hard disk space out to be, then what? Portable hard disks will become extinct or limited to usage inside planes or deep in the jungles of Amazon.

Further along I was thinking of the mobile phone. It comes with a SIM that carries your number and a very little amount of storage space. If you want to move stuff in and out from your phone, you need to have a separate removable storage card. 

Then what is the SIM for? Perhaps as an ID card for the phone. To tell the phone and hence the network provider where the ID (mobile number owner) is currently. Why can't this be software controlled. All it needs is to enter the ID (phone number) on booting the phone, with some password/control mechanism. One can do away with the useless thing called the SIM card.

And if this company's idea (store on the cloud) works and if the network becomes reliable and cheap, one can get rid of the storage disk also on phones. Unless of course one is a no network coverage area and one wants to use non-phone related data such as ebooks, music etc.

Let's wait for 2014. (How am I guessing the year 2014? Just a crystal ball.)

Microsoft And Skype

I read this
(http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/05/10/microsoft_skype_buy_near/ and http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/05/06/who_should_buy_skype/) today.

Microsoft plans to purchase Skype for $8billion. Skype's annual revenues are approximately $1b and profits are about $30m (http://gigaom.com/2011/05/06/facebook-skype/, http://www.businessinsider.com/skype-ipo-analysis-rebtel-2010-8, http://gigaom.com/2010/08/29/is-skype-up-for-sale/). They have 124 million active users, about 25m concurrent users and 8m paying users.

Note:

Annual profits have been extrapolated from 6 month data given in the article above. This value could be off by about 10%.

This means that the average revenue per user (ARPU) is about $8 per year, considering only active users. ARPU for Bharti Airtel, a leading telecom company in India is about $8 per month. While Airtel and Skype address different (types of) markets this data would be good to have in mind.

As per the article above, Skype has 8m paying users. This is 6% of their active user base. 

ARPU of paying users is about $125 per year or $10 per month. This sounds reasonable.

But a valuation of $8b for an annual revenue of $1b and profits of 30m seems too high. We seem to be chasing paper money again.

Let history remember this day that I said MS is making a colossal mistake.
Related reading:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703864204576315501698635160.html
http://www.winsupersite.com/article/cloud-computing2/microsoft-skype-136128
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/05/microsoft-buys-skype-2/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skype
http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/05/14/idINIndia-56917620110514

Radios And Advertisements

I have been addicted to radio since I was in my early teens. I always had a radio which would be playing songs in the background while I went about whatever I was doing.

I show strong loyalty. I pick one radio channel that plays my favorite programs and I stick to the channel. 

Today I found that I surfed radio channels (stations) meaning I changed the channel to some other station because the advertisements in the channel were getting to be too much to bear (hear).

I have a strong dislike for advertisements (http://vbala99.blogspot.com/2011/03/free-market.html, http://vbala99.blogspot.com/2011/01/advertisements-promises.html). There are three kinds of advertisements in my world.

• Advertisements that I like listening to or watching. There would be very very few advts that fall in this category.
• Those that I tolerate. This would be a fairly large number. These are advertisements that I neither like nor hate.
• Those that I hate. In terms of numbers this would fall between those of the above two categories.

When it comes to the last category above (the ones that I really dislike) I am reminded of two advertisements each of which causes a distinct distaste .

One is a jewelry advertisement which shows Adah and Madhavan sitting on a sofa. The lady is very upset, Madhavan gives her something. She is still pouting as she opens the box. Then on seeing the jewelry inside her face lits up in a 1000 watt smile. This advt brings out in all 1000 watt clarity the avarice of a woman, the craving for expensive things. It highlights the cheapness in a person's character. Though of course this is not what the advertisement wants to highlight!!

The other ad shows 2 boys trying to chat using a phone, one using an "ordinary" phone which is a pain to type on while the other boy expertly chatting on a Nokia phone probably indicating a nicer interface. Now the 2nd boy's face, as he gleefully types on the phone, is sickening to me. What was man created for? To consume the best things in life? Is this what we want to communicate?

Should advertisements only inculcate an ardor to consume?

I like to think of advertisements as a communication to announce a new product or service in the market. A communication that specifies what the new thing is all about and gives factual information. I expect the tone of the advertisement to be not much different from what would be the case if you were talking about an equivalent but competing product.

Google Search And Mobiles - How Our Lives Have Changed

Back, when I was in my early teens, I used to wonder why we have to carry money in our pocket. Money always belongs to an individual. What if each person had some way to identify the (amount of) money that belonged to him (like his fingerprint)? All that was needed was a way of transferring money from one person (A) to another (B). A would "say" I give $5 to B and voila... A's balance would decrease by $5 and B's would increase by the same amount. This was my thought in those days when I had not heard of ATM (debit) card / credit cards etc. Money nowadays has become fungible and transfers can be made in a variety of ways other than giving a currency note (or bill).

So much has changed in the last 40 years.  What else do I feel has made a drastic change in our lives? I am amazed by two things. Search (as in Google search) and mobile (telephony).

If we take Google (search), the idea of searching based on words/phrases and not having to know where the information is is fantastic. It has created a paradigm shift in the way we do things. We don't need to remember things. We don't need to remember where things are to be found. We have moved from facing difficulties in searching to making good use of the information that is now readily available. 

Mobiles, in the same way, have made a big change in the way we interact and communicate. Gone are the days when we had to wait 10 years (in India) to get a landline telephone installed. And so also the days of waiting for the postman to deliver letters from friends and relatives. We communicate instantly. Information about friends/relatives is immediately available. Now the question is: what do we with the information? 

But there are a few things I find irritating about Google search. I find that searches at the same time:

1. Give different number and ranking of results with the same keywords by two different people.
2. Give different number and ranking of results in the same computer in two different browsers (for example Internet Explorer and Chrome).
3. Give more results when more words are given in the search (I intuitively expect fewer results when I give more words in the search).

Another issue is that the number of results mentioned by Google is usually higher than the actual number of results (if we browse through each of the pages of the results we can observe this). All these make me feel that a more appropriate name for Google would be Googlantika OR Googlee OR Googlea.

Each of this is an irritant and causes me to wonder whether the search results are accurate. Of course I don't mean to say that bing or yahoo search are any better. I don't use them so I can't say how they behave. Google search is amazing but for these irritants.

Notwithstanding these irritants, Google search and mobile telephony have made a big impact in our lives. This makes me wonder how life will be 40 years hence, say in 2050. Will our travel be cut down drastically? Will we do most things through video telephony? (This is what my brother says will happen in the next few years).

Will we have an enhanced "google earth" which can show streaming video if we were to give the latitude/longitude and altitude of any location? How would life be then?

Want to know how your grandmom is? Sure, specify her location and see for yourself (provided you are given security sufficient access by her). Maybe the tool that exists then won't even need her location. She (like any mobile today) may inform her whereabouts and the tool can find out where she is.

Will the world become like European Union where there is free movement of people? And maybe we will have fewer currencies and languages spoken?

Will information search become hierarchical instead of flat meaning an automatic ability to search deeper in a restricted area and make information available from sites that require further levels of authentication?

Maybe our daily diet will be available as a concentrate/tablet (so many calories of proteins, so many of carbohydrate etc). Maybe there will be another tablet which will extract so many calories from our body obviating the need for exercising.

Maybe we can charge our mobiles through wireless. No need to be connected to an electrical outlet. Computers will become the size and shape of an ebook reader (with no separate mouse or keyboard). And may perhaps look a normal telephone when earphone is hooked to it. Videocalls can then make sense. Imagine having a videocall when you have the mobile right next to your ear? What does the other person see?

And maybe our homes will be standardized so we won't always come back or stay in the same home. Maybe we will decide which "home" to get back to. Nor which office to go to.

Maybe we could tailor make our babies. Just provide the specification. An enhanced IVF will do the rest.

And perhaps we will find a way to transmit smell. And color of our dress, furniture can be changed at will ("personalized any time").

How does all this sound!!