Monday, July 26, 2010

Senseless Volvo Bus Time Schedule to Infopark Cochin

Infopark is one of the major IT parks in South India and is situated in Kakkanad, Cochin. This IT park consist of some of the big names like Wipro, TCS, IBS, UST etc and is just near to the proposed Smart City. A large number of employees from all over India works in different companies inside the Infopark Campus. The campus has almost all the facilities needed for a top class IT park and almost all the employees working in Infopark is satisfied with the available facilities.

The one thing that created issues with the employees was the lack of public transport facility available to the Infopark Campus. There were no enough bus services from Kakkanad Town to Infopark Campus, which is almost 3 kms and employees always had to hire an auto rikshaw to get to their respective offices in time. As we all know, the auto rickshaws in Kakkanad is one the most looting type in the whole of Ernakulam district and for traveling a mere 3 kms they charge between 30 to 35 rupees. So coming to the office everyday by auto is not affordable to all the employees and no one is interested to pay such a huge fare towards the auto rickshaws.

It was around 2 months ago that the Government of Kerala introduced low floor Air conditioned Volvo buses in Cochin to improve the transportation facilities in Cochin. A few Volvo buses were alloted to Infopark and everyone in Infopark were happy as they would not have to pay high fares to the looting auto rickshaws. In the beginning everything was fine and the low floor Volvo buses started their services in a much timely and punctual manner. But after a few weeks everything went wrong and the AC Volvo buses were not able to maintain the punctuality in their services.

The bus service to and fro Infopark started to be in a much senseless manner. The working time of most of the companies in Infopark ends around 5:30 - 6:30 PM and it is the peak time when the employees start going home and they most need transportation facilities at this time. But the Volvo buses never come at this point, rather they start coming from 6:45 PM to 8:00 PM, when no body is around and these KSRTC fools start complaining that there are no enough travelers and their bus service is facing a huge loss.

Such is the case in the morning time. I come from Angamaly and usually catches the Volvo bus to Infopark from Aluva KSRTC bus stand. I catch the bus at 7:40 AM and as far as I am concerned I like coming to the office early and this is a comfortable time for me. But most of the days this service from Aluva is almost empty as there would not be much employees at this time. Instead of this if they schedule the service around 8:15 or 8:30 AM a lot of employees and KSRTC would benefit from it. There are few trains from Thrissur side on which employees come to Infopark and these trains usually reach Aluva around 8:15 AM. When these employees reach Aluva they find it too difficult to get a bus to Infopark as the ordinary KSRTC buses to Kakkanad are always full packed and the employees have to get down at Kakkanad and hire an auto to Infopark.

Same is the case with the Volvo service from other destinations in and near Cochin. I am still wondering what these fools (KSRTC) are doing as they are creating self loss by running the buses at inappropriate time. There is not even a single man with a brain in KSRTC to note this thing even after receiving negative feedback from the travelers. This is not the case with just the AC low floor Volvo buses, but even with the ordinary KSRTC bus services to Kakkanad, the Government is taking a senseless step which I would blog about later.

Trying my Luck with Kerala Lottery Once Again

Kerala lottery is one of the most popular lottery system in Kerala, which is taken care by the Government of Kerala. It is very hard to find a single Keralite who has not ever brought a lottery in his life to try his or her luck. Such is the popularity of Kerala lotteries and every Keralites dream of becoming a millionaire of billionaire to take his life to a new level. There has been a lot of inspiring stories of guys who have won the lottery draws and how his life transformed after that.

There are many who have got a good fortune from Kerala lottery and made a good living out of that. Being inspired with such stories I have also tried my luck 4-5 years back, but the maximum money that I have got with Kerala lottery is a mere Rs 20. After that I stopped buying Kerala lotteries and was not in a mood to try my luck.

After a gap of almost 4 years, I once again brought a lottery ticket 2 days back and this time, I didn't go for the lotter rather it came towards me. 2 days back I went to a petrol pump to refill my bike with petrol and when I made the payment, I was supposed to get Rs 20 back. But the guy said that he also didn't have 20 Rs with him and I saw a glare on his faced which meant something. And the next moment he asked me whether I was ready to take a lottery ticked worth 20 Rs instead of that, and I was left with no option. I had to buy the ticket from his and later I came to know that the guy who is working at the petrol pump is also a Kerala lottery agent.

Anyway I have kept that lottery inside my wallet and the draw of that lottery is today evening. No hope about making a fortune from it, but who knows!! May be this time it might be something special to me.. :)

Sunday, July 25, 2010

LIC India Seems to be Flexible in its Payment Strategies

LIC or Life Insurance Corporation of India is a Insurance company under the Government of India and is one of the most popular and established insurance agencies in India. Even though a large number of private insurance agencies have made their presence in the Indian Insurance market, most of the people opts for LIC as it is considered more reliable and secure. The private insurance agencies in India may offer high interest and other exciting offers, but majority of the people still persist with LIC India. The recent recession had seen some of the major leaders in the banking and insurance sectors crumbling down and this has left a doubt with the common man as to whether opt for private insurance or insurance under the Government of India. The recent recession has send a great message to the common man that LIC is the best option for their investments.

I also joined a small insurance policy with LIC one year back an used to pay the premium amount quarterly. I also had a private insurance policy in the past with which I had some bad customer experience regarding late payment and other things. June 28 was the month on which I was supposed to pay the premium amount towards LIC, but due to my hectic work and personal life I forgot about the payment date. 2 days back when I just checked my diary, I was shocked to see that it has been one month since my due date and got afraid that I might end up paying late payment fees and other penalties which is a usual thing with some private insurance agencies.

But to my surprise, when I checked my LIC account online, I saw that there is no late payment fee and other penalties. The moment I saw it I did the payment online and got my receipt. Later when I asked with some of the my friends, they confirmed that LIC allows a expanded time of one month after the due day to pay the premium. This was really a good thing for me as I always forget my payment dates and this time I escaped without paying any penalties. In my opinion I don't think that any other private insurance companies provide this type of flexible payment option and I always suggest others to go for LIC, if they are going to make some investment.

A Cool Sunday, with Some Tight Schedule!!

Today is Sunday and as expected it turned out to be a cool one with no rains and the weather remaining cool. I Woke up bit late to recover from the huge tiredness of a hectic week. The first half of all the Sundays are dedicated for spiritual activities and as usual went to the church with my wife and daughter. Just came back from the church and was busy washing my bike.

There is a huge work to be done as I have to do some task on one of my website which I purchased recently. The website is showing fake Page Rank and as a result I am not getting any relevant traffic. So needs to find out the script which is causing the fake Page rank and remove it. After that I need to do intensive link building, SEO etc.

This was one of the biggest blunder I have done while purchasing a domain. I didn't check whether the page rank was fake or real. I just saw the page rank and since the site had a lot of content I didn't hesitate to purchase it. But later when I check with http://www.checkpagerank.net/, which is used to check page rank, I came to know that the page rank for my site a faked one. So I consulted a few of my friends and they suggested me to do the link building and other stuff. Anyway hope to get the real page rank for the site soon.

Again tomorrow, I have to go to work and the job tension would be again back. Hopes that everything goes fine. :)

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Working on Saturdays is Really an Herculean Task

Majority of the companies have weekend holidays on all Saturdays and Sundays. Actually working in the office from Monday to Friday makes one really tired. So the weekend offs comes as a great blessing so that they can shed off their tiredness, forget their job tension and have a comfortable time with family or friends. Those who have enjoyed the weekend holidays for a long time cannot even think of working on Saturdays.

Unfortunately I am not having Saturdays and Sundays off on all the weeks. I have to work on alternate Saturdays and as a results I have to work on Saturdays when employees of other firms enjoy their weekends. This is really a miserable situation, but needs to go ahead. The moment we get into our office premises on Saturdays, it reminds me of an holiday as there would not be the regular gathering of employees in the premises and everything seems to be too calm and quiet.

The only off day we get in such instance is the Sunday, which is packed with a load of works and other things. I get too much engaged on Sundays and in the morning I go to the Church and would be back by around 11 AM. After that I would be having a light breakfast, then reads the newspapers, then have lunch, sit infront of the computed, takes a small nap and the day is over.

Again the thought of going to the office next day comes into my mind and feels that the single day off was not sufficient to get myself refreshed and recharged from the hectic work schedule. In my previous companies I didn't face such situation as we had office closed for all the Saturday and Sundays.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

The Pathetic Roads of Kerala - A Real Woe for Travelers

The roads of Kerala are notorious for its big poth holes since a long time and the poth holes have made a strong comeback this year after the arrival of monsoon rains. Kerala is such a beautiful travel destination and is one of the major tourist destination in India. A large number of travellers flow towards Kerala to view its natural green beauty. It is even hailed as 'God's Own Country', but the roads in Kerala has not yet done any justice to this title.

Every year a lot of money is spend on road maintenance and the roads are tarred every year. But as soon as the rain arrives these tarred roads gets torn apart and great poth holes develop which make the roads look really pathetic and a nightmare for travelers. A lot of major accidents occur every month due to the bad state of the roads in Kerala.

The National Highways are also not spared from the pothhole mania. The NH 47 covering the areas of Ernakulam district are in a real pathetic condition and traveling through these roads really makes one doubtful whether the title "God's Own Country" really fits for Kerala. I enjoyed a smooth journey on the roads in Cochin till June, which is the arrival month for monsoon rains. But since the rain has arrived, traveling on these roads have become a nightmare. The bad state of the roads make it the vehicles to take more time in reaching the destination and as a result I am finding it too difficult to reach my office in time.

When compared with other states, the roads in Kerala are the worst constructed one, with the corrupt politicians and contractors not spending the allotted amount for road maintenance properly. These guys mainly consider road maintenance as a means of filling their pocket and as a result end up in constructing roads with low quality and quantity materials. It is well clear that a big game is played between the politicians and the contractors, making the common man look like fools.

It seems that we need to wait till the month of October - November for the Kerala Government to start thinking of doing some maintenance word for these terrible roads in Kerala.

Weather in Cochin is Too Cool Today!!

At last the non stopping rains in Cochin seems to have withdrawed for the time being and everyone was greeted with a cool climate in Cochin today morning. There is some sunshine and it is really worth to take a walk under the sun. It was raining heavily here till yesterday night and I was afraid that the rain would spoil the much awaited weekend, but everything seems to be gloomy and Kerala seems to get some good weather for atleast some more days.

Actually rain has brought some unwanted expenses like drinking extra tea, hot snacks and taking high fared auto rickshaws to my office in Infopark Kakkanad. With the rain showing symptoms of withdrawal I can have the luxury of avoiding auto rickshaws and taking extra drinks and snacks.

I can also travel freely on my bike without the fear of getting drenched in the rain. There is no need to bear the burden of carrying the umbrella along with you and as far as I am concerned, I really hate carrying the umbrella. The reason behind this is that I usually forgets my umbrella and in the last 1 year I have lost almost 3 umbrellas in this manner.

Anyway I am eagerly looking ahead to have a bashing weekend with my family, if the weather remains cool. I would like to spend this weekend in Ernakulam itself and do not have any plan to visit my hometown in Ranni, Pathanamthitta.

HDFC Bank's Online Mobile Recharging Facility Not Working

I usually recharge my pre paid mobile SIM card, with the help of HDFC bank's online mobile recharging facility. This facility saved a lot of time and was very much convenient to me as I didn't have to walk up to the nearby mobile recharging shop to recharge my Airtel pre paid card. I used this facility to recharge the SIM cards of other members in my family.

But for the last one week, I have noticed that the mobile recharge option by HDFC bank is not available and whenever I try to access this service I get an error message stating "Due to some technical issue, Mobile Recharge transactions have been temporarily stopped until further notice". This has been a matter of serious worry for me as I cannot recharge it sitting in front of my system. But I hope that this facility would be back soon and HDFC Bank will make sure of fixing this issue. I have not seen this issue with HDFC Bank's website so far, so this may be a temporary technical problem.

A Drenched Day in Cochin

It has been raining heavily in all parts of Kerala for the last few days and it greatly reflected in Cochin. All the roads were in a flooded state with the gutter filled roads reminding me of big pools. I was on my way to my office in Infopark, Kakkanad and really got drenched in the heavy rain which left me shivering inside the office premises.

When I started from home, it looked fine, but the moment I got on the bus the rain started its game and even inside the KSRTC bus, everyone got drenched. Luckily upon arriving in Aluva, I got the Low Floor Volvo bus by KSRTC which made my journey more comfortable. On getting down at the main gate at Infopark, there was a confusion on how to get into my office as it was still raining. But I managed to get into my office after getting a little wet.

In Kerala such kind of weather prevails usually in the monsoon season and this is really a treat to watch, especially if you are at home with your family. But if you are traveling or on way to your work place, such heavy rains are a nightmare. Since the arrival of monsoon in 2010, I have so far lost 2 of my favorite footwear as a result of constant drenching in the rains.

Anyway, I cannot wait to be home as soon as possible so that I can remove my wet clothes and stay warm. The rain also fetches me a sound sleep in the night, but makes it difficult to wake up in the morning.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Learn PHP Programming Quickly in Just 17 Hours

PHP is one of the most used languages in web and online tool development. PHP stands to Hypertext Preprocessor and is an interesting language if you master it properly. I am not a professional tech guy and all I know about web coding tool was the HTML. Programming languages like PHP was some kind of an uphill task for me and I was afraid whether I could learn it.

I tried many free online tutorials to learn PHP, and some how learned the basics. But the basics of PHP programming was not enough for me to involve in an intense web development project. Between I also didn't have the time to go to an institute to learn PHP on a full time basis as I am working full time for some company. It was also difficult for me to take the part time PHP training course as my job required me to stay at the office for lone hours on a frequent basis.

So I gave up the hope of mastering PHP by attending any course offered by any institutes. Since I didn't have any mentor I found it difficult to clear my doubts on PHP while trying a hand at the free online PHP course available. So I felt really desperate at not being able to find a mentor or an opportunity to learn PHP.

It was at this time, that I came to an amazing ebook Tutorial for PHP by a PHP expert named Robert Plank and it was suggested to me by one of my friend who learned PHP by himself with the help of this ebook. This eBook contains many volumes which you can select and the price of this PHP tutorial was really affordable at low cost. The author guaranteed to learn PHP in just 17 hours through his ebook.

So I decided to give it a try, but due to my heavy work schedule at my office, it took me around 30 hours to learn and master PHP programming language with the help of this ebook. This was mainly due to the work schedule and my laziness :). Any way now I have fulfilled my dream of learning the art of PHP programming at a much lower cost and of high quality. I have never expected to find such a best way to learn PHP and I felt really proud of it. I have referred this PHP ebook to many of my friends and they have all successfully mastered the PHP programming language in much less time than me. I am also happy as I helped them learn PHP quickly and fast at a reasonable rate.

The most striking part of this ebook is that certain volume of this tutorial is enriched with some useful video tutorials, which makes the learning more easier and interesting. The videos also make us learn PHP quickly and I am pretty sure that this ebook is one of the best way to learn PHP fast and with high quality.

If You also want to learn PHP programming, rather than going for the free online PHP course and PHP training, I would recommend you to spend some amount (which is pretty low when compared with other courses) for this ebook and try to master the art of PHP programming quickly. You can get this PHP course here and I am damn pretty sure that it would be worth your money.

So if you are willing to take PHP as your main profession, you can get the ebook from the below link.

Learn PHP Programming Quickly in Just 17 Hours

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

5 Tips for Getting Traffic to Your Blog

Blogging is one of the best way to be engaged and share your knowledge. There are many other benefits associated with blogging and one must take care to attract high and relevant traffic to enjoy these benefits.

Listed below are 5 tips for getting your blog to the top of the natural search engine results:

1. Always put original and compelling content on your blog with a frequency of atleast 1 post per day.

2. Submit Your Blog to Google's Webmasters tool.

3. Writing unique article related to your blog's niche and submitting them in articles directory with a link back to your site.

4. Submitting your blog's RSS fee to RSS Feed aggregation sites.

5. Getting Quality Back Links

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Desktop Messenger 2.0 - Best Autoresponder Software to Boost Your Sales

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The Desktop Messenger 2.0 Auto responder Software make sure that your potential customer or prospect see your message as you wish to have them see it. In this way you would be able to 'stand out' from the crowd.

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