Kochi Infopark Campus Filled with Christmas Celebrations

At last Christmas has arrived and various companies inside the Infopark campus in Kochi decided to celebrate it in style. A lot of companies came up with individual celebrations and there were also common celebrations by certain groups. Overall the Infopark campus was filled in a festive mood with a lot of Santas moving here and there.

Most of the employees were seen in red dress wearing the traditional Santa cap and all the office premises were decorated with balloons to make it more beautiful. Majority of the companies inside Infopark had cake cutting and small snacks and lunch together, while some other companies have planned their Christmas celebration on some other day.

Anyway, it would be really difficult to get back to work once the Christmas holidays are over, as we would be influenced by the celebration mania and it would take 2-3 days to come on terms with the real situation. Hope that there would be some sort of combined celebrations on the new year eve also.

Poor Mobile Phone Coverage at Athulya Buildings, Infopark, Kochi

It has been almost a week since we have moved to Athulya building in Infopark, Kochi and actually we are on the cafeteria block of Athulya building. Ever since we arrived here, one thing that through  a matter of concern is the poor mobile coverage which is really causing serious issues as a lot of important calls. The only mobile service provider that is getting a good coverage in this building is BSNL. Idea is getting average coverage and Airtel on the other hand is actually getting poor coverage.

Since most of the staffs at the office are using Airtel sim, they are all facing the issues and missing important calls. Hope that the mobile service providers in Kakkanad, especially in the Infopark region look into it and come up with a good solution. Due to the bad mobile coverage, we are forced to use the office landline even for our personal calls. :(

I have checked my cell in the other major buildings in Infopark such as Vismaya, Tejomaya, Thapasya etc, and found that the mobile coverage is pretty good over there. But once I enter the Athulya building, my mobile range vanishes which adds more to my tension.

Gadaffi's End Was Really Brutal!!

At last it happened and Gadaffi was killed by the revolutionaries on Thursday the 20th of October 2011. He was caught by the National Transitional Council in Sirte and was then eventually killed and the killing was in such a brutal way, that no one wishes to watch the videos more than once. Such was  the rage of the revolutionaries and according to the Libyans, Gadaffi got what he deserved as he was considered as one of the most cruel dictators of his time.

As per my, I am not at all happy with the way he was killed in such a barbaric way. Even after his death, his body was kept in a meat cold storage and this has really been a great disgrace to this dictator. May be he has got it for his deeds, but still there was not a single level of humanitarian and mercy that was shown to the former leader of Libya. One of Gadaffi's son was also killed on the same day and the Libyan's are pretty happy with the results.

Personally I don't have any bad feelings towards Gadaffi, as I have lived in Libya for around 6 years and during my tenure over there, I have never experience any bad thing done by Gadaffi towards the foreigners. During my stay, I have come across many bad deeds by Gadaffi towards the local Libyans and at that time, I doubted that one day these locals will take revenge on this man once the opportunity comes. At last it has happened and I hope that this would be the step towards new developments and growth in Libya.

I am sharing a video which shows how cruelly Gadaffi was killed..

Jim Henson's Birthday Celebrated in Style By Google

Today is Jim Henson's Birthday and the search engine giant Google has celebrated it in style with it unique doodle (Logo Image) for the day.  Go to Google home page today and see the image which shows 6 puppets which are given different shades. Click on each puppet and see what happens. Google has done it in such a way that it throws us light about the calibre and talent of Jim Henson, the puppeteer.

Jim Henson as a famous puppeter from America who was born on September 24th 1936. He was popularly known as the creator of "The Muppets". He has featured in various television shows and films as a puppeteer and has also created advanced puppets for big projects such as Fraggle Rock, The Dark Crystal, and Labyrinth. He has been nominated once for the Oscar as a film director and has also won the famous Emmy Award.

The last television show of Jim Henson was in 1990 for "The Arsenio Hall Show" and during the show he showed glimpses of his declining health condition. The same year he had his last breath and left away a great memory of amazing puppet art to the world. Anyway lets give a cool happy birthday to Jim Henson on his 75th birthday.
 

Beware of Rat Fever and Jaundice in Kerala

Kerala is in the midst of serious epidemics such as rat fever and jaundice, which has caused serious issues in Kerala's health sector. Recently jaundice has spread out in Ernakulam district and more than 300 cases of infected people have been reported so far along with some deaths. In the northern districts especially Kozhikode, rat fever has also broke out and this has caused serious problems to all the people in Kerala.

Since  Chikungunya and Japanese Encephalitis took over 200 lives in Alappuzh, Kottayam and Pathanamthitta 3 years back, Kerala seems to be experiencing the return of vector and water borne diseases once again. Even though Kerala government has been taking steps (atleast on papers) to control mosquitos, rats and other things that causes epidemics, people do not have any respite from the dreadful epidemic that comes every year.

If you are planning for a travel or coming to Kerala from other states, then please hold on your plans for the time being as this is not the best time for you to visit Kerala. The epidemics are coming up and you may be at risk of getting infected as these diseases are forwarded through drinking water, hotel foods etc. Even if you have started your journey through Kerala, make sure that you eat and drink from the most hygienic hotels or restaurants.

If you are staying in Kerala, avoid eating from outside and always drink water that is boiled. Because once you get infected by any of these diseases, you might not be sure how intense it would be and you may even be at risk of losing your life. Also make sure that children do not take food and other stuff  such as cool drinks, ice creams etc from outside and always make sure that they wash their hands properly before eating anything.

Credit Card Really Becoming a Burden

I was introduced to credit cards around 5 years back by one of my friend. Actually I was not willing to push hard to get a credit card at that time. One of my friend applied for a credit card through an executive of a well know private bank. At the same time he introduced me to the executive and the guy came to meet me the next day itself. After talking with him, I too agreed to apply for a credit card.

After one month, I got a courier at my office in NOIDA and I was much delighted to see the credit card when I opened the parcel. I was really over the sky as I considered myself a proud owner of a credit card. At that time credit card was not such a common thing and the irony is that my friend's credit card application got rejected.  My friend told me that I was lucky enough to get the credit card and also warned me to use the credit card in the proper way.

In the first 6 months I never used the credit card and  after around 6 months, I was forced to purchase something with the credit card. The purchase was urgent and I didn't have enough cash in my bank account and I had to rely on the credit card for the first time. The feeling was awesome as I was able to purchase the product with the credit card.

For the next few months, I spend my time paying the EMI and after 4 months, I again happened to wander around a famous shopping destination in Delhi with my friend. It was the end of the month and both of us had not yet got our salary. But both of us got stuck on some items in the shopping center and we could not resist us from buying them. At that time also the idea of credit card came into my mind and we purchased the items through the credit card.

This was the beginning of a much bad habit and such incidences started occurring frequently and as a result my EMI started to increase. It was at this time that I applied for 2 more credit card and got both of them. Now I started using the new card once the limit on my first card was reached and as a result I ended up paying a huge amount of my salary as EMI. Ever since I am controlling my credit card usage, but credit card is like an addiction and it is really hard to control its usage.

For the last 5 months, I have not used any of the credit cards, but just paying the heavy EMIs from my salary. The credit card has really become a burden and the unwanted hidden charges imposed by the banks makes it more worse.

If you are planning to apply for a credit card, think twice. Apply only if you are confident enough to control the usage, or else you would get drowned in the eternal debt

Routes of Volvo Low Floor A/C Buses in Ernakulam

There are around 41 Volvo low floor a/c buses plying throughout in Ernakulam and more buses are expected to start their services in the near future. The minimum bus in these low floor a/c buses is Rs. 10  and after that Rs. 1.50 per kms will be charged as of now. The low floor Volvo ac buses are a huge blessing and a great solution to the transportation woes of the people in Ernakulam.

I would like to provide you the the route information of the Volvo low floor ac buses in Ernakulam, which I have got from another source on the net.

Routes:
Fort Kochi - Cochin Airport (Via Thoppumpady, Kundannoor, Vyttila, Bypass, Aluva bypass) - 4 buses
Fort Kochi - Cochin Airport (Via Thoppumpady, MG Road, Kaloor, Aluva bypass) - 1 bus
Aroor - Angamaly (Via Vyttila, Bypass, Aluva Bypass) - 5 buses
Aroor - Angamaly (Via Thoppumpady, MG Road) - 2 buses
Fort Kochi - Infopark / Aluva (Via MG Road, Kaloor) - 2 buses
Fort Kochi - Aluva - Angamaly (Via MG Road, Kaloor) - 1 bus
Thevara/W.Island - Infopark / Aluva (Via MG Road, Kaloor) - 2 buses
Poothotta - Aluva (Via Menaka, Kaloor) - 2 buses
Ernakulam Jetty - Perumbavoor (Via Aluva) - 2 buses
Ernakulam - Moovattupuzha - 4 buses
Ernakulam - Kothamangalam - 2 buses
Ernakulam Jetty - Kothamangalam - 1 bus
Ernakulam - Koothattukulam - 1 bus
Parur - Perumbavoor (Via Aluva) - 2 buses
Mattanchery - Perumbavoor (Via MG Road, Aluva) - 1 bus
W.Island / Thevara - Perumbavoor (Via MG Road, Aluva, S.Vazhakkulam) - 1 bus
Vyttila-Vyttila Circular - 2 buses
Thevara - Aluva / Ankamaly (Via Container Road) - 2 buses
Kalady - Airport - Fort Kochi - 1 bus
Ankamaly - Aluva - Chottanikkara (Via Seaport-Airport Road) - 2 buses (will start operating soon)