NOTION INK CAIN 2 - pros and cons

A quick view...

Firstly, I am extremely delighted to see an ALL-INDIAN-MADE windows 8.1-based ultra tablet.
I bought it via snapdeal some 2-weeks back.   I have started using it extensively at home and office  (well, my company is talking loud about BYOD, so thought I would try more rather than talking,  so far no concerns raised by my manager atleast ;-)

Some major positives about this desi-gadget

+Very light-weight indeed.  Just weighs 650 gms and goes pretty easy on my back giving no strain to my 40+ year old spinal cord.

+Windows 8.1 is a nice OS to put (although it is not touch-friendly and Microsoft has many miles to go before they make their OS touch-friendly).   But the good thing is that it just boots up in few seconds.   So, I don't have to wait for those many boring minutes for the system to boot up.

+The qwerty chirpy magnetic keyboard is a major plus.   It become a complete laptop with it.

+It is a 10.1 inch pad offering 1280x800 pixels of resolution max.   It would have been nice if they had done 1280x900 which is a minimal standard resolution for high-resolution graphics.   But for a business user, visually it is not bad at all.  I can read my documents and mails pretty easily.

+Taking the screen pad off the keyboard and putting it back is a child's play.   It just goes and sits pretty nicely on the keyboard with a magnetic pull.

+The capacitive-touch is very adaptable to your fingers and responds instantly.

+It offers a plethora of secondary interfaces - you can refer to their technical spec. from their website http://notionink.com/.

+The wireless mouse that comes with the pack is a nice offering.   The quality of the mouse is good.

+I was thrilled to get a 500GB Samsung USB hard disk free of cost with the whole bundle that costs close to 20k INR.  

+The battery is great.  It stays awake for close to 8 hrs straight provided you are not subjecting the device to high intensity CPU operations.

+The 2 GB RAM and 32 GB internal memory is sufficient for any business user.     Windows 8.1 comfortably sits there and you have sufficient free RAM space for your regular activity.   The additional 64 GB memory card slot is a wonderful addition.   That way you don't have to clutter your C:  drive with all data.

+The handwriting recognizer is just great.   I just can write with my finger and it recognizes it instantly and promptly.  Very handy while traveling.

...... and now comes the big thing...

+Being Windows 8.1, Microsoft is offering a free upgrade to Windows 10.   At the time of writing this blog, I am upgrading to Windows 10.   I hope I am taking the right decision to move.   My next blog will be about my experience of using this device with Windows 10.

Some drawbacks....that should be talked about  (Nobody is perfect in this world!)

-The keyboard leaves some easily-seen inprint traces on the screen which irritatingly disturbs your view.   Although they have given a screen guard,  you often have to change it and you do not get the exact size in the market.  So,  you have to buy a generic size screen gaurd and cut it to suite the size.   Somewhat unfriendly in my perspective.     As a workaround, I keep a plastic cover between the screen and the keyboard while closing - I hope I will always remember to do so,  if not, I would leave more keyb imprints on the screen.   It becomes very very difficult over a period of time.   The screen guard could have been of better quality.   I even doubt the quality of the screen here.   I guess, somewhere the company had to cut corners to bring down the cost and they sacrifised the quality of the screen which IMHO was not the right decision.

-Using the keyboard while in motion (say in a train or car) is a pain on my neck.   Athough it sits nicely on the angled bracket cover,  it just shakes because it has no hinges to hold it.   You will have to hold it with one hand while  you just can't type with the other hand.   I lost the purpose of buying this pad due to this inconvenience.

-You would see some lags with high resolution games.    This one is not ideal for gaming.   It is good for business use.

So far so good, I hope the service would be good if I start hitting problems.   Anyway, with this price tag, this is a nice alternative to those costly tabs and laps.   You may go for it  BUT take care of the screen - it is pretty nasty with impressions which you just can't erase once caught.

-Krishnan

Lily Camera - selfie redefined

Just now read about.

https://www.lily.camera/

The camera that follows you.

It is amazing to see how technology can work for you.   If this is going to the the way it is shown in the video, then I would probably call it SEFIE-REDEFINED.

Drink Plenty Of Water - Live A Healthy LIfe

Whatever you eat doesn't matter.   Drink plenty of water immediately after you eat.   It would mix with the chemical secretion inside the stomach and dissolve them leaving no room for unnecessary fat to accumulate.   If you do not drink water, then the fat out of the consumed food gets deposited.

The Most Debated One - Arranged Marriage vs Love Marriage

It is a controversial topic.  Something that has been debated many many times over many years in several languages.  For those who are less informed, let us define them

Arranged Marriage -  The man and the woman who do not know each other get married and are bound to live together for the next part of their life !

Love Marriage -  The man and the woman whose hearts and souls have merged as one.   The so called "marriage" for them is something like a public announcement that both of them are going to live together for the rest of their life.


Well, we all understand love marriage because it is obvious for all of us that those are the two minds who came together sometime back.  So, they getting married is not unique.  For non-Indians, the concept of an arranged marriage is unheard of.  So, let us dwell a bit deeper here.

The question here is, Who arranges and on what basis and why is it least understood ?   Let us understand what happens as a sequence of steps for an arranged marriage

1.   One of the families (boy or girl) searches for an appropriate partner by taking help from their relatives, friends, marriage brokers.  Today, there are dozens of matrimony websites such as shaadi.com, jeevansathi.com, bharathmatrimony.com which enables you to narrow down your selection through several options.

2.  Both the families call each other and discuss marriage prospects.

3.  On an auspicious day, the boy's family visits the girl's house where the boy and girl meet each other.  This probably the first time when they see each other.
This is a critical meeting where both of them have to decide and give a nod in 30 minutes!!!!.    Yeah.....30 minutes to decide your life partner and you are expected not to go wrong here!!!!!!.   Well, this happens in the modern Indian society with forthcoming families.  In rural or semi-urban India, it is normally the boy who has to give his nod.  The girl's acceptance is not considered.

4.  If there is a dis-agreement,  steps 1 to 3 is repeated till there is an agreement.

4.  If both the families agree, they arrange for a "betrothal" function or in simple terms, an engagement ceremony which is celebrated as a mini-marriage.   During the ceremony, they decide an auspicious date to conduct the wedding with the help of a priest.

It is important for the girl's family that the number of days gap between the engagement and wedding is less so that the wedding happens smoothly with no confusion.  It is seen as unauspicious if the wedding is broken due to any confusion after the engagement and often the girl's family has to face the brunt of the broken wedding.

5.  Everyone makes arrangements to mark a successful wedding.

After the marriage, whether you like it or not, you are supposed to live amicably with your new-never-seen-before life partner because you gave a nod in 30 minutes in step 3!!!!!.  

So, what is wrong with a system that has been working in India for so many years.   Why are we discussing this here ?   There are so many happy families created through the arranged marriage system.   Broken marriages (*Divorces*) are rare in this system.  Both the male and female have strong support system (their committed families) which may not be available in the other system.
Shall we conclude that the arrange marriage system is far superior to the system of love marriage ?  Oh! wait, this blog is just not over yet.   We are not concluding anything here.   Let me give you a perspective of what could have been the origin of the arranged marriage system.   Before that, I can tell you that in today's time, I see that many prefer love marriage over arranged marriage and I see an increasing trend in the formal than the later.

We still are living in a society where many women have no say in their marriage. They have to accept the man as their fate who is selected by their parents.  Parents see it as an insult when their daughter chooses a male of her own.  They see it as an insult because they give more importance to the abuse that they have to go through in their social circles which is very unfortunate.  Most of the woman take it as their fate, get adjusted and start living a regular life.  They are lucky if their husband turns out to wise, courteous and understanding.  Otherwise, they lead a miserable life.





A sneak-peek into the traditional society of India would reveal two things

a.  It was (is) a male-dominated society
b.  It was (is) a caste-dominated society
c.  It was (is) a religion discriminated society
d.  It was (is) a language discriminated society.

In a male-dominated society, a female was uneducated with no voice.  They were seen as child-bearing machine and their duty is to bring up families and be sheltered inside the house.   With no exposure to outside world, it obviously has to be an arranged marriage within the same society.

In a caste-dominated society, forget about women, even men cannot mingle with people of lower caste, however educated they were.  So, forget about inter-caste marriages.  It obviously has to be an arranged marriage within the same caste.

I think we need not talk about religion and language as it is evident from the above facts that women of in those days had to depend on their elders to get married.  This has been the culture for many many centuries and people believe in doing it this way.  They don't like if you question an age-old culture.  They see it as an insult to their society.  


Although my marriage was not a love marriage, I do give a lot of credits to the system of love marriage for a simple fact that two minds have to understand each other for a considerable period before they decide to lead the life together.  It doesn't make sense to be lip-locked for several years artificially just out of fear and compulsion for the sake of satisfying someone else in the family.   After all, it is your life,  so you are the one to decide whom you want to lead it with.

Jai Hind.

  

















 

The Unlearned Man

We make several mistakes in life.  Some of them could be reversed.  Many of them are unreversible.  God always gives you a second chance to correct your mistakes.  The reason he gives you another chance is an opportunity to not repeat them but do it better.  The interim period between the the time you made mistakes the second chance is the time for reflection.  This is the time you look back, recall, analyze and see what better you could have done.  How better you could have handled the situation.  The greatest mistake that a begger does is "Begging".  He knows that it is a mistake and he has a world of opportunities to correct it and lead a honorable life.  But, he goes on begging.  Do you know why ?   Is it because he is not learning from mistakes.  Did you ever think about it?  Give it a thought once again.  I feel that begging has given him the comfort feeling and the way to get some easy money without hard work.  It is not just he should be blamed for that, the society has equal share of the blame.  I feel that if you do not learn from your mistakes and repeat the same mistake, you are no lesser than a beggar.

The Joy Of Giving

In this terror-torn world, the need of the hour is compassion and help to reduce sufferings.  The joy of giving is thousand times better than joy of taking.  I was shaking and my heart started beating out of shame 'cos what have I done to the world.  I wasted 40+ years of time.  I have read these sentences

"Duty to man is duty to God"
"Helping the man kind is service to good"

"Self help is he best help"-------is a selfish sentence.

I salute this man....

See this video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WPOEXZNEgg

Narayanan Krishnan (Born 1981) is an Indian chef turned social worker. He quit his career as a leading chef and began supplying meals to the homeless in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India, beginning in 2002.

With a degree in hand and future in sight, Narayanan was on his way to be an award-winning chef at a 5-star restaurant in Switzerland.

All it took to change his plans forever was a walk on the streets of his home town of Madurai, India. It was then that he was taken aback by an elderly man lying on the side of the road. This man was starving and filthy. Narayanan reached out to this old man who placed his frail, wrinkled dirty hand upon his. This was a defining moment.

Narayanan decided in this moment that helping this man and those in need would be a life well-lived, providing him the happiness and fulfillment he had yet to experience until this moment.

Though many of the people helped by Narayanan need much more than a meal, it was a good place to start and so Akshaya's Helping in H.E.L.P. Trust was established as a charitable organization based in India.

Starting in 2002, utilizing his own personal savings, Narayanan fed around 30 people. In 2003, he began to serve freshly-cooked meals, and has since served over 1.7 million meals as of August 2011.

The Curse Of Indian Joint Family

I am writing this blog after many months and I could not get any better topic than this.   It might sound negative to many of us.  Truth has to unfold at some point of time.

I am married for 16 years now.  My family consists of my wife, children and MY parents.   It doesn't include my wife's parents.  We call it "The Indian Joint Family".   For the last 16 years, my wife has been trying to adjust with my parents as much as she could.  16-years have passed and it is hard to believe that she is still giving her best to adjust.   All I am seeing is that the gaps are increasing than shrinking.  Probably, she is bearing the brunt and tolerating the style of life just because of the wellness of HER FAMILY.   By the way, when I say "HER FAMILY", I meant her husband and her children and not her husbands' parents.  We have given a new name to it called "THE NUCLEUS FAMILY".   There is no place for her parents in the "Indian Joint Family".
 
In India, when a girl is married, she is married to her husband's family and she has to forgo her family and adopt her husband's family.   This by culture and habit, not by law.  She needs to learn to live with her husbands parents, brothers and sisters, whether she likes it or not.  So, it is 1:M  relationship when written in mathematical form.  Simply put, M influences 1 and many times this influence gets very daunting for the new girl to adjust.  The man (wife's husband) has to play significant role in coaching and mentoring the girl.  If not done properly, the whole life becomes miserable for the couple.  Most of the time, due to social pressure and due to fear of discrimination, the girl just bears the brunt in silence no matter how hostile her husband's family is. 

My mother-in-law was married to a large family.  I am told that ever since she got married, she confined her life inside 4 walls of the kitchen working from 4 am to 11 pm 365 days an year.
She hardly met her parents after she got married.  My aunt who hailed from Mumbai was married into another large family residing in a remote village in Tamilnadu.  I am given to understand that apart from satisfying her husband's needs, she had to satisfy her in-laws and other family members needs too, sometimes was very disgusting to discuss here.   My cousin, an electrical engineering graduate has to seek permission from her in-laws to visit her parents although they are living in the same city stones throw away from each other.  She has accepted it has her fate silently and her husband is unable to bail her out.   I hear quarrels between my wife and my mother for petty things almost every single day.  It sounds petty for me, but not for my wife who feels insulted day in and out.   She is bold like many other women, but life is not easy for both of us.  I am trapped in between and I can't blame anyone other than me and the society we live in.  This is extremely annoying and disgusting.

Let us say a girl is married at the age of 25, she has been living an enchanting and loving life for the last 25 years with her parents, sisters and brothers.   Just because she is married into a family, it is unacceptable to assume that she has to forgo her family and accept a new family altogether and embrace change.   There is no personal life in a joint family.  This is not embracing change by any standards.  

Oh! my respected father-in-laws and mother-in-laws.........you too went through this pain before.   Do not let this happen to a girl.   Let her lead a happy life with her husband separately.   Let her decide what to buy for cooking,  what should be the color of the bedroom, which television brand to buy etc.   Do not put your thoughts on her.   Give her the required indepedence.

Oh! my respected father-in-laws and mother-in-laws.........do not disturb them with your thoughts.   Do not barge-in when they are planning for an outing.   Let them go.   Because, your son is also affected by your thoughts....not just that girl.

Oh! my respected father-in-laws and mother-in-laws........stay away from them and their life.  Supported them from outside.  Let them come to your house when they want to, not when you want to.  

Oh! my respected father-in-laws and mother-in-laws.......do not live with your son and daughter-in-law.  Knowingly or unknowingly, you disturb them and their privacy.   You can visit them whenever you want to see them.   That would earn you respect.

Oh! my respected father-in-laws and mother-in-laws.......if you are living with your son and daughter-in-law, follow these golden rule
        -> do not interfere when they are speaking privately
        -> do not empathise with your son in front of your daughter-in-law
        -> do not enter their bedroom without their approval
        -> do not join them in their trips unless they invite you
        -> this one is special for the father-in-law....do not sit in the front aile seat of a car.   That is reserved  for his wife (your daughter-in-law), not for you.
         

So, may I appeal to all the distinguished readers of my blog.   Please do not embrace change.   Please do not let this happen to your wife/daughter/sister.   Respect her independence and the privacy she needs. 

My salute to all Indian women for their generation-long sacrifices and in return getting nothing.....