NDTV is running an expose into the BMW Case today. It is showing tapes of some sting operation to reveal the negative role played by the Public Prosecutor. Meanwhile, the reporting team is also pointing fingers to the very witness who prompted them in the first place to do this story. And at every available opportunity they are themselves trying to take maximum credit for releasing the story. In reality, what NDTV is doing might probably deprive the victim of justice and help the accused scrape through without a sentence. Tomorrow when the court hears the case, the credibility of the witness will be questionable thanks to the 'expose' by NDTV. Further, since the victim and his lawyers are now very well aware of the impending allegations and evidences to be presented in the court (again thanks to NDTV's expose), they will come doubly prepared to refute each of these and also armed with possible claims and appeals of the evidence being fabricated. What NDTV Should have done ...

Found this rather amusing quiz through Crystal Blur . Check out my results ... You scored as Spiritual Atheist , Ah! Some of the coolest people in the world are Spiritual Atheists. Most of them weren't brought up in an organized religion and have very little baggage. They concentrate on making the world a better place and know that death is just another part of life. What comes after, comes after. Spiritual Atheist 83% Apathetic Atheist 67% Scientific Atheist 50% Agnostic 50% Militant Atheist 42% Angry Atheist 25% Theist 17% What kind of atheist are you? created with QuizFarm.com

Having grown up in Bhopal , picnics to nearby forests, dams and other 'natural abodes' were a regular part of my childhood. However, living in a Mumbai leaves me bereft of any contact with nature - the city is urbanized to the farthest of locations. From Karjat to Colaba - it is difficult to find continuous afforestation. Nevertheless, Mumbai is near to the Sahyadri hills which are some of the most wonderful places to trek in the world - come monsoon and several Mumbai-Puneites throng to nearby forts situated in Sahyadris for outings. But last year someone suggested a novel idea - rather than simply trek around the hills, why not engage in a tree plantation activity during monsoon? I present details of this idea here on my blog - those interested can replicate the same this monsoon. The Preparations Start with collecting seeds of fruits that you eat during next few days - Gauva, mango, cheeku, sitafal, tamarind, jamun, lemon, anything you eat! These seeds will be sown during mo...

Quite a few techie entrepreneurs & social scientists talk about the fruits of Information Technology helping bridge the gap between the have's and the have not's in emerging markets like India. But the best ever example of IT bridging the gap is this . Cheers to Gautam Soman for publishing this keen observation on his blog and as he himself puts it - "the son, for this fantastic scheme; or the father, for taking up this adventure at such an old age; or the cybe-caffe owner, who doesn't charge a penny for his services..." Socioeconomic Blogs: Emergic , Deesha , ProjectWhy

Since January this year life has been pretty routine - office, home, sleep, work, ... office. Some weddings happened - in fact they happened at such constant intervals that they added to the routine effect ;-) The past week(s) however has/have been a kind of break. Sabyasachi is in Mumbai for two weeks doing some professional course in IITB - staying with me for the period. Since he is in, I too along with him am getting a chance to meet up with a few old pals and dinner time gatherings are fun. To top it, last weekend me and Panda (aka Arijit) went to Nasik-and-Shirdi. Started Saturday afternoon, reached Nasik in the evening, attended another batchmate's marriage reception and left for Shirdi. Reached Shirdi at 1.30 AM, slept at a motel for the night, did darshan in the morning and returned to Mumbai the same day. On return from Shirdi on Sunday, we went out for dinner to this new eatery ' Curry Twist ' - nice food but pathetic service levels; good place to visit if you ...

Shubham wrote about some GMail tips a few days ago. I follow the most of the points mentioned by Shubham - in fact some of these habits were perfected by both of us together in our NITIE days. But there are some slight differences in my ways, and a few more quirks which I use; I annotate them below: I follow points 1 & 2 and 6& 7 ditto, except that in point 2 - I don't need a 'Misc' label. Almost everything I receive either will get labeled and archived or simply get trashed. The only equivalent to 'Misc' that I can think of is my label 'Forwards'. About Mailing lists / Groups - I don't have a generic label like ' faltu ' but have very specific labels. For example, emails from all Open Source software / Linux related groups goes into GNULinux label. Similarly, all mails from social work networks go into 'SocioPolitic' label. I am guilty of not following point 5 - I don't usually label my Sent Mails. So my Sent Mails remain u...

New Yorker writes: In terms of how we evaluate schooling, everything is about working by yourself. If you work with someone else, it's called cheating. Once you get out in the real world, everything you do involves working with other people. .... Studies show that there is very little correlation between how someone's peers rate him and how his boss rates him Read the complete story [ The Talent Myth ]

Hope you noticed the 'Link Preview tool' that I put up a few days ago. It displays previews to links embedded in the text so that you can take a look at the link without leaving this site. Its called 'Snap' and if you want it to put it on your website visit www.Snap.com . However, I noticed that it was a bit annoying to have a 'Snap Window' pop up every time you hover over any link - also because I put up quite a few links here. So, I have now disabled the 'Snap Window' from popping up on hovering the mouse on the link. Instead, you will see a small 'Snap Icon' after every link. To see the link preview, hover your mouse over the icon! Hope you like the usability quirk !

Source: http://xkcd.com/c256.html A lot of new concepts are floating on the web recently .... one of them is Second Life an alternate world - online .... "a 3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents." One can buy islands, start new businesses, buy and sell products (even make money in the real world through it). I just got news that people are exploring possibilities of hacking in second life! Just combine the concept of SecondLife with the map above ... the map of online communities ... and you have the next step towards The Matrix !

« Goto Swiss Tours Part I Part II Summer is the best time to travel in Europe; primarily because the daylight lasts for 14-16 hours and one can spend time from as early as 5 AM till as late as 9 PM sight seeing. After returning from Jungfrau, we too hence had a lot of time to roam around Interlaken . Interlaken is a small town.- from Interlaken East to Interlaken West it would be about half an hour walk (thought there are two railway stations on the two ends). Nevertheless it is immensely beautiful, so much so that I hardly have any words to describe it … the pics say it all. Horsewoman riding horse wagon Beautiful parks Flower decorated squares As it is we were taken by the beauty of the town when we landed at an open marketplace where a festival of sorts was on with ubiquitous music and food stalls. Huge grass covered ground meant for paratroopers to land ‘ Swarovski ’ Teddy bear Even normal houses on the street have huge decorations in their courtyards A canal which almost marks t...