Tuesday 18 May 2010

Google SMS Search

This is another product from Google. By sending a simple SMS, you can use the power of Google search and get the results right to your mobile phone. You can send SMS to get cricket score, Indian train PNR status, flight schedules, hotels information on a particular area, stock quote of a company, city weather, definition of a word and more. An interesting note here is, all these SMSs cost you only standard rate not any premium rates!

You have to send SMS to 9-77-33-00000 (India number). Say, you want to know the definition of a word you just heard while moving. Send one SMS to the above number with the text as "define caveat" and you'll get the meaning of the word caveat. If you are interested to know today's horoscope for your sun sign, type your sun sign and send. If you don't know what is your sun sign, just type horoscope followed by birth date as "horoscope Oct 1".

You'll get results as SMS. There are many things you can do using this SMS Search. Check this link for a list of search features available. This is really a handy tool especially when you don't have access to internet but you still want to search in the web!

Do store this number in your mobile device and happy SMS searching!

Thursday 6 May 2010

An Open Letter to the President of India

Dear Honorable Ms. President of India,

I’m a common man from India. As I heard the news of Kasab’s death sentence, like any other Indian, a lot of questions came to my mind. As I’m sure that no other person would be able to answer these questions, I thought of asking the first citizen of my country. I know you are very busy person, but still I request you to take some time to read these questions and if again time permits, kindly respond.

I heard that the terrorist Afzal Guru’s petition is still pending with the union ministry to be processed and sent to your office. We do not have any hopes on Union government on moving these files. In fact, we have even lost the slightest hope we had. Can I request you to order union ministry to expedite the process and send the request to your office?

We really do not want some terrorist taking the hostage of some useless politician with an exchange offer for Afzal and our country paying the (huge) price for it. Can you please take a note of it to expedite the process?

Even common man knows what Afzal Guru is and I’m sure you will also agree that he does not deserve to be alive. Can I request you to out rightly reject the petition and order for his death sentence?

Also, I heard that there are nearly 52 people waiting for your assent on their execution. Afzal must be somewhere down the line. I really do not know who these other people are and what are their crimes. May I request you to give special attention to Afzal as I believe, as a terrorist he deserves it and pull him to the front in that list and give the consent? I’m sure no one would really mind it!

As a common people, we are very angry with this creature called Kasab. Killing innocent fellow citizens is very hard to forget and forgive. We Indians, are eagerly waiting for his execution. Whether we look at it as tit-for-tat, or a message to all terrorists who look at our country, we want him to be executed at the earliest. We are sure that one day a mercy petition will come to you. Can you please help us realize our dream at the earliest?

There are some senseless people who call themselves as Human Rights Activists, who are right on their toes to oppose the execution of Kasab. May I request you to ignore these people as their logic does not make any sense in case of terrorists?

We are the citizens of India. You are the head of the state. Whenever we citizens are in trouble, we look at you for your help and assurance. When someone from outside created a chaos in my country, we look at you for your action and help. We look at you for your assurance that everything will be alright. I believe you understand the pulse of your people. You are the only hope for us. May I request you to give a signal to all your countrymen that you will uphold the feelings of your countrymen?


Sincerely and warm regards,
A common man

Monday 3 May 2010

Bengaluru School in Bill Gates Website

Parikrma school in Bengaluru was featured in Bill Gates web site. What is so special about this school that caught the attention of BG?

Parikrma is an innovative school which serves students from some of the poorest communities in Bengaluru. Parikrma's goal is to transform lives by providing children with world-class educational opportunities.

What is more interesting is some of the statistics:
About 89.4% of the students knows what they want to achieve in life compared to 86% from private schools and 42.9% from government school! About 72.7% knows how to achieve this and 86.4% feels they'll achieve this in their life time.

It is very heartening that we do have schools who take the admission from poorest communities, not only educate them, but also instill positive attitude, and confidence to achieve their goals. Compare this to some of the famous schools who take the admission from brightest students (criteria like more than 90%), ensure that they'll also pass out with highest marks (again number is what matters here) but little or no attention to what we call behavioral skills!

Do read the article at BG web site and also the Q&A between the students of Parikrma school and BG.