Archive for the 'Interesting' Category

Traffic Deadlocks

Thursday, August 26th, 2010

Wedensday evening is another traffic nightmare in the city. It took me more than an hour to reach home from work. In fact, I parked my car in an empty parking lot a couple of blocks away from home and walked home. By doing so, I might have saved at least another 30 minutes.

Indian Rupee New Symbol

Friday, July 16th, 2010

The new symbol for Indian Rupee is here.

Indianrupee

Looks good, but takes time to get used to.

Cashless Mediclaim

Tuesday, July 13th, 2010

Slowly, the cashless mediclaim facility seems to be heading for an exit from the market. Late last week, the insurers started backing out from cashless facility in major metros. Now, there is a further blow on insured -  a 10.3% service tax. This tax is going to have a chain effect. First, the newly introduced tax will make the insurers exit out of the cashless mediclaim sooner than later (or they may considerably increase the premiums for cashless claims). It will eventually reduce the patronage of corporate and high quality hospitals. Reason: even if one may get eventual reimbursement, the person might not have cash flow to pay upfront. Also, people will be burdened with the cash balance requirements even with predictable hospitalizations: say, child birth and elective surgery.

This whole change will be an additional burden on employees and senior citizens.

Fuel Price Hike

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010

The much talked about fuel price hike is not implemented on Monday. Anticipating the hike, most fuel pumps in the city are fully packed, creating a bit of traffic headaches. Now they are eased a bit.

MagicalRide @ TreasureHouse

Tuesday, April 13th, 2010

Surya is a patron of TreasureHouse, the library and experience house. They are conducting a summer reading program called Magical Ride from April 15th to May 30th. This is a very good program for kids during summer vacation. They also have a set of summer workshops. More details here: http://www.treasurehouse.in/summerWorkShopsList.jsp

Godavari

Wednesday, January 20th, 2010

We headed to Godavari River (near Chinchinada) on 11th Jan. It is a very short trip to see the cottages there. Kids spent some time in the breeze and by wetting their feet in the river. The boat rides are too expensive and we backed out from that. Here are a few pics with the backdrop of Godavari river and greenery on the banks.

Godavari_2010_01

Test Drive - Mahindra Xylo

Monday, December 21st, 2009

I test drove Mahindra Xylo over the weekend. Let me give the ugly details first:

  • Car’s interiors (plastics) are really cheap.
  • Luggage space is not up to the mark. Okay, but not good enough.
  • Looks are not good.
  • No Airbags
  • Gear shift is not smooth (even on the test vehicle that has 7.7K km on that). Clutch needs to be really floored.

Now let me enumerate the positives:

  • Pickup is nice even in city traffic conditions
  • Good turning radius. Smooth U turn at a decent 25KMPH (right in front of KBR park, at LV Prasad Eye Institute)
  • Seating space is really good. Outscores Toyota Innova. Especially the third row
  • Features are better (except for the lack of airbags)
  • Rate is good, after the end-of-the year offers.

I would have taken this vehicle if they could deliver it before the end of the month. However, there is no stock for the specific model/color (the one with ABS) I am looking for. So I am backing out.

Missing Hyderabad 10k Run 2009

Sunday, November 22nd, 2009

Today is Hyderabad 10K Run. We really enjoyed last year’s run. This year, due to the after effects of viral fever, my wrists and ankles are not back to good condition yet. So I stayed away from the run this year. Spurthi headed there with her schoolmates though. Sitting home, I am missing the run very much.

Smart Speedbumps

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

I love the idea of these retractable speed bumps. If your vehicle is slow enough, it flattens under the weight of the vehicle. If the vehicle is too fast, then it continues to be a speed bump.

My thoughts: If the weight of the vehicle is low (think about a two wheeler) then I am not sure if the bump flattens as expected at the stipulated speed.