Raju Alluri’s Personal Blog

Bought audio CD of Jhummandi Naadam last week. This album occupied the commute listening spot (actually, shared the space with Subhapradam) for the last many days. Almost every song in this album brings a smile on my face - smile resulting from the thought of popular local dish, Khichdi. Not really the dictionary meaning of Khichdi, but the pop culture variant of it - a mishmash. This album is a hodge-podge of earlier albums of K. Raghavendra Rao, Keeravani and Mohanbabu. Gets a grain or lentil from albums like Major Chandrakanth, Allari Mogudu, Allari Premikudu, Alludugaru, Pelli Sandadi, etc.

Naturally, the album bloats to 9 songs and offers a wide range: patriotic to mass; folk to rap; decent to masala. As with any Keeravani album, almost all songs are rewindable and hummable. This album is definitely worth buying. After a long time, S. P. Balu feasts the ears. However, his songs in the other album Subhapradam are of higher grade. More on that album later.

Took a new BSNL pre-paid cell ohone connection. It took me 10 minutes to get the SIM card from our local BSNL office. Most of that time is spent on the number selection - amongst the not so good choices. The phone became active within one hour or so. That is really fast…

Once the phone is active, I got it topped up with VennelaPlus connection and additional money top up. The basic connection cost turned out to be very cheap: Rs 20 for the phone activation and Rs 80 for VennelaPlus service plan. That is cheap!

This phone is used as a floating device for rest of the members of the family.

Surya is back to school this week after his summer break. Getting adjusted to the hectic morning schedules now.

Today I spent some time on my commute car, the Maruti-800. Its wheels are out of balance and out of alignment. Due to that, one of the tire has odd wear-out. Got a few parts fixed and then got the wheel balancing and wheel alignment done. It took a lot of time to get these done…

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.

Spurthi started going to college starting this week. Monday is a short day for her at college: only two hours. From today, it is going to be full day at college for her. That also means she is taking packed lunch (regularly) for the first time in about a decade. She used to get lunch at school while she is at Meridian.

We did go to the college and took a stock of the logistics on Saturday. Need to visit her college one more time in the next couple of days.

Last couple of weeks are a little different at work. Pulled up the sleeves and got my hands dirty on Solaris Containers, Configuration capture scripts on Linux, NATing rules on firewalls and a few other related items.

Spurthi asked for a new cell phone as her college-going gift. She did some research and finally zeroed in on Samsung Corby Mate. She didn’t want to go for a touch screen one and rather wanted something that is more texting/SMS friendly. Samsung Mate seems to be a good choice for her requirements.

Spurthi’s shopping process made an interesting side effect. Latha took Spurthi around for shopping during the weekend and in that process, she decided to change her phone too. Being married for about 18 years, I know when not to question certain decisions . Latha liked Corby Pop first, but later shifted to Samsung Corby Colors.

So we bought these two phones on Wednesday night and Spurthi and Latha are busy with setting up their new phones. Obviously, the first tasks are to import the contacts and music!