New Delhi to Host Formula One Race in 2009

This just in  .. !

India will host its first Formula One race, in 2009, the Indian Olympic Association said Thursday. A deal has been signed with the sport’s commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone to hold the race in the capital New Delhi, IOA president Suresh Kalmadi said.

“We have received a letter in this regard from Bernie Ecclestone, CEO of Formula One,” Kalmadi told reporters. “The IOA will be the promoter, the first event of which will be held in 2009.”

Ecclestone has said in the past year that India was one of the future markets for motor sport after India’s Narain Karthikeyan drove for Jordan in the 2005 season. “India is a country that is probably going to grow quicker than China,” Ecclestone said in London in November.

The IOA will build a F1 track and a brand new stadium in New Delhi in time to hold the race, Kalmadi said. New Delhi is also due to host the Commonwealth Games in 2010.

Source

Great news ..!! I hope they build a track like Monaco .. Street racing will be sooo cool.. And I hope we have a good driver to represent India in the race by then .. There arent many promising candidates though ..

… .. I am so excited .. 😀

Windows Live Mail reveiwed

Lately I’ve been beta testing Windows Live Mail Desktop Beta (what’s with Microsoft and long names ..? And DOS didn’t use to support long filenames .. 😛 ) .. It is an email client which is supposed to replace Outlook Express and shouldnt be confused with Windows Live Mail which is now Windows Live Hotmail (phew … ). Last week Microsoft released a new version of WLMD and renamed it Windows Live Mail . Its still in beta and still I am using it as my default email client. Here is a short review of my experience with WLM:

Some great things about Windows Live Mail:

Interface : First impression is the last(ing) impression .. And WLM scores huge here .. Right from its splash screen, the interface rocks. Outlook 2003 like interface combined with a Vista like look and feel makes it look very appealing. It seems like Microsoft have now understood the value of eye candy plus ease of use in their applications. Filters like Unread Mails, Unread Mails from my contacts makes life so easy.

Supports Hotmail: Now you can check Hotmail (ugh .. Windows Live Hotmail ) using Windows Live Mail. If you are like me who lost the email client support on your Hotmail account some years ago, here is a good news for you .. WLM lets you check your Hotmail account without any subscription involved. I think Microsoft has now changed the strategy and allowed httpmail access to WLH because every other email service is offering it. Before using WLM,I was logging into Hotmail account in three or four weeks .. Now I check it daily ..

Lightweight : Although it sports Outlook like looks and Thunderbird like spam catching capabilities, its very light weight on system. It boots in 2 3 seconds and doesnt put any load on memory.

Integrated Feed reader: This is another feature that hooked me onto this proggy .. I usually check my feeds after I check my email and my email client having RSS capabilities stopped me looking for another RSS clients. The feed reader fits seamlessly in the interface and have all the options that I look for : When I click on links, my default browser opens ( I hate those rss readers which show the link in their own integrated browser).

Security features: Microsoft have improved so much on this front. The spam filter works great and catches most of the spam that I receive. It also checks for phishing messages and alerts when a suspect phishing messages is received. WLM is better in catching phishing messages in comparison to Thunderbird which use to think every mail I receive is a phishing scam.

Integrated blogging and contacts : If you have Live Space account, you can directly post entries to your Live Space from inside WLM. The contacts are synchronized with your MSN / Live contacts and you can choose to receive contact updates (great feature) ..

No nagware : One thing I used to hate about Outlook express was it combined Windows Messenger, MSN Messenger with it . .. And whenever I check my mail, I am automatically signed in to messenger service. And you couldnt exit messenger when Outlook Express was running as it would say “Other programs are using it “. Windows Live Messenger is supported in WLM but it doesnt start by itself nor it is needed when you have to check your contacts. There are no advertisements in the client also .. and it wont add any signature in your outgoing mail like other free / adware email clients. It is reported that the final version will also be advertisement free ..

Some not so great things about Windows Live Mail :

Feed Management : Definitely needs improvement. When you click on Add a Feed, it doesnt automatically pastes the link from your clipboard to add link textbox. Another thing is I dont see any option to make this program my default rss reader.

Blogging : I cant change my blogging platform from Live Spaces to any other services .. So this blogging link is practically useless to me as I dont use Live Spaces…

Cant Import Export Contacts : Thats the worst of things I didnt like .. As contacts are stored on Live server, you cannot directly import or export them .. Too bad if you want to import your Outlook contacts to WLM ..

Cant Import Export Message rules : So if you are going to format your system, you are going to lose all your email filters as there is no option to import or export them .. Blah ..

Cant define my own Search Folders : There are some predefined Search Folders and you cannot edit them .. Either you create some filters and redirect your mails to a folder and then use Search Folders with them .. duh .. Improvement needed here too ..

Conclusion :

Windows Live Mails looks like a very promising application to me .. If they take care of some quirks here and there, and include support for other blogging platforms, this is going to become the best free email client over there..

Tulsi dies in a car crash ..!!

Do not get all worked up .. Smriti Irani isnt dead .. nor is Kekta Kapoor .. So all saas bahu haters still have a bone of contention .. 😛 .. The news here is Tulsi ( Kyunki Saas bhi 40 years tak bahu thi fame ) is gonna die in a car crash .. And yes .. no points for guessing that she’s gonna come back again .. 😛 .. Here is the official word from horse ( mane’s ) mouth .. :

After some time, a new character will enter the show as Tulsi. Disbelief and confusion will reign, later everyone will know that Tulsi had undergone a plastic surgery after the accident. Supposedly Gautami Kapoor has been finalized as the new Tulsi.

Star Plus have also organized an opinion poll on who is gonna replace Smriti Irani in KSBKT .. The choices are Padmini Kolhapuri (porn star of yesteryears .. then featured in some great movies like “Woh Saat Din” ) .. or someone called Gautami Kapoor ( duh .. I dont watch much TV so I dunno if she’s a tv actress or something ..) .. Whack …

Yesterday I got a nightmare that Smriti Irani after leaving Saas bhi kabhi bahu thi is gonna make a show called “Kyunki bahu bhi kabhi saas hogi” and will air it on Sony clashing the time with KSBKBT … Man what this information and broadcast ministry people are doing ..? Banning FTV and AXN which are nice eye candy channels but not banning this BS programs which are mental torture ..

Yaawn .. Why did I even write this post ..? I hate soap operas .. :-w

So its been a year ..

Warning: This post can be a monologue. ..

The opening lines of every post are the most difficult ones to think .. How to write something that the reader will find interesting and captures the theme of the entry .. ? Well .. For this particular post, I couldnt think of any such opening so here it goes ..

It all started a year ago when I arrived in this city of dreams called Bombay ( I still call it Bombay) with many dreams and even more hopes in my heart… It was raining heavily and I was all wet when I somehow managed to find out the SBI guest house (where my friend Nisheet had already booked a room) .. We chatted about how our next day which was going to be our reporting to the job was going to be and how life would be after that ..

The next day was even more interesting .. We found out that we’ll be posted for the rest of our service in Bombay itself (or if you are lucky you’ll get a foreign posting afterwards .. ) .. We were allotted departments and roles… We had our first lunch in the Officer’s mess (why is it called Officer’s Mess ? ) and then went to our respective departments for introductions and all .. I still remember one of my senior told us “Now with what qualifications or experience you have come with doesnt matter ..What you can give to the bank will matter the most .. ” I still believe in those words .. Anyway .. too many things happened in the first day and I cant write all of them here .. We were given temporary accomodation in guest house till our flats were ready .. (Getting listed in guest house was another great experience) ..

So .. I moved into a new room in guest house and it turned out it was to be shared with three more guys .. Three guys literally from three corners of India .. Man those guest house days were some very well spent days of my life .. As I stroll down memory lane, I remember listening to FM and chatting till late night .. Learning Malayalam .. or Manipuri .. 😀 .. Having dinner together .. Racing in morning to get the bathroom .. Getting others late for office ..:D .. Sleeping in boring training sessions .. Waiting for the rains to stop which poured as if its the end of world ..

Earlier days were spent in shock and awe .. Being so far from family and friends was a new experience for me (and a very tough one).. Slowly official work started to fill this void. .. Earlier it was feeling important .. than feeling responsible .. sometimes feeling exhausted .. Then I got my first salary .. Earning money was not a new thing for me but now I had to manage my living all by myself .. Seems I am doing pretty good … A major part of our salary used to goto mobile bills .. And eating those horrible food at mess .. And as you are expected to work at office, chat protocols were blocked and most timepass websites were also blocked .. So that ended my Orkut addiction .. Finding out proxy sites to bypass the restrictions and finding out new new ways to access blocked site ..  It was nice experimenting with our newly found independence ..

So this year brought many ups and downs in my life .. It highlights again that life is a constant learning process .. and I am still learning .. and I am still coping .. I’ve made so many friends here and who made living here all alone a bit easier for me .. Thanks to everyone just for being there for me ..

Battybhai JAIIB

Circuit: Bhai, apnay ko chaar mahinay mein Tamil sikhna padega… Kuch upaay batao ..?
Bhai : Tamil kyun, aur yeh chaar mahinay ka kya chakkar hai ?
Circuit: Meinay ek Tamil baccha adopt kiya hai, aur woh chaar mahinay mein bolne lagega.

😛 .. Something similar was my case when I joined this bank some time back .. As a techie who knew nothing about banking and accounts .. And to be posted in the elite department of foreign offices necessited I learn all the banking related stuff .. So I started .. And now I can say I know atleast something about banking and operations ..

Anyway … This entry was about JAIIB .. Though it was a tough challenge to test my new acquired skills but with some not so great preperations and some great help from my friends ( Andy , Thaslim ) , I was able to clear the examination with respectable marks…

While I was preparing for the exam, I found that there werent any study material to be found on the net on JAIIB , so I’ve decided I’ll put some material collected by me on this site .. So if you are preparing for the JAIIB, then watch this space .. I’ll upload the material soon ..

Till then .. I am gonna enjoy an extra increment .. 😛 .. And prepare for CAIIB .. And search for my Chinki .. 😀

Spiderman is black .. !

Nice title eh ..?

Soooo… Have I started writing movie reviews too ..?? Naah … Just wanted to write this one .. (am in some mood today .. ) ..

I’ve never been a big fan of Spiderman .. But this movie interested me because of its tagline “The greatest battle lies … within”  ..  The plot seemed so Spiderman will battle with his alter ego this time .. And then there was Venom .. I am sure people read / watch superheroes because of their villains .. Venom is the best (or worst) villain that Spiderman has got .. so all this made Spiderman 3 a must watch for me and I decided to inaugrate the new Adlabs opened in Palm Beach Galleria here ..

Now to the movie .. The movie opens nicely and has some very good special effects .. The story starts swiftly but starts to drag when our Peter Parker does a la Anakin Skywalker and turns to the dark side.. Some forty five minutes of the movie are very boring and pointless but there are some funny moments too .. I loved the scene where J J Jameson is reminded about his blood pressure .. 😀 .. And then there is this french restaurant scene .. that was great .. Actions scenes are the strongest point of this movie .. So you should watch this movie for some great action scenes and some funny moments …

Umm.. rating ..? Around 3 out of 5 ..