The Webbie

It was bad. Really BAD. One feels the same as I did, when all that happens to one on a particular day goes against him/her.

I first broke a gift I’d bought for someone, followed by an incident that asked me to forget about my MP3 player.

I’d never ever thought that I would be losing my MP3 player in such a manner.

Yaar player kharaab ho jaye to bhi dil pe itni nahi lagti jitni iske baad lagi

I’d taken a local from Dadar, which was fairly crowded, and was standing on the gate, really enjoying the music that my Transcend was churning. Immediately after the train left Santacruz and got into the dark zone, something hit my hand and I could see my player flying away from me with my own eyes but could do nothing about it.

The person standing in front of me suggested me to lodge a police complaint. OK, I thought, I’ll go to Santacruz and do something. I got down at Vile Parle and the same guy who’d suggested me to complaint got down with me. He told me that there were two people whom he saw. I was surprised to hear that and we first went to the police on Vile Parle station, who redirected us to the Bandra railway police station.

This was the harshest part - the police in Bandra.
These guys cared a heck and they asked me stupid crap like why is engineering 4 years long, how come your left hand was outside, etc. They shooed away the gentleman who’d accompanied me leaving his friend waiting. They even went to the extent of saying that I’d not lost my player & we were just pretending and also checked my bag.

Eventually, they didn’t even write an official complaint. They just took my name, address & telephone no. on a piece of paper and told me that they would contact me, if required, or if they got my player(which I doubt whether they’ll even think about tracing).

This was my first such experience, and same for the guy who helped me out. Do you think any one of us is ever going to expect anything better from the police the next time we face something similar?

Since this is what one gets by approaching people who have been supposedly appointed to protect the common man, do you think people should be approaching them for help, because they put you in more trouble by making you feel like a petty criminal, rather than sorting things out for you.

Thanks Tanveer, for all the help that you extended.

It’s been a long time since I read a book. I had started reading The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari during my last journey to Kolkata, but couldn’t sustain to reading it because I found it too unrealistic and boring - a tremendously successful lawyer at the peak of his career suddenly abandoning all the wealth and assets that he had, and travelling into the Himalayas to reform himself.

I already wrote about my so-very-obvious fascination with Google. And this fascination has got me to read at a time when I never do, i.e. until i’m not travelling a long distance. You must have already guessed the book that I’m reading. It is none other than The Google Story by David Vise.

The curiosity to know more about Google has got me to begin with reading one of the best books about Google that must have been published till date. And I bet, it’s going to be an amazing experience reading through the story of Sergey Binn and Larry Page innovating a tool that empowers billions of people to find what they want, with a click of their mouse.

What did you expect; a post about some delicacy that I relish???
Nopes!!! Not at all. This is in no way related to food.

Delicious, found online at http://del.icio.us/, is one of the most widely used Social Bookmarking Sites and it is the one I’m currently using. It’ll let you bookmark all the sites that you would like to get back to and tag them with appropriate keywords. So, begin storing all websites that are relevant to you or you would like to share with your friends or the whole of the internet.

My bookmarks can be found at http://del.icio.us/miteshashar

Another Social Bookmarking Website that I have heard about and liked the features, is StumbleUpon. I’m looking forward to get an account there.

BarCamps are really interactive events that amazingly let you share as well as learn a lot with each other.

Having attended three BarCamps which extended my knowledge and were thoroughly enjoyable, letting me meet so many new people and technologies, I am very disappointed that I will not be able to make it to Pune this Saturday on the 7th of July, 2007.

Anywayz, if you have never attended a BarCamp, I bet this one is going to really mesmerise you because it has already got around 175 registrations, which ensures a very active interaction among all attendees. It has thus been divided into two tracks, and if you can prepare in these two days, you may even want to get there and present a session on some Interesting Topic. Still wondering?? Get on to http://barcamp.org/BarCampPune3

Google simply rocks. I am an avid Google fan and just love the plethora of services that they provide all of us with. Whether you are a dancer or a detective or a plumber or a SOHO Businessman or an IT Professional or a doctor or a webbie, you are bound to visit Google if you are on the Web. Google has evolved from just a search engine to “The Lord of the Internet” and has never looked back since the launch of Adwords and Adsense, the pillars that build up their powerful advertisement system, now used by thousands of people all around the world.

Google has clearly hit the bull’s eye with their simple and textual, but yet, highly effective interfaces, may it be their Search, or the revolutionary Gmail or their text advertisement concept.

Bottomline: Simplicity is always bound to work until you effectively present what you want to, in the minimal amount of space.

While Google continues to make our lives easier, if you want to explore the vast collection of Google services, just get on to their homepage and click the more>> link. Apart from all the other superb services, you’ll find a link to Google Labs. You’ll find all the Experimental projects Google is currently working on right here for the visitors to check out. Google Labs graduates include Notebook, Google Docs, Google Video, iGoogle and so many other cool tools.

So, if you gotta enhance your experience on the Internet, I bet the best way do it is by using Google’s services to the maximum possible extent that you can. Any takers??