tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-225518172024-02-19T06:05:43.336-08:00Murtaza Ghiya . COMThis is a place where I open up and express my views and feelings. Its a place for discussions for me!Murtaza Ghiyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12726856723000712288noreply@blogger.comBlogger52125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22551817.post-20303968867064614642016-03-28T18:34:00.001-07:002016-03-28T18:34:23.530-07:00Hello there!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Writing a post exactly after 2 years. The last 2 years went by pretty fast and was too busy to post something here... Now, I am a little relaxed. I quit my job at Amazon and currently working at Microsoft. Yes, finally!<br />
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Will try to post more frequently going forward.</div>
Murtaza Ghiyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12726856723000712288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22551817.post-19701236047177518382014-03-06T09:35:00.003-08:002014-03-06T09:43:20.593-08:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Life @ Amazon</h2>
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Updates after a very long time. I currently work at Amazon at their Headquarters in Seattle. I interviewed with them in February 2013 and got an offer to move to Seattle in March 2013. They got my visa done in 2013. Moved to the states in September and started working for Amazon in October. Its been 5 months since I joined Amazon and it has been a roller coaster ride.</div>
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Had read a lot of reviews of former employees that working at Amazon can get really intense and work life balance can be unbalanced. But, luckily I have had a different story to tell. Work wise, it is really intense with me handling multiple things at the same time. Context switching sometimes becomes difficult but I am pretty used to that now with all these years of experience. There are lot of new things I learnt and am still ramping up to the whole process. Every team here is different and operates like a startup.</div>
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Well stay tuned and hear from me in the near future how times goes working here.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><i>Christmas tree created using filing cabinets</i></b> :D</span></div>
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Murtaza Ghiyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12726856723000712288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22551817.post-66618897581881419492013-08-28T04:24:00.000-07:002013-08-28T04:26:28.665-07:00Interviewing with Microsoft!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I have had the opportunity to interview with a lot of great companies including Symantec, Google and Adobe but the most special one will always be the one at Microsoft. Mostly because of the events that happened before and during the interview.<br />
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<b>Prelude:</b> Sometime in May 2011, I applied to various jobs on their careers website. Got a mail from an HR person asking me some information and inviting me for a telephonic screen. Had telephonic interviews, two of them to be precise with two different teams. One of them decided not to move ahead and the other manager gave me a green signal.<br />
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<b>Shock:</b> Then the HR person emailed me saying that they wanted to invite me for on-site interviews. I was a little surprised and confused both at the same time. On asking again, it was clarified that they wanted me to fly to their Redmond headquarters for the next set of interviews! I was in shock. Because I had never been to the US nor had a visa. In fact not been out of the country ever..<br />
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Tried to control my excitement and tell them that I would need a visa to travel to the United States. But the HR person, unaware of the whole thing assumed that I can travel right away! In fact she even got my tickets for a few weeks later booked. It was then I had to tell her that its not possible for me to travel without a visa and they will need to sponsor my visa along with some invite letters.<br />
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<b>Visa process:</b> Had to understand the visa process to plan my travel. Had to get a B1/B2 visa for such short travels. Understood the whole process by looking up on google for various websites. Asked for the appropriate letters to be couriered right away. After getting the letters, filled up the online form for the visa, paid the visa fees through HDFC bank (old process-the process has changed now), scheduled an appointment for 20th July 2011. By this time, MS had already booked my flight tickets for 24th July early morning so as to reach Seattle on 24th July afternoon (it is fascinating to leave on the same date and reach on the same date when traveling westwards but adding up days when traveling the other way :)) Had my interview on 20th July which was a 30 minutes job. The interview was held at the old location near Mahalaxmi temple, Mumbai. The embassy has now moved to Bandra Kurla Complex. Cleared the interview and my visa was approved. Moment of joy and celebration :)<br />
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Now the wait for the passport since I had to leave for the airport from Pune on 23rd evening itself to catch the flight for 24th early morning. Had booked a cab for 23rd evening. The visa had not arrived till 22nd evening and I had to inform the HR person that the trip could get cancelled if the passport does not arrive. Luckily the status on the VFS site had changed that night indicating that the passport was dispatched through FedEx.Waited for the passport the whole day on Saturday 23rd July and my cab was booked for 6:30 pm to leave from home. No sign of the passport till afternoon. Got the FedEx support number and called them to ask where my shipment was. They assured to me it would be delivered by late afternoon. And then at 5 pm the passport arrived just in time for me to leave.<br />
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<b>Travel:</b> Left at 6:30 for Mumbai airport and reached a little late by 12 midnight. I was not keeping well and that had aggravated due to the fear of traveling all alone and for the first time. It was my first trip to the US and my first trip outside the country. Cleared the immigration and reached the check-in desk. Check in to the flight just in time. Since I was a little late, the flight was already packed and there was no space in the overhead compartment.<br />
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The flight was through Amsterdam and reached there after a long flight. Had my connecting flight in 2 hours and before boarding the aircraft, the guys there were asking questions as if I have entered America. Too much security. Showed them my invite letter and then they let me on the flight. After a long flight, reached Seattle and the immigration formalities were pretty smooth. Got out of the airport and tried searching for my friend. On not seeing him, I was feeling weird since I did not know how to get to the hotel. Basically I was too scared on the first trip. My friend arrived in a few minutes and we left for the hotel. On the way we had to pick up the rental car that MS had booked for me. Picked the car and dropped it at the hotel. Was staying at Hotel Marriott near Redmond town center. <br />
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<b>Stay:</b> The hotel was nice and comfy and had a nice restaurant. All the meals were on MS in the restaurant. Had free wifi too. Contacted my family through way2sms by sending sms to them. No whatsapp at that time. Looked out side the window and the streets looked deserted on a beautiful sunny sunday afternoon!<br />
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Called up another friend who came to meet me with some home made food and energy bars. Took me to his place and walk around the hotel to know some places. We also went to a departmental store to buy toothpaste :D He dropped me back to the hotel and just kept telling me not to sleep till it is late evening otherwise my next day would be screwed. After he left, I just couldn't control my sleep and went off to sleep after various attempts to keep awake. My eyes opened only to realize that it was 8 pm. Got ready and walked out of the hotel for some dinner options. the hotel's restaurant did not have much for my liking. Came across a Pakistani restaurant by the name Shalimar. It was a departmental store cum eating corner. Had a chicken gravy with naan and some mango lassi. The food was nice. Then chit chatted with the owner who could speak hindi and told him I was from India. Left the place and reached the hotel room. Watched tv for some time and then slept only to wake up at 5 in the morning. My eyes just opened and could not sleep after that. Tried to study some books that I had carried and pass time till it was 7. Walked down to the restaurant for some breakfast. They had an American breakfast buffet. Had breakfast and went back to the room. Had a shower, got dressed up and walked down after my friend had arrived. He dropped me off to the correct building where I was to meet my HR person. Met up with her, she gave me some MS branded pens and a diary for anything to write. Then she booked an interoffice cab for both of us to take me to the office where the dev team sits. The car arrived right on time. MS uses inter office shuttles called as Inter-connector for employees to go to any building from the current one. These are usually hybrid cars that run on batteries like a Toyota Prius. For that one needs to let the receptionist know and she will tell you the exact time the car will arrive outside. And mind you they are very punctual. Microsoft does not have a bounded campus but instead they own hundreds of different building in Redmond with public roads passing in between. We were dropped at the correct office where the HR person escorted me to the reception. She informed the first guy was to pick me up from the reception area.<br />
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<b>Interviews: </b>My interview was scheduled at 9 am on 25th July 2011. I will not talk much about the content of the interview but the style that MS follows, from what I could understand. They are not looking at certain technology or language to solve problems. They are not looking at very precise details. All I could understand from the interview is that they are looking at the approach you take to solve problems thrown at you. How do you design a solution for that problem? What questions do you ask to understand the abstract problem statement better.<br />
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I had about 4 technical interviews and a fifth one which was more on behavioral aspects. The fifth one was with a very senior person. The third person even took me for lunch at the Microsoft cafeteria. MS doesn't offer free lunch. But they have a live cafeteria where the chef can make something for you on the fly. They do have drinks that are free, so you can drink sodas, colas, juices, coffee, etc. whole day long. I chose to pick up a bottle of juice and just had water the whole day. By the time I was doing my 4th interview with the same person who had interviewed me on phone, I was completely drenched due to the jet lag and feeling terribly sleepy. I somehow managed to do that interview but I know I made a lot of mistakes. The 4th guy asked me to leave and when I was leaving, the lady at the reception informed me that one more person would like to meet you. That was the *very senior guy*. He asked me various personality related questions on how I would deal with certain situations. After that he dropped me at the reception and thanked me for coming all the way from India to interview. Called up my friend from the reception, who told me to take the shuttle to his building. Asked the reception for the same and she booked me for a shuttle. The shuttle dropped me where my friend was waiting. I described to him about the whole process and he told me that if I met with the fifth guy, my chances were pretty high.<br />
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<b>Sightseeing:</b> After the interviews, my friend took me around the town and showed me some places. He took me to Alki beach and showed me the Seattle skyline. Clicked some pictures and since I was very tired, I asked him to drop me to my hotel. Reached my room and spent some time watching tv. I was way more relaxed and dying to go back home. I was missing my family like anything. Got down to the hotel's restaurant for dinner and had a burger and juice. Walked back up and had a nice sleep. Had my flight the next day afternoon.<br />
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<b>Return:</b> Return flight was on 26th July afternoon. Got up the next morning, had breakfast, dressed up and raring to go. Checked out around 9 and left for the airport with my friend. Had to also drop the rental car back at the same place. The car just kept lying in the parking for 2 days :( Dropped the car and left for the airport. Reached the airport and bid farewell to my friend. Got inside and cleared the security checks and reached the waiting area. Roamed around on the airport since I had a lot of free time and even bought some chocolates to carry back home. Checked in to my flight and the return flight was also through Amsterdam. Pretty uneventful flight. Spent my time watching various movies and eating (that's all that you can do :)). Reached Mumbai airport early morning on 28th July and my family had come to pick me up in my car at the airport. Met with y family and my son. Was very happy to be with them and that the whole trip was over.<br />
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<b>Result:</b> Well I did not get the job but I am thankful to MS for sponsoring my first trip to the US and giving me an opportunity to interview with them. Some may ask, why I took so much time to write this article? Well, I just couldn't find enough time to sit and write such a long post. Now was just the right time, so wrote it :)</div>
Murtaza Ghiyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12726856723000712288noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22551817.post-23506665137246169782013-07-17T00:01:00.000-07:002013-09-06T03:30:51.838-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b>Long time, to be precise more than 2 years...</b><br />
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Well, I have been really busy with a lot of stuff in the last 2 years which has kept me away from blogging. Have traveled to the US 3 times in the last 2 years, a trip to Iran and Iraq!, working on unreleased Windows versions, 3 patents applied for, etc.A collage that I created.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirDjWNW3na0otX-5uWuokRXLFMCxWm_b4a7usN3d08ZJpkb8aaI3Qpvd4eYitl7pacQckyrocFhVkQUrBN29JKcXIHmfwj4bzNSwpSVlUmZvZg8sa5JIormCRWx48Rbkv5_ne_/s1600/Karbala_Najaf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="456" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirDjWNW3na0otX-5uWuokRXLFMCxWm_b4a7usN3d08ZJpkb8aaI3Qpvd4eYitl7pacQckyrocFhVkQUrBN29JKcXIHmfwj4bzNSwpSVlUmZvZg8sa5JIormCRWx48Rbkv5_ne_/s640/Karbala_Najaf.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Trip to Iran - Iraq!</b></td></tr>
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Murtaza Ghiyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12726856723000712288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22551817.post-84051498886967245302011-01-11T00:15:00.000-08:002013-07-16T23:33:38.533-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: 180%; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Old Love, New Form!</span></span><br />
For everyone wondering what the title means, this story is about my old love since childhood. Was lying with me unused since some years and it was high time I restored it. Yes, am talking about my 1991 Yamaha RX100. Bought the bike in Feb 2006 and ripped it hard all this time and finally felt that the bike was giving up. So thought of giving it a new life, a new form :)<br />
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Now, a little comparo pics:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0PWVYwffGn6ERRUc5OvxyDHpDtqi-RZDG5gjY_B-GNX36G-5NYlcMQWX2TVdIQyBuU8dH_OCoBxZAr1K1akK8m89omd7dh97sHpdTJ_Y0DkM11_JZBU7KEmp9ArbqwHqUidP2/s1600/P1090453.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5560845353430185154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0PWVYwffGn6ERRUc5OvxyDHpDtqi-RZDG5gjY_B-GNX36G-5NYlcMQWX2TVdIQyBuU8dH_OCoBxZAr1K1akK8m89omd7dh97sHpdTJ_Y0DkM11_JZBU7KEmp9ArbqwHqUidP2/s320/P1090453.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 240px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 320px;" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_G3ZSXxQmAzrYRHp0PXByVS_6N6ZpU-O7ZxMVpNnXqNBxjChpvvQ-uZEOt7JSm83o785iKs3wmjlb33eCjBT3p1nnrZUBsFDRUYYXtMXPqJUuoCuuBkb5_0tfpArtVkdWE3dh/s1600/P1100065.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5560845415899484418" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_G3ZSXxQmAzrYRHp0PXByVS_6N6ZpU-O7ZxMVpNnXqNBxjChpvvQ-uZEOt7JSm83o785iKs3wmjlb33eCjBT3p1nnrZUBsFDRUYYXtMXPqJUuoCuuBkb5_0tfpArtVkdWE3dh/s320/P1100065.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 240px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE8amCJob7ihOH6iunflTo-TPAyfpZEt7aRUT91rrCIpg7D3gdxsAsFgcanWG60GBDRv-gBPHfUxdlVNxWOo5J7oX9CMj_rMNaglY0RWG_gMWaK_A_NHDs1_FVH0pKSno0Cgbi/s1600/P1090454.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5560845696333157698" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE8amCJob7ihOH6iunflTo-TPAyfpZEt7aRUT91rrCIpg7D3gdxsAsFgcanWG60GBDRv-gBPHfUxdlVNxWOo5J7oX9CMj_rMNaglY0RWG_gMWaK_A_NHDs1_FVH0pKSno0Cgbi/s320/P1090454.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 240px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 320px;" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvraJ665xk-pFksVwrWd6HBKffbWXXCTmCWramlZSPfbzBIUmXc_3hipHdRwRG0soUrkbsSKC6QAfQzNH2szENFREg4NxeOqxWKBoj7Y2HWuSrxwCMTic3hoVDuXnpdeql8q7O/s1600/P1100069.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5560845873525555474" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvraJ665xk-pFksVwrWd6HBKffbWXXCTmCWramlZSPfbzBIUmXc_3hipHdRwRG0soUrkbsSKC6QAfQzNH2szENFREg4NxeOqxWKBoj7Y2HWuSrxwCMTic3hoVDuXnpdeql8q7O/s320/P1100069.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 240px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUIpyt3IOyBkimnWNDHgurtPQH_YN28mjNwXpvzVLlP9CwFUId7U0DqsVz3agR-sChWP-1yVZX6_FqTLzVkGKLNLfRqJwXmkhVpSRTEJuxGImy8_ynR9AGx-JUiAlV2ElRbZDz/s1600/P1090450.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5560846024319678146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUIpyt3IOyBkimnWNDHgurtPQH_YN28mjNwXpvzVLlP9CwFUId7U0DqsVz3agR-sChWP-1yVZX6_FqTLzVkGKLNLfRqJwXmkhVpSRTEJuxGImy8_ynR9AGx-JUiAlV2ElRbZDz/s320/P1090450.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 240px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 320px;" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUpzVpKAlLXSa1Y1M0UhbxdCS7ECJoQIKbcRRonmUymtZH0lsXqE6pqFeFyaIrPuG2QgGA7RwY19pChbXx4M37Ktzt_lNblfLYWP8ioNhJ30t6C83kjx3lV188JBRUF8S7yIYe/s1600/P1100072.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5560846103751079170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUpzVpKAlLXSa1Y1M0UhbxdCS7ECJoQIKbcRRonmUymtZH0lsXqE6pqFeFyaIrPuG2QgGA7RwY19pChbXx4M37Ktzt_lNblfLYWP8ioNhJ30t6C83kjx3lV188JBRUF8S7yIYe/s320/P1100072.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 240px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
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Some in-process pics:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilv1rpOrWPDU3naDKA8J6OOC_Or4Emncn5VlnBqUN22ZYtYyfzU5siWaDl5cv2-SQ3S6Fb6ZmbX9AqSioi3YYjfaA0EYhWhRx3-Ms3m-93MHhZkm-IWWRm6_1l6AfPbyYIX75D/s1600/P1090457.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5560846480560241314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilv1rpOrWPDU3naDKA8J6OOC_Or4Emncn5VlnBqUN22ZYtYyfzU5siWaDl5cv2-SQ3S6Fb6ZmbX9AqSioi3YYjfaA0EYhWhRx3-Ms3m-93MHhZkm-IWWRm6_1l6AfPbyYIX75D/s320/P1090457.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 240px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 320px;" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWUVklZlcaBisYqAQLPARskGbhtHvnGgQrW-FwCBbL3GndtBXeXxrJg9e6lkmBDyX0Bo4nCEfYMu5S8nSIDkS_nS-2_wJU30_KEy7At0cofi_JhJADJYYW4u_TkeblAMDtlShb/s1600/P1090456.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5560846539159148386" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWUVklZlcaBisYqAQLPARskGbhtHvnGgQrW-FwCBbL3GndtBXeXxrJg9e6lkmBDyX0Bo4nCEfYMu5S8nSIDkS_nS-2_wJU30_KEy7At0cofi_JhJADJYYW4u_TkeblAMDtlShb/s320/P1090456.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 240px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI0LH0nUHmcgcLRLSQf0Ydy3bwCkxO8Wo-pUVAGrSj1e4j_R8IQZor12YSsCSVLGmjXNkuwTAEsTcdfB3L3lrN7yML6fs2bOlWypwW5945Aomwvw4B1K2rrAbIWcYQ8gIS-wNV/s1600/P1090455.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5560846714493031298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI0LH0nUHmcgcLRLSQf0Ydy3bwCkxO8Wo-pUVAGrSj1e4j_R8IQZor12YSsCSVLGmjXNkuwTAEsTcdfB3L3lrN7yML6fs2bOlWypwW5945Aomwvw4B1K2rrAbIWcYQ8gIS-wNV/s320/P1090455.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 240px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 320px;" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLyO8UA0mi3x0fXhg0wnA9NEKDIzfV7ry3r3vHHyGMCGeAEfPZE0aCPNvf7laXv7tsAdNfse4LgxuSbBELG9oR80lyiEZeH1Xbbzg5LAVWkiKUzlaC7Nt4Bm6eOuUvbpitSdtC/s1600/P1090463.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5560846816932078434" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLyO8UA0mi3x0fXhg0wnA9NEKDIzfV7ry3r3vHHyGMCGeAEfPZE0aCPNvf7laXv7tsAdNfse4LgxuSbBELG9oR80lyiEZeH1Xbbzg5LAVWkiKUzlaC7Nt4Bm6eOuUvbpitSdtC/s320/P1090463.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 240px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuQcFjV2OPWkQvyocLjYV2yfcAsegvWptjfWGK66WFNf9FLnFOD0XXcqxQJ6DP9LwgAmi-s4hxzk6hMRy3ml7woQ4WcWHViHYrHUEgShRVS1AGPecr6PT4tsng8Fu7iugtFMYY/s1600/P1090461.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5560847008096561442" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuQcFjV2OPWkQvyocLjYV2yfcAsegvWptjfWGK66WFNf9FLnFOD0XXcqxQJ6DP9LwgAmi-s4hxzk6hMRy3ml7woQ4WcWHViHYrHUEgShRVS1AGPecr6PT4tsng8Fu7iugtFMYY/s320/P1090461.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 240px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 320px;" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxIgQsEOt3RTT6ODBKdPa9lUOJ4Ca1CwD5HSaK3mTdcm8GASSEvssFtDqYDZzjqQg192vnnmRT3LZLcNZGWXanrMLUzqW03eHTnPxrzjreQRYs1Aa2plb20X4pc1hkCJi9ZMJk/s1600/P1090460.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5560847067670008578" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxIgQsEOt3RTT6ODBKdPa9lUOJ4Ca1CwD5HSaK3mTdcm8GASSEvssFtDqYDZzjqQg192vnnmRT3LZLcNZGWXanrMLUzqW03eHTnPxrzjreQRYs1Aa2plb20X4pc1hkCJi9ZMJk/s320/P1090460.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 240px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0NPgQI3zfJLd1x0mDwbaryfmTq8pnlCEPHxsbKZQbNYQNM5P9wDsRYaYIvA7HlZBVsljLh7brbxfTTcbT0Z6vSeLoUICgtc0KUI7w1xggUQUXF1byMZb4kOuXkcdC-r8eap50/s1600/P1090899.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5560847278518609010" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0NPgQI3zfJLd1x0mDwbaryfmTq8pnlCEPHxsbKZQbNYQNM5P9wDsRYaYIvA7HlZBVsljLh7brbxfTTcbT0Z6vSeLoUICgtc0KUI7w1xggUQUXF1byMZb4kOuXkcdC-r8eap50/s320/P1090899.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 240px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 320px;" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI_LELuTwSg2AR7I9mj-CGtVdk0haphU8d4m7JDO46DOFTqBCy4-hJthGgmiLQ7qwfybO2ZnSj005ZvZ7cqsNiVYnkAw6-xNvKdetAEKwaCrA08XAbMkA7o_o0Bk81t7PskRZx/s1600/P1090898.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5560847548136971250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI_LELuTwSg2AR7I9mj-CGtVdk0haphU8d4m7JDO46DOFTqBCy4-hJthGgmiLQ7qwfybO2ZnSj005ZvZ7cqsNiVYnkAw6-xNvKdetAEKwaCrA08XAbMkA7o_o0Bk81t7PskRZx/s320/P1090898.JPG" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 240px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 320px;" /></a></div>
Murtaza Ghiyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12726856723000712288noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22551817.post-28446296236225583552010-08-31T02:14:00.000-07:002010-08-31T02:51:20.643-07:00<span style="font-size:180%;">Wassup guys!</span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;">I have been getting a lot of hits to my site recently. So thought of stopping and saying hi to all my readers :)</span>Murtaza Ghiyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12726856723000712288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22551817.post-39945077194566017322010-03-02T03:39:00.000-08:002010-03-02T03:46:42.538-08:00<span style="font-size:180%;">Moving on to a PhotoBlog</span><br /><br />Yes guys, I have started my own photoblog on shutterchance. I have been very unactive off late over here. Will try to be active on shutterchance. Here is the link <a href="http://murtaza.shutterchance.com">http://murtaza.shutterchance.com</a>Murtaza Ghiyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12726856723000712288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22551817.post-70035916527889621882010-01-24T01:16:00.000-08:002010-01-24T01:21:42.567-08:00<span style="font-size:180%;">3 Idiots: What a movie...</span><br /><br />Saw the movie after hearing raving reviews from colleagues, friend and family. Very interesting movie indeed and as usual cinema with some message. Aamir has done a marvellous job as Phunsuk Wangdu and the same stands true for Madhavan and Sharman Joshi. Why can't we have more filmmakers like Aamir coming up with such meaningful cinema?<br /><br />By the way, after seeing this film, many people have their own conclusions and the most common lesson people learnt from the film is to "not overburden your child with your own aspirations and let them do what they can do best". Some people would have taken the issue of following a certain syllabus and just studying for marks in exams as a lesson. But for me, it was a different lesson apart from what others claim to have learnt. I learnt a different thing from Aamir's character. Even though he was the university topper, the most intelligent and talented, he never took pride in himself. He was always grounded and wanted to help people no matter who they were. He never made others realise that they were inferior to him. He even went to the extent to invite "millimeter"(the helping boy) to his school for studying further. I believe such a fictional character cannot exist in this world. Why do I say so? I say so from my personal experience after meeting several learned, talented, skilled and intelligent people in my lifetime. What I have seen and felt is that more learning makes a person take pride in himself. This pride makes him believe that he/she is superior to others and they are always correct. So they become stubborn and do not share knowledge. Whereas Phunsuk Wangdu seems to have no attitude even after having hundreds of patents in his name and is still willing to help his dear enemy Mr. Chatur. This is one quality that is completely missing in today's scholars.<br /><br />People who have mastered a particular subject tend to believe that they are the smartest but I believe they are the biggest fools. Let me explain, take any subject, for instance Medicine. Can any doctor claim that he knows medicine completely? Lets take computer software. Can any Software developer/Computer scientist claim to know all about software? Leave alone a single subject that one cannot master, what about knowledge of the universe? Is there any human being who claims to know everything? The answer is NO.<br /><br />My heartfelt request to anyone reading this post. If you are a scholar, student or a scientist, please do not think of anyone as inferior. You never know what the person next to you might be good at. Always look up to people who are better than you rather than looking at people inferior to you. That will make you realize that much is yet to be achieved and keep you grounded.Murtaza Ghiyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12726856723000712288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22551817.post-29724315261436834892009-09-26T01:38:00.000-07:002009-10-05T02:26:28.080-07:00<span style="font-size:180%;">New found love :)</span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Yes, you read it right... I am in love with my new prized possession.. The all new Bajaj Pulsar 220 DTSi. Booked the bike on Saturday, 19th September '09 and got delivery of the bike on Friday, 25th September '09. The bike was actually home delivered a day before they had promised delivery!<br /><br />Even though I was told that it would take them 25 working days to deliver me the bike since the color I chose (misty silver) was not readily available and there was already a waiting list of old booking to be finished first. The showroom guy also told me that, if I paid the amount in whole, they would prioritize my booking and deliver sooner :) Also, due to the swine flu scare in the city, most of the people who had made bookings by paying 10K had fled to their respective native homes and had no intention of coming back sooner. And to my surprise, I get a call on Tuesday, 22nd September '09 from the showroom asking me if I wanted the bike on this weekend. The answer was obvious: YES!!! And after confirming on Thursday from the delivery center, finally get to know that the bike has arrived and has gone for registration today. Then next day, i.e. on the D-day, I get a call from the delivery center informing me that the bike will be delivered home in a few hours. I started jumping on my seat and confirmed with the time of the delivery. After doing that, left from office by 3 pm to reach home in time for the bike to arrive. The bike finally arrives at 4 pm and the below pics take over from here on...</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBo5CIzbDDg0DIPSQjKociH0t06cFBkLFTS4d1dHgyKAqKIIofzmSRovEXVT0k4VOsoRmwnbqUz_BHOtd3lftBudXMiP3_3g_u2qNC3wjk8MMIrbz7dqsybPzR9Z6563Kc6gUe/s800/P1060443.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBo5CIzbDDg0DIPSQjKociH0t06cFBkLFTS4d1dHgyKAqKIIofzmSRovEXVT0k4VOsoRmwnbqUz_BHOtd3lftBudXMiP3_3g_u2qNC3wjk8MMIrbz7dqsybPzR9Z6563Kc6gUe/s400/P1060443.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjagRAyXBMAoa8UiOiOZhghAbH50g7sLKbJQVG_zQVHKuMU8siWeE-i27inHooOLOtu7pBSRF4Rzw-YmPrN-oFGGvttvd6Qg6UaZVObGbAEx7atqvPgofrpYmmXi_TDdINZZyOg/s800/P1060444.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjagRAyXBMAoa8UiOiOZhghAbH50g7sLKbJQVG_zQVHKuMU8siWeE-i27inHooOLOtu7pBSRF4Rzw-YmPrN-oFGGvttvd6Qg6UaZVObGbAEx7atqvPgofrpYmmXi_TDdINZZyOg/s400/P1060444.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj45WFL57aZUzPjmD0_4M_Ogu7fpXGTYaHUWwVmJJlnfrZgZikkM8A-O8g6u6_SgqCQ1V1UsPO1wu1fhL6uFEBy5rDVnxjAz_xnKkrVBlt4OlFXDOuqbiT9B2E_0G4ACo-knGs/s800/P1060445.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj45WFL57aZUzPjmD0_4M_Ogu7fpXGTYaHUWwVmJJlnfrZgZikkM8A-O8g6u6_SgqCQ1V1UsPO1wu1fhL6uFEBy5rDVnxjAz_xnKkrVBlt4OlFXDOuqbiT9B2E_0G4ACo-knGs/s400/P1060445.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_wPLIMJgTWXEgDNspKtT4tnKUOZRwfmrKaC0ijS86cEVaqp8NYaYy_Znd1PQ02q8sNXd-j8SHZ91JbtOArLuFNDYWGhlW0ngoyocGZzC9ZZqly7ivoqq-IVyeyYdzp-YFhJ8X/s800/P1060446.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_wPLIMJgTWXEgDNspKtT4tnKUOZRwfmrKaC0ijS86cEVaqp8NYaYy_Znd1PQ02q8sNXd-j8SHZ91JbtOArLuFNDYWGhlW0ngoyocGZzC9ZZqly7ivoqq-IVyeyYdzp-YFhJ8X/s400/P1060446.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfIY-u0BGHdqVhOeq8W4CmwLHzfQGdTx0ln03veGZjtotNbzAU7_iS1sJbPKxRCYZbNvPa49Lv_rZawy3flCb4Sk5E7rKSJtbZ60uTXdtB75267u9IjPh_9L8hO7NqXLtrNlLH/s800/P1060451.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfIY-u0BGHdqVhOeq8W4CmwLHzfQGdTx0ln03veGZjtotNbzAU7_iS1sJbPKxRCYZbNvPa49Lv_rZawy3flCb4Sk5E7rKSJtbZ60uTXdtB75267u9IjPh_9L8hO7NqXLtrNlLH/s400/P1060451.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC1B4QZa8NrbCIFa3RDm2ksPaYH9WMRCk_LLh38uo5_20Q2y-PZLW2ufkup61ms4Jyu5ZMJEj1WmUUMhjiIBjIHXjwD4H6jU8-4nkT2cIwBzdYYfZHcWWnwR_z2AsKEKjt3_QI/s800/P1060463.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC1B4QZa8NrbCIFa3RDm2ksPaYH9WMRCk_LLh38uo5_20Q2y-PZLW2ufkup61ms4Jyu5ZMJEj1WmUUMhjiIBjIHXjwD4H6jU8-4nkT2cIwBzdYYfZHcWWnwR_z2AsKEKjt3_QI/s400/P1060463.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHz6L_WCa_pE_YNe7fkzPlKaA1-B75O7ZlpxNbQXsdNPt5VnXZNDsRsviuZ7NJe0xLqd_aqhVe9G6pYx6qZkSq2Z4COieq01Jte17FRJH0ei4-MnylHP-CQbxGct6lv_F9ThVf/s800/P1060466.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHz6L_WCa_pE_YNe7fkzPlKaA1-B75O7ZlpxNbQXsdNPt5VnXZNDsRsviuZ7NJe0xLqd_aqhVe9G6pYx6qZkSq2Z4COieq01Jte17FRJH0ei4-MnylHP-CQbxGct6lv_F9ThVf/s400/P1060466.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLEgpmFxDPX5CwU0BUUd0mOpuxkJL5Gs1AqdUwdkWDhtcHvPuP3tIF42gjOyy_skacHDPRpMgOprVyW1hzX1F2MMSO6EVGLKW1Q2qeGnI0dTRs_bAw-43mEDpK4RKBdnVg4tUo/s800/P1060455.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLEgpmFxDPX5CwU0BUUd0mOpuxkJL5Gs1AqdUwdkWDhtcHvPuP3tIF42gjOyy_skacHDPRpMgOprVyW1hzX1F2MMSO6EVGLKW1Q2qeGnI0dTRs_bAw-43mEDpK4RKBdnVg4tUo/s400/P1060455.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHz6L_WCa_pE_YNe7fkzPlKaA1-B75O7ZlpxNbQXsdNPt5VnXZNDsRsviuZ7NJe0xLqd_aqhVe9G6pYx6qZkSq2Z4COieq01Jte17FRJH0ei4-MnylHP-CQbxGct6lv_F9ThVf/s800/P1060466.JPG"><br /></a></div>Murtaza Ghiyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12726856723000712288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22551817.post-26339643013936683412009-09-20T00:57:00.000-07:002009-10-05T02:26:40.403-07:00<span style="font-size:180%;">New look on my Swiftie!!!</span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><br />Got new alloys for my baby after a month old striping work over the whole body. Other mods include rear spoiler long back + K&N stock replacement air filter for the engine. I will let the pics do the talking.<br /></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUSAlar1_juYJ-jjayElUCdcqM8SQbnB8dCRYEdUWBFVUWQ3hdTg8KbQlEFJ_OyU9P5A0HK4eSN79pXVry4JNSX8y3fOzaOtEPEy1ue0sBUJ12PZ8s09YOSC-EqGB_JCpKWEOV/s1600-h/P1060416.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUSAlar1_juYJ-jjayElUCdcqM8SQbnB8dCRYEdUWBFVUWQ3hdTg8KbQlEFJ_OyU9P5A0HK4eSN79pXVry4JNSX8y3fOzaOtEPEy1ue0sBUJ12PZ8s09YOSC-EqGB_JCpKWEOV/s400/P1060416.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5389023240219492930" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfQ5HHKySTmdK85fOAST6yUpN5d4aIV6pdSm5mgHVZLrSsbtXlfRjrQ3dtGDUXzdpcZxcIP19va1PDUZ4AurnooXSoCdp7GC37nfoq-V3pIKU7VkCmKUXYaeq22Tns0HIVJLy_/s1600-h/P1060412.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfQ5HHKySTmdK85fOAST6yUpN5d4aIV6pdSm5mgHVZLrSsbtXlfRjrQ3dtGDUXzdpcZxcIP19va1PDUZ4AurnooXSoCdp7GC37nfoq-V3pIKU7VkCmKUXYaeq22Tns0HIVJLy_/s400/P1060412.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5389023234233402178" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqImqUfsFP-xxTf2VhWpffy4X4slBTOYYLGPyS5WKx8t7YMqso5KNub8BeuqFKi7bC8fzmRw3ZUwU9XAAlMJXNPG_m5yjIvK34VR5LHoWmoGkxAe7FpA2ToHg68tKRHAmuDOsR/s1600-h/P1060410.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqImqUfsFP-xxTf2VhWpffy4X4slBTOYYLGPyS5WKx8t7YMqso5KNub8BeuqFKi7bC8fzmRw3ZUwU9XAAlMJXNPG_m5yjIvK34VR5LHoWmoGkxAe7FpA2ToHg68tKRHAmuDOsR/s400/P1060410.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5389023226128360306" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw6ofnhIgypCjiegBG_lR0MmEq2YTmJZcJ8z-_GuUlhYhPwu-OG9sLMh4L_3HziXtSSf_NcIAk_gNa5aNBSmgVu4GFirMwW-4xo2XmQ0qaYjdcU2rMtI-gAqN443iKb6fPmay8/s1600-h/P1060411.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw6ofnhIgypCjiegBG_lR0MmEq2YTmJZcJ8z-_GuUlhYhPwu-OG9sLMh4L_3HziXtSSf_NcIAk_gNa5aNBSmgVu4GFirMwW-4xo2XmQ0qaYjdcU2rMtI-gAqN443iKb6fPmay8/s400/P1060411.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5389023247239238770" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></span>Murtaza Ghiyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12726856723000712288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22551817.post-33295557206618069932009-04-17T20:47:00.000-07:002010-08-20T03:46:58.351-07:00<span style="font-size:180%;">After a year... Almost!</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Well, most of you who have been following my blog must be wondering where the hell I've been... To answer that, I was just too busy with personal and professional life. There's a lot that has happened over the last one year. From running around in my car to places to modifying my car (to make it look different) to getting married to working my ass out... Oooof. It was a heck of a year.</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSR-fzt3h54p0c-6sdRipb5RxGJnbrzFJ6rVhZnt-XsFaT1j2HQI-Midtp7pG9lB_6BpC5lNe9fOYbm_XxLkYP-Y8QsRfM6RoCbv2yGqs7skox-IHJSz1kfvHbR_oOacWRKMK9/s1600/PicsForCollage-1.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSR-fzt3h54p0c-6sdRipb5RxGJnbrzFJ6rVhZnt-XsFaT1j2HQI-Midtp7pG9lB_6BpC5lNe9fOYbm_XxLkYP-Y8QsRfM6RoCbv2yGqs7skox-IHJSz1kfvHbR_oOacWRKMK9/s320/PicsForCollage-1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5507441705647929778" border="0" /></a>Murtaza Ghiyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12726856723000712288noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22551817.post-91311560206296372272008-06-17T21:42:00.000-07:002008-06-30T05:52:46.691-07:00<span style="font-size:180%;">1465 Kms. in 4 days!!!</span><br />Yes, thats true. I drove my Swift all the way to Ahmedabad and back covering about 1465 kms. in 4 days. The trip started on 12th June '08 at 7:00 AM from Pune and the first stop was Vapi (Gujarat) at 1:00 PM. We had lunch at a cousin's place there and decide to stop over for the night. We visited Daman (U.T.), in the evening, which is about 10 kms. from Vapi and back by night.<br /><br />Then on 13th morning, we said goodbye to our cousins and left for Dandi, the famous place where Gandhiji broke the Salt act! We stayed there for an hour for a pilgirmage place and left around 8:30 from there for Surat (Gujarat). Reached Surat by 12:00 PM. What a congested city it is. Spent an hour visiting another pilgrimage there and then mom's usual shopping started which got over only by 4 PM. We left Surat at 4-4:30 PM for Baroda(Gujarat), but had to stop on the highway just outside Surat for lunch. Had lunch and started the drive towards Baroda(Gujarat). The highway between Surat and Baroda is under construction for a 6 lane, so it was all dug up and only one lane was active which was obviously congested by the trucks going towards North India. Somehow overtaking and moving slow and steady we reached Baroda by 9 PM. I was so exhausted by this drive that I just fell asleep that evening with very little food.<br /><br />The next day, 14th June '08, we got up and visited another pilgrimage in Baroda and bid farewell to our cousins there and left for Ahmedabad city. The road between Baroda and Ahmedabad is an expressway which has very less traffic which made the drive smooooooth. Reached Ahmedabad by 11 AM. Were welcomed by Police waiting for their regular income. Had to give away 100 bucks for not having the co-driver's seat belt and the yellow strip on the right headlamp... Visited the much awaited pilgrimage the trip was planned for and by 12 we were all set to leave from Ahmedabad. We planned to cover up as much by evening and reach Vapi for a halt. The start was good but we got stuck up after a place called Bharuch on the highway. Its was just packed and we spent 2 hours just sitting there on the highway doing nothing but only listening to music. That was bad. And not to mention heavy rainfall that was rendering the windshield unusable. Had to turn on the A/C. to get the fog away from the glass. Then started overtaking from the left side and ended up getting off the road into the mud and what not. But it was an experience of a lifetime. Patience is really necessary on the road. Finally we crossed the bottleneck and started moving swiftly but it was already dark by that time. The problem with driving in dark is that I start getting headaches. Later realised that I could not see anything on the road since there were no light on the road and my headlamps were not effective. Then we stopped at a restaurant on the way and found that the headlamps were fully covered by mud and hence they were not effective. Cleaned the headlamps and there we go, the lights were so powerful that I did not have any problems further. Moved from there and covered the odd 400 kms by 11 PM in the night. Reached Vapi safe and sound, had dinner, one combiflam tablet and slept.<br /><br />On 15th morning we started by around 10:30 AM from Vapi towards Pune and just missed an accident (touchwood) with a biker. Then just kept moving forward and reached Vasai and took a left toward the expressway. After that it was just a smooth drive back home. Reached home by 4:30 PM and had lunch and slept. Got up the next morning!<br /><br />All in all a great experience on the road that taught me a lot of things. The trip covered Pune->Vapi->Daman->Vapi->Dandi->Surat->Baroda->Ahmedabad->Vapi->Pune.<br /><br />DONOT FORGET TO HAVE THE YELLOW STRIP ON THE RIGHT HEADLAMP WHILE TRAVELLING TO GUJARAT... IT'S A MUST!Murtaza Ghiyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12726856723000712288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22551817.post-15909852692704627402008-04-28T04:26:00.000-07:002008-11-13T12:17:40.300-08:00<span style="font-size:180%;">My new addiction!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgKL2hCc5We5u0W1j0wwwZi11P10ldYCAqvFwHRBVupy8ljkCLV9xqwB9QuUwwMQwXKlGzeCqcEVAxQKmmMJ3ZK0iGaBXP750GVyrgvAXRwKmx90EwgQ05_nHLTHxZjGvVVD7h/s1600-h/DSC00810.JPG"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFAPmV-f7fkwV0xD8nAePLXusGz3uKP6bkBCqfqeAq3OJlIWrOiJY2twgygUFM_C2aQBUI40Lsf5GXA68x2cRi0i3hghNn_cMp8TdJ2smajvTpW3-AsaIabnRnFhNDXYGUUi0-/s1600-h/DSC00812.JPG"></a></span> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-uBGwspy9m_Z3wQ_CZ4JqtBcBiWkh1JMZnC3LDlLZPNI3ELbOafJ6KnpY9oE6yGjfcNx1HHEyFSgvk9VtEb5c6niRQD5g7nmN06KXVtVh2UdDNWQNueygvySQhqTQK8d-Q-mN/s1600-h/DSC00812.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5194261365507410210" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-uBGwspy9m_Z3wQ_CZ4JqtBcBiWkh1JMZnC3LDlLZPNI3ELbOafJ6KnpY9oE6yGjfcNx1HHEyFSgvk9VtEb5c6niRQD5g7nmN06KXVtVh2UdDNWQNueygvySQhqTQK8d-Q-mN/s400/DSC00812.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdFY5FhdN4P8q6Bey43R841EQ0SRa8NJarmZqYwh9-tpTH3zD_MYtFMPx68wVtZ1mFajmG0Svml-xyvB2ATsNcQyLxjH9EwsycR9ep-zsv-PzPVui_3sg-ag0EHEZjxJiZguvj/s1600-h/DSC00810.JPG"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU265ABucqiHbRDP6X_Hlj3SrXXaJbC6b0SAx-yV8eNt6EdSvIVtGts3viJ7xbHSjgoaBk0B3PlZ6S-KYfNXm-bx1X0K6nsIadN0ilDEL4Kn6G5J9DWOql2rlEm_TBJMqXPMg_/s1600-h/DSC00810.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5194261485766494514" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU265ABucqiHbRDP6X_Hlj3SrXXaJbC6b0SAx-yV8eNt6EdSvIVtGts3viJ7xbHSjgoaBk0B3PlZ6S-KYfNXm-bx1X0K6nsIadN0ilDEL4Kn6G5J9DWOql2rlEm_TBJMqXPMg_/s400/DSC00810.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Yes, I am addicted to something these days and hang on its not a bad addiction. Well, am addicted to my new Honda DIO which I bought on 18th April '08(booked on 15th April). The bike was bought as a gift for my dad on his birthday. He is the one who uses it all the time but I am the one waiting to use it ;) I try to get my hands on this Blue-Black beauty whenever dad is not using it. The best thing I like about this piece is that you don't need to do anything except for accelerating if you have to start and braking if you have to stop. A sweet and simple bike with sporty looks. This is one babe that really turns heads...<br /><br /><br /><br /><div><div><div><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5194257031885408482" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8k6unbkgJ5uQyLbEwy_JjESipE3VmMBdWBJpqTxVazI7qn_Pfx-NWXVl35usauZ7YfnmtT_4q5tsCWIHHicfrD3JYt1legPpsSfy2IgxsQMS8Osu-DNEUavhz73e6l0io2pSE/s400/DSC00811.JPG" border="0" />Well for the tech specs, the bike has the same engine as the Activa (and now Aviator), a 102 cc 4-stroke air cooled engine. The bike has automatic gears and a small fuel tank of 6 litres(which could be a disappointment for people looking for a long ride). The bike has ample space under the seat and claims to have a mileage of 50-55 kms per litre, more than the Activa and Aviator. The reason is simple as quoted by Honda officials, the bike is 11 kgs lighter than the Activa. This is due to the fact that the body of DIO is all fibre and Activa is all metal. The only thing I miss on this bike from my bikes is the suspension. This beauty is not something that performs well on bad roads, could be due to the fact that it has smaller tyres...<br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5194257431317367026" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgznIWXUdF96fbw8de_OYSkRc_DBEB-65TFtCnnmM6-nkK24Qn5ef16NYIvzUPoplu5hTKWjsqQYSXeTR69NcJoWyhyphenhyphenmEQdwHh_yRT4mI6MEAfxZ0ygaS9YkMq5LToNRGgbqTIm/s400/DSC00802.JPG" border="0" /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5194257435612334338" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg64ffEErqXqsbxtmyGcrn6GnXUz4gziXY-QK0Tanx-EA-9n7M-jQkC2vF9rXbc0BKzvmAoBn5uvRaWN0f1wEjIXQ8CKGLGJq2_5zaoiznChzgaHT0PT4yxUGFgwl7jpDQ_ByHK/s400/DSC00804.JPG" border="0" />Well after driving this bike, my Pulsar feels too heavy to drive ;) Will keep you posted about the bike later. Vrooooom...</div></div></div></div>Murtaza Ghiyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12726856723000712288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22551817.post-17262217554523725082008-01-20T17:35:00.000-08:002008-11-13T12:17:41.063-08:00<span style="font-size:130%;">My First Car!!!</span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;">Yes, I finally got one... A Pearl White Maruti Suzuki Swift(II) Vxi. I was too excited about the car and had to wait for a long 25 days to get hold of the car! I booked the car on 26th December 2007 and the dealer told me that the car would be delivered only in 2nd week of Jan 2008, which meant I wasn't getting the old price benefit :( But for the extra 7 grands I paid, I am happy to see the 2nd generation Swift... There are quite a few small changes that have been</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> made over the older swift. They told me that the front bumper was changed (I didn't notice any changes though) and hence getting MGA mudguards fitted would be done later, since the older mudguards did not fit due to bumper changes...<br /><br />Other changes (that I could notice easily) are a Digital Clock on the dashboard, the new rear tail lamps, the wheel caps and supposedly the lights on the console (I am not sure about these as I haven't been able to compare with an older model). Here are a few pics of what it looks like:<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgGbd0foIEijOhLdvcjQtMJX8KaysKq9hb88DqkeRzonRZ38au33hGGINL07yp8T36NW6LMhmCr5Zo8nvHusqRyup458e18VdlCLf2V6gI-ehElt_tkC8WIFW1cajBGW4owwZ_/s1600-h/DSC00062.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgGbd0foIEijOhLdvcjQtMJX8KaysKq9hb88DqkeRzonRZ38au33hGGINL07yp8T36NW6LMhmCr5Zo8nvHusqRyup458e18VdlCLf2V6gI-ehElt_tkC8WIFW1cajBGW4owwZ_/s400/DSC00062.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5157739705762280994" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqI1VDNZyHOq0uTQavnDv9i1SU7TIRWUO-5RNhiZhlm55StlEzPD0zf90OM-86enazmcYk24t8vjn12YgwDqO5ofwGooskjlvgIGrxYUpj-6FB6waXPCzUnaSpHeojr3NsuWYX/s1600-h/DSC00061.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqI1VDNZyHOq0uTQavnDv9i1SU7TIRWUO-5RNhiZhlm55StlEzPD0zf90OM-86enazmcYk24t8vjn12YgwDqO5ofwGooskjlvgIGrxYUpj-6FB6waXPCzUnaSpHeojr3NsuWYX/s400/DSC00061.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5157739950575416882" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivPpND2ofYgWYQwVUYLYeNTGy2AE5CsKBJxFaeJeIZRul2Yj7_HRLBhc50Jo8X4r1d84Khgr-TZiO2HiLLEgbFHSueN6TEaIB4lKY7WGUmsvdVt7cZgrmToQbyHzuzFEDOCy5h/s1600-h/DSC00060mod.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivPpND2ofYgWYQwVUYLYeNTGy2AE5CsKBJxFaeJeIZRul2Yj7_HRLBhc50Jo8X4r1d84Khgr-TZiO2HiLLEgbFHSueN6TEaIB4lKY7WGUmsvdVt7cZgrmToQbyHzuzFEDOCy5h/s400/DSC00060mod.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5157740079424435778" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOr_Tzu2LvpnVdibUMkrFwqg5SN2bo2PEGb3AFhsNudR6cVu-q_UGMvaL4LGWt-EXcW8-Er-t0vULPYo78jH3CPbWUxi3BvSjuKDijX5AC8Th68BKTA9OLYkzRCpIslz0aSL6O/s1600-h/DSC00064.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOr_Tzu2LvpnVdibUMkrFwqg5SN2bo2PEGb3AFhsNudR6cVu-q_UGMvaL4LGWt-EXcW8-Er-t0vULPYo78jH3CPbWUxi3BvSjuKDijX5AC8Th68BKTA9OLYkzRCpIslz0aSL6O/s400/DSC00064.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5157740234043258450" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbTHqw50v1CU4NXJ3rHjSxlXC9mC4BEQqI0D596xnQMLdzqNiuFlwZtER12Yf9sHbGvynQsUzOv_IsPx9MtB5ehilhkkpQd2taz5AnSN4wAyJfU0p5RpsusnNtg9MSy_dnGsSH/s1600-h/DSC00073.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbTHqw50v1CU4NXJ3rHjSxlXC9mC4BEQqI0D596xnQMLdzqNiuFlwZtER12Yf9sHbGvynQsUzOv_IsPx9MtB5ehilhkkpQd2taz5AnSN4wAyJfU0p5RpsusnNtg9MSy_dnGsSH/s400/DSC00073.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5157740350007375458" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></span>Murtaza Ghiyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12726856723000712288noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22551817.post-16775381291401090612008-01-07T22:49:00.000-08:002008-01-07T22:54:33.948-08:00<span style="font-size:130%;">Pathetic Customer Support, courtesy TATA INDICOM BROADBAND by VSNL!</span><br /><br />I completely agree and have been through the pains of the so called great service by VSNL, mentioned <a href="http://www.gii.in/reviews/beware-tata-indicom-broadband-internet-sucks/">here</a>. Do read and beware of VSNL. VSNL - Not recommended at all...Murtaza Ghiyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12726856723000712288noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22551817.post-80179122696205870052007-08-21T05:23:00.001-07:002007-08-21T05:29:48.581-07:00<span style="font-size:130%;">Some Project Ideas for Students</span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><br />1. RemoteFS:<br /> - Ability to mount a particular filesystem over the network.<br /> - Support for NFS, FTP, SMB/CIFS and other filesharing protocols<br /><br />2. Automated Mail Generator:<br /> - Usually marketing companies have this requirement of sending out a common mail to a large list of users. The only thing that could possibly change is the name of the person in the body of the email and the email of the person in the To field.<br /> - Provide a way to accept a common email with the variable fields in the mail.<br /> - Take a list of email id's and send it to individual id's.<br /> - SMTP and POP3 support shoudl be available.<br /> - Easily configurable based on the mail server (smtp or pop).<br /><br />3. RemoteCmd Shell:<br /> - Ability to connect to any machine (ideally running any OS).<br /> - Ability to fire commands on the machine.<br />- Ability to provide a common set of commands which would be translated to the native commands on the backend OS. This would help the user in knowing just one set of commands but when the user fires a 'dir' on the command prompt and if the user is connected to a Linux/Unix machine, the command that should be fired on the backend machine should be 'ls' and not 'dir'.<br /><br />4. C++ to Java code convertor or vice versa<br /><br />5. Server Management Tool<br /> - Ability to manage/monitor various server machines and do a lot of active activities<br /> - Activities include installing a software on various machines remotely for a Master server.<br /> - Monitor all the machines and display the status of the machines on the master Server in a nice GUI.<br /> - Remotely manage machines i.e. should be able to shutdown, reboot a machine from the Master Server.<br /><br /><br />Will post some more if they come to my mind...<br /></span>Murtaza Ghiyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12726856723000712288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22551817.post-75280718742437104862007-06-18T03:47:00.000-07:002008-11-13T12:17:41.571-08:00<span style="font-size:130%;">SanDisk Cruzer micro 2.0 GB</span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;">I ordered a SanDisk Cruzer memory stick on <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.futurebazaar.com">www.futurebazaar.com</a> and got this slick and smart looking memory stick.</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR8e-5bhX9pns5_fuEcKfGGDwAEyn3aKBvyq4HJwq8PF-0lILJvhuiHxaBFDgO2LYtmYureYPNnDjiOfYpqYlGf0K4vUNx3H5iOaJhOIbjDXVteuavo3flEQiwHJYqcG73usoO/s1600-h/DSC00516.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR8e-5bhX9pns5_fuEcKfGGDwAEyn3aKBvyq4HJwq8PF-0lILJvhuiHxaBFDgO2LYtmYureYPNnDjiOfYpqYlGf0K4vUNx3H5iOaJhOIbjDXVteuavo3flEQiwHJYqcG73usoO/s320/DSC00516.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5077356637803317714" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc_0zzMoznvYZtEVdcmewl4wzdsxeu4zblxX0CQ1qCdk6vXP4yBMRaM438GmvSvWEOT9DmwVZ2w4qWsUoM8mq0toSuyM2Zb0VGjvqKk3fcxfx_F4D4X-qZdG8mKc_EDsj-SJXC/s1600-h/DSC00515.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc_0zzMoznvYZtEVdcmewl4wzdsxeu4zblxX0CQ1qCdk6vXP4yBMRaM438GmvSvWEOT9DmwVZ2w4qWsUoM8mq0toSuyM2Zb0VGjvqKk3fcxfx_F4D4X-qZdG8mKc_EDsj-SJXC/s320/DSC00515.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5077355697205479842" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:100%;">The pen drive comes in dimensions of 2" X 1/2" (yeah its that small!) and packs in a whopping 2 GB of data. This drive comes pre-loaded with software to manage and install on your Windows 2000 or XP machine. Yeah thats the only 2 flavors of Windows supported... </span><span style="font-size:100%;">And that too </span><span style="font-size:100%;">Windows 2000 with SP4 and above :( </span><span style="font-size:100%;">The software included has an anti-virus and some games. On my XP machine I did not have to do anything after plugging it in! It just starts off on its own. The data transfer speed is awesome. Copied some 800 MB of data within 3 minutes! (I think thats fast) It has a slider which when pushed reveals the USB 2.0 connector.<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUoNejfimsMoXrhTJ1lHpU5aw8yK4FY_poC0FOTZWgK7XYFLWqLF9Jqy7gtmPzbwQ4bzxcfzCx3POEW9csv9QpgavzRuRXHMfW3FNimlxPDZy0YzZnbfzL42-k5bDkqJzaZo7Y/s1600-h/DSC00517.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUoNejfimsMoXrhTJ1lHpU5aw8yK4FY_poC0FOTZWgK7XYFLWqLF9Jqy7gtmPzbwQ4bzxcfzCx3POEW9csv9QpgavzRuRXHMfW3FNimlxPDZy0YzZnbfzL42-k5bDkqJzaZo7Y/s320/DSC00517.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5077355972083386818" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:100%;">All this for Rs. 999 with an offer where they are giving away 10 Sprint Blank CDs free with the pen drive... Happy shopping :)</span>Murtaza Ghiyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12726856723000712288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22551817.post-24438562953730069472007-06-03T00:26:00.000-07:002010-11-16T23:53:28.495-08:00<span style="font-size:130%;">WMI: Windows Management Instrumentation a.k.a. WBEM</span><br />Recently, while working on an assignment to get various performance parameters from my driver, I was re-introduced to WMI (I had read about it a long time back and knew what it was but did not know how to use it) for writing performance counters for my driver.<br /><br />So, I started like anyone else who has no idea about WMI, Google on the subject and read, read and read... So I came up with a few links on Microsoft, CodeProject and OSR but I must say the documentation on Microsoft was not enough for me to get started (Disclaimer: well thats what I believe). One of the best resource that I found was on OSR and can be accessed <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.osronline.com/article.cfm?id=95">here</a> (to access, you have to register for free). This link gives a brief explanation of how to do it but make sure you know all the WMI terms before you try reading that article. The terms that you would want to know are WMI, MOF file, WMI Provider, CIM Repository, etc.<br /><br />Now, I begin with talking more about what they missed in the article on the OSR site.<br /><br />1) Make sure the names of the files in front of the tag 'NTTARGETFILE0' should be exactly same as the files specified in the Makefile.inc file. This was not written anywhere and gave me nightmares to build the code.<br /><br />2) Look at the .rc file, where they have mentioned about adding a line describing the MofResourceName. Remember this string very carefully. We will need this later.<br /><br />3) When you look at the source code of the sample driver, they have implemented an AddDevice routine and set the callback in the DriverEntry. This routine holds only for PnP (<span style="font-weight: bold;">P</span>lug a<span style="font-weight: bold;">n</span>d <span style="font-weight: bold;">P</span>lay) drivers. But if you are writing any non-PnP driver as in my case, a simple filter driver, this routine does not make sense, it will never be called. So, now how do we get the PhysicalDeviceObject which is the only reason to write an AddDevice routine. Don't worry, we don't need one for a non-PnP device driver.<br /><br />4) The GUID List that you pass to the WMILIB_CONTEXT structure should have flags of each element in the list as 0 (zero). This flag is specifed as WMIREG_FLAG_INSTANCE_PDO which will be OR'ed with the flags specied in the WmiQueryRegInfo callback.<br /><br />5) Look at the routine WmiQueryRegInfo or whatever is equivalent in the code. Here all you need to do is provide an InstanceName, MofResourceName, RegFlags which are OUT parameters to the routine. The RegFlags should not have the WMIREG_FLAG_INSTANCE_PDO set because this specifies that we will be providing a Pdo(PhysicalDeviceObject) which in our case does not exist. Just specify WMIREG_FLAG_INSTANCE_BASENAME. InstanceName could be anything your instances will be identifed as, MofResourceName should have the same string that you specified in your .rc file in point no. 2. In the sample it is "MofResourceName", so set the out param to "MofResourceName". This also was not mentioned anywhere and gave me a hell lot of troubles to make this run...<br /><br />6) Thats it, if you follow each and every word of the article, your non-PnP driver should run smoothly... But one thing that I forgot to tell you is that this has been tested on Windows 2003 Server and I cannot guarantee it should work as it is on Windows 2000. Also, your driver's counters will not be visible from 'perfmon' and the reason I figured out for this was that, while you compile your MOF file, it adds the schema to the root\wmi namespace whereas perfmon expects it to be in the root\cimv2 namespace. I haven't really found a solution to this one. Will post one when I find it.<br /><br />Till then HAPPY CODING :)Murtaza Ghiyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12726856723000712288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22551817.post-60000961123220697542007-05-15T03:40:00.000-07:002007-05-15T03:47:04.075-07:00<span style="font-size:130%;">Get paid for receiving ads on your cellphone...</span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;">There was mail from one of my previous managers about a site called <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">mGinger </span>which pays you for receiving ads on your cellphone and they let you decide the kind of ads you receive in a day, the time frame in which you receive those ads in a day and the content of the ads. That sounds cool. I don't know if this really works but whats the harm in giving it a try. I have registered for it to see if it actually works. What are you waiting for. Register at: </span><a href="http://www.mginger.com/index.jsp?inviteId=98907"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">mGinger.com</span></a>Murtaza Ghiyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12726856723000712288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22551817.post-43421660696224654752007-05-06T22:20:00.000-07:002007-05-11T20:31:07.925-07:00<span style="font-size:130%;">Classification of human beings!</span><br />Recently I got a mail saying "Find out what type of a person you are, based on your blood group" and I said to myself that this was yet another mail in the series of mails floating around trying to classify people into various categories based on different parameters. ( Oooh! that was a long sentence :) )<br /><br />So why do we need to classify people into 4-5 or any number of categories based on various parameters like date of birth, blood group, day of birth, sleeping posture, etc. People tend to believe in the way these mails talk about the tendencies of a group of people who are either born on the same day or a range of date or have the same blood group. Can people really be classified on this basis?<br /><br />What I feel is that the reason most of us tend to believe these mails is that most of us just read the category we fall into and not others. Usually these categories are written in a generic way thus giving a person an illusion to believe in whats written out there. And most of us have some percentage of every characteristic that these mails talk about. Like for e.g. if I am a Leo and I start reading my horoscope, I feel most of it is true because I try to adjust events in my life with what has been predicted. If I assume to be an Aries and start reading the horoscope for the same, I will start feeling that whatever has been written is actually true. Its just an illusion so to say. Try doing this, whenever you get any such mail(s), try reading a category you don't fall into and I can confidently say that you will feel that you actually fall into this category by words though not by birth... Try it.Murtaza Ghiyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12726856723000712288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22551817.post-56776953640410275442007-05-02T22:24:00.000-07:002008-11-13T12:17:41.718-08:00<span style="font-size:130%;">Make your own Microphone in times of emergency.</span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;">I was watching this television show about gadgets and stuff and in the end they showed a crude way to build your own microphone in no time, in case of urgency. But this is not a replacement to your conventional microphone and is only meant to be used in case of an <span style="font-weight: bold;">EMERGENCY.<br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi05AVIVB1gYC7-HvFz7im9yziTRt7tV5yQak7ucIC8ouBM5ilfCWhTysdzinzQ2QVnP6wDHn03ZWObEN5IBdvE0twpk1DvRyYHk_AUPsyVP3J4QHGDwT9cePJb8bt3OJI-PAPr/s1600-h/earphones.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi05AVIVB1gYC7-HvFz7im9yziTRt7tV5yQak7ucIC8ouBM5ilfCWhTysdzinzQ2QVnP6wDHn03ZWObEN5IBdvE0twpk1DvRyYHk_AUPsyVP3J4QHGDwT9cePJb8bt3OJI-PAPr/s320/earphones.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5060206577397986322" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;">This is how it goes:<br />Take your normal earphones that came with your i-Pod's or walkmans with the stereo jack or pin (whatever you wish to call it) on the other side. Attach it to your computer in the microphone's slot. And then open up Sound Recorder in Windows from Start->Programs->Accesseries->Entertainment->Sound Recorder or if you don't have it installed at this location you can search for the executable at %Windows_Installation_Directory%\system32\sndrec32.exe. e.g. on my machine it was located at c:\WINNT\system32\sndrec32.exe. Just press the record button and start speaking on each of the earphone one by one. You should see sound waves in the Sound Recorder. By speaking in the earphone one at a time you can figure out which one works best and then use it for your purpose. But this is not going to replace your microphone as the sound quality is not as good as it should be...<br /><br />Now, the question that must be popping in everyone's mind (like mine) must be that how can something like that work? The answer they gave on the show was: the way these earphones and microphones are manufactured is <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">almost same</span>. I am <span style="font-weight: bold;">NOT</span> convinced by their answer, so am still searching for a satisfying answer. Will post it when I get one...<br /></span>Murtaza Ghiyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12726856723000712288noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22551817.post-49924936359475498222007-04-12T05:42:00.000-07:002007-04-12T05:52:19.727-07:00<span style="font-size:130%;">32 bit to 64 bit Safe!</span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;">I was working on a porting task from 32 bit to 64 bit. Man, its a hell of a job to do. Loads of data types and API's change over the two variants. There is a nice article by Microsoft which can be found <span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/06/05/x64/default.aspx#S5">here</a></span>. I am not an expert in doing the porting though, but have learnt one fact: <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Write code that is 64 bit compatible</span> even though you are targeting 32 bit. In doing so, the code will almost be compatible with 32 bit. As the industry has been moving towards making every piece of software 64 bit, by this approach we make sure that we have a working 32 bit as well a 64 bit code base.</span>Murtaza Ghiyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12726856723000712288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22551817.post-85895245632516613532007-03-27T21:50:00.000-07:002008-11-13T12:17:42.561-08:00<span style="font-size:130%;">Latest Addition to the Stable!<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_zmQEs-E_3uAa7DsHhmzDBMrhLaUMQpH6qk4HxIBmO2t6pWZSeFalU-j9F4VaxzjHdGKVvfT6ja-MUrdAV7x5URDJMXcl5cdDbnK4VwQF1LPJFc57A2kz5U3XJ8xvjPHumQcg/s1600-h/DSC00311.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_zmQEs-E_3uAa7DsHhmzDBMrhLaUMQpH6qk4HxIBmO2t6pWZSeFalU-j9F4VaxzjHdGKVvfT6ja-MUrdAV7x5URDJMXcl5cdDbnK4VwQF1LPJFc57A2kz5U3XJ8xvjPHumQcg/s320/DSC00311.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5046833795603992642" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;">Hmmm... You guessed it right from the pic :) I recently (on 24th March '07) got a Pulsar 150 DTS-i for myself. Here are some pics of the cool bike. I am in awe of the design and the bike is just amazing. I can just keep going on and on about it as long possible...</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPjEbsV02sf4xube8Ba96ehRgUoedRvgpP73W9bwjWb0qABJn8jK4vSsjkU66TtVRbTPM6cE8ijDH721waCR-vQVGO8omyFxdhcwHnyrCQPr3hO4HLivxl3LFwwVXj0NzHBm9p/s1600-h/DSC00310.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPjEbsV02sf4xube8Ba96ehRgUoedRvgpP73W9bwjWb0qABJn8jK4vSsjkU66TtVRbTPM6cE8ijDH721waCR-vQVGO8omyFxdhcwHnyrCQPr3hO4HLivxl3LFwwVXj0NzHBm9p/s320/DSC00310.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5046834534338367570" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:100%;">The bike has a lot of cool and NEW features. The new features that come with the so called UG-III Pulsar are:<br /><br />1. The engine is a 149 cc compared to the 146 cc of the older 150 versions.<br /><br />2. It has a new gearbox with changed gear ratios. The gear pattern is the same as the 180 DTS-i.<br /><br />3. The bike comes with the new design at the rear with new LED tail lamps. The bike is a few inches longer than the older Pulsar (thats was cool).</span><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3wR5dBhCADXn1wh8pzXRjgToCrikfk-TCCjWdv6IpZvYdDF_rHhszekZdqtebaQC__UmDjXvUyJ7zBDZ4Gilqw0UXTLnwlWan_jwDCeao1aUGIdNSPPuIEcxKMU62WCumD_zp/s1600-h/DSC00312.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3wR5dBhCADXn1wh8pzXRjgToCrikfk-TCCjWdv6IpZvYdDF_rHhszekZdqtebaQC__UmDjXvUyJ7zBDZ4Gilqw0UXTLnwlWan_jwDCeao1aUGIdNSPPuIEcxKMU62WCumD_zp/s320/DSC00312.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5046838867960369250" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:100%;">4. The bike also comes with a digital console, which is the selling point of the bike. The console display the speed of the bike, the total distance travelled and a trip meter to calculate distance of upto 12 trips! The display also has a digital fuel level indicator. Though the RPM meter is still analog... The orange back light looks cool.</span><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC3mgGQOjpzSGSLeOH2HHbPdy3s1pKNAwKUGmC9js0mrv2xGHmcX54H5iOSbKgrw4WdREf3CWFBFYdxdhM22IB9zJqfQRpIlnx-XDveWX23nCcDSuflxTu8ynGdDka6Oja16yg/s1600-h/DSC00313.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC3mgGQOjpzSGSLeOH2HHbPdy3s1pKNAwKUGmC9js0mrv2xGHmcX54H5iOSbKgrw4WdREf3CWFBFYdxdhM22IB9zJqfQRpIlnx-XDveWX23nCcDSuflxTu8ynGdDka6Oja16yg/s320/DSC00313.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5046839361881608306" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:100%;">5. The bike has one very great feature for the first time in bikes in India. It has auto-cancelling indicators for left and right indication. The moment you complete the turn the indicators go off on their own as they are in cars!<br /><br />6. The typical problem with most bikes is that the indicator rubbers are hard and break off frequently. Then you need to fix them up with tape. But this bike comes with flexible indicator rubbers that make the indicator lamps flexible (you can actually turn them around) that don't break.<br /><br />7. Other accessories are default as is from the previos DTS-i models like alloy wheels, NitroX suspension, front disc brake and electric starter.<br /><br />8. The front of the bike has also got a bit of a change. The plastic on the previous Pulsar was flat whereas this one has an edged out sharp surface for the pilot lamps which looks cool.</span><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG4IuFqzQsAHSwMCyutKtqdzsJz9xVH2bZ7m50HoTGaMMEKvpHBmxsJWWacSvNV8WGyB5wawRtdmF8lk0Hbn5EpqlDwvLBmmcyhU41npta6nVzNaPqgf3CL080jz8cSk9ObiGn/s1600-h/DSC00314.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG4IuFqzQsAHSwMCyutKtqdzsJz9xVH2bZ7m50HoTGaMMEKvpHBmxsJWWacSvNV8WGyB5wawRtdmF8lk0Hbn5EpqlDwvLBmmcyhU41npta6nVzNaPqgf3CL080jz8cSk9ObiGn/s320/DSC00314.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5046840298184478850" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:100%;">9. The bike also has back lit switches which are convenient in the dark. This is also a first in Indian bikes...<br /><br />The price difference between the 150 and 180 versions when I bought it was just a mere 1.5 grands. I could have gone for the 180 engine but chose the 150 for its fuel efficiency. There is very less difference between the two bikes except for the 30 cc increase in power and the black look in the 180. Apart from that everything else is the same. The other thing is, looking at the traffic in the city and the kind of roads we have in Pune, a bigger engine is hardly of any use. Where would you actually open up the throttle and race? Thats what I asked myself and the answer was the 150 cc DTS-i.<br /><br />I also got a remote controlled security system fitted on the bike as an addon accessory offered by the company showroom.</span><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0sa4ZAFuz2PgSYZFGqOCRbvS6mnX2k2QUlIlHD1VDSvPYKJ20cE8t8EnEPpAO7xM0ceuURBwpjJc8v4kDyXUq4Vi6OLqwLV0u5IqKqI-i-i553g1Zl9VVfBpGcYpMx_9_Qs7z/s1600-h/DSC00315.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0sa4ZAFuz2PgSYZFGqOCRbvS6mnX2k2QUlIlHD1VDSvPYKJ20cE8t8EnEPpAO7xM0ceuURBwpjJc8v4kDyXUq4Vi6OLqwLV0u5IqKqI-i-i553g1Zl9VVfBpGcYpMx_9_Qs7z/s320/DSC00315.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5046841131408134290" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:100%;">On the whole a nice bike which costed me a whopping 63 grands (On road + accessories)... But I think its worth the price for all the features it has to offer.<br /><br />HAPPY BIKING!!!</span><br /></span>Murtaza Ghiyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12726856723000712288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22551817.post-77046692644645723742007-01-25T01:21:00.000-08:002008-11-13T12:17:42.776-08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3FYhPRcSjJ1WWmyXSxW3_YQcHHInryui4zUXWopnzsM30TvitSHlRMqipsI4DkjTULjCftT-zF1E8JhrUfybRU0yYP3ApN0iT8_qgCtSmetNeiWflCE_-mVQyMV5xLNDL4LBP/s1600-h/h802.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3FYhPRcSjJ1WWmyXSxW3_YQcHHInryui4zUXWopnzsM30TvitSHlRMqipsI4DkjTULjCftT-zF1E8JhrUfybRU0yYP3ApN0iT8_qgCtSmetNeiWflCE_-mVQyMV5xLNDL4LBP/s320/h802.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5023901098712788098" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Got a Sony Ericsson K750i :)<br /><br /></span>I recently bought a Sony Ericsson K750i. The cell is a good combination of features at that price. Well got it for ten and a half grands and additional 1 GB memory for another grand. Totals to eleven and a half grand. Thats a good price for a phone with 2 Mega-pixel camera, Radio, Media Player and Internet capabilities alongwith 1 GB of memory card... The phone sounds good and works smooth as well... The camera can take nice crisp images with 3 different image sizes. Well forgot to mention that the camera sports a 4 X digital zoom. Though not quite good at times but works fine for me. The best part about the phone is that it has a powerful flash light which can also double up as a torch. This is something very handy for taking pictures in the dark. Pictures come out really very well in the dark :) The media player plays a lot of different formats but mp3 is what is recommended. Though the phone does not play wav files and some of the midi files directly copied from the computer. The phone also is unable to play Real medi formats. Well Sony-Ericsson should do something about it... The phones memory is easily accessible once connected to the computer. The phone memory shows up as a drive in Windows and you can just drag and drop files onto the phone memory. As simple as that!<br /><br />Some of the impressive features include PhotoDJ to edit your photos, MusicDJ to create own ringtones and VideoDJ to create/edit videos. The keys of the phone are sometimes annoying but they are nice. There are a hell lot of free themes available for this phone and the phones looks cool with these themes. I have got some 60+ themes on mine! There are 3 games that came with the phone which are quite amusing and entertaining...<br /><br />All in all a nice package for a good price. What say?Murtaza Ghiyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12726856723000712288noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22551817.post-2874702143432780902007-01-08T04:55:00.001-08:002007-01-08T05:01:42.059-08:00<span style="font-size:130%;">From the Penguin's to the Windows World...</span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;">I am back to the Windows world after working with the Penguin for more than a year :) There are a lot of differences in the two but I love and hate both. While on the Penguin's side, it was just a black console with lots of white characters, here the scene is different. There are a lot more colors to add to my life now :) But I love the simplicity the Penguin offers... I will surely miss it. But I promise I will be back at it soon. I am trying to find a box with the Penguin because I feel lonely without it, I am missing it seriously...<br /><br />Well for now, I am learning to debug a driver in kernel mode. I say its a very different experience... But a learning one ;)<br /></span>Murtaza Ghiyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12726856723000712288noreply@blogger.com0