Passport

Here are few tips if you are visiting the Regional Passport Office in Bangalore.

1. Website - http://rpobangalore.gov.in. Has a good amount of info.
2. Photocopies – take 3 photocopies of all proof documents. 2 copies have to be submitted along with the application. Original bank statements need to be submitted; they are not handed back. Submit photocopies of other documents.
3. Time - try getting the appointment online. Be aware that the application is buggy - I tried 15 times and always got the "Try again" page. The counter for the tokens opens at 9.30 am and people start queuing for it from 5.30 am. A Rs. 200 bribe to the constable can sometimes get you in, but not always. I started at 8 am and the token number was assigned at 11 am. The token counter closes at 12 and it’s up to the officer to give tokens to people still standing in the queue. I was able to leave for home only at 4 pm.
4. Workflow –

• Queue up for token number
• Get the token number
• Enter the building ground floor
• rest for 10 mins
• Move towards right side wall and get the documents verified. To reduce the time at the counters this additional ‘pinning’ step has been introduced. Handover only the photocopies and the original bank statements and they will be stapled together.
• Wait for the token number to be called out
• Hand over the verified documents. Display the originals for proof.
• Wait for the second verification to happen. This will be done by a separate counter. Documents will be handed back to you if it’s Tatkal. For normal applications the fee might be collected here.
• Go to the Assistant Passport Officer on the first floor. You will be given a promised dispatch date for passport
• Queue up for paying the application fees and handing over the application and documents.

The steps in bold are the ones where you’d need to queue.

5. Lunch - sometime between 1.30 to 2.30.


6. Passport size photographs – 5 in total. 3 to be carried to the RPO and 2 for the police verification later on.


7. Food – carry a bottle of water and biscuits/sweets. Go out for lunch when the counter is closed.


8. Affidavit – Koramangala Registrar’s office is close by, 10-15 mins by bike. Get any affidavits from there.


9. Try to ensure that the address in the bank account, election id etc are same. The address in my account statement can be used to locate my house easily. The one in the election id is difficult to trace. I gave the election id as proof of address thinking its a government recognized address and faced 2 problems:

• Had to collect the passport from the speed post office
• The police station had difficulty in locating my house

Missed calls

"Got to go to the office now. See you in the evening dear."

"Remember to call!"

"Ok. I'll give a missed call once I reach office."

"Let me know when are going for lunch. Give me a missed call then"

"Ok dear. When I'm leaving office I'll give a missed call on the land line. If I'm going to be late I'll give a missed call on your mobile"

*************************************************************************************

"Dont pick up the phone yet"

"Why not"

"I want to know the number of rings if its a missed call"

"Aunt, do you and uncle have a missed call code?"

"Hehehe. Yep. 1 ring for I miss you. 2 for I love you. 3 for I am having breakfast/lunch/dinner and 4 for Good night. There were 3 rings that time, your uncles having dinner. It will ring 4 times in an hour so"

Ajab Prem Ki Gajab Kahani

Delightful. Its hard not to grab your stomach and laugh out loud. Usually the interesting parts of the movie are used for the trailer and watching the movie becomes a 'fill up the blanks'. Thats not the case with Ajab Prem ki Kajab Kahani. The movie will push audience to forgive Ranbir Kapoor for the towel dance and Katrina Kaif for her movies before New York. Rajkumar Santoshi has produced a rib-tickling comedy completely different from his Andaz Apna Apna. The movie fits in nicely with the string of quality productions by Bollywood. Dont download this movie, watch it on the big screen.

know thyself

Remember the java coaching mentioned in a previous post? P is senior to me, has sound knowledge of Java and is a very good manager. He is leading the initiative. P came up to me today to talk.

P: Hey, I have the habit of barging into conversations and stating my views. Its one of my weaknessed. Do you... find it irritating?

(I left a previous session when P starting talking to my class, and generally do not have my happy face on when he starts to speak)

Me: (with a smile) To be honest, I was irritated the first couple of times. I understand now you did not mean to interrupt me. I liked it when you gave the examples today.

P: Great! Thanks. Good to know.


This conversation could have taken a completely different turn if P were not aware of his behaviour or I had confronted him and not listen to what he had to say.

Solar water cooler

Last year:
1. Open hot water tap. Water too hot.
2. Open cold water tap. Water still hot.
3. Open cold all the way. Done.

This year:

1. Open hot water tap. Water too hot.
2. Open cold water tap. Water still hot.
3. Open cold all the way. Water still hot.
4. Close hot water a little bit. Water still hot.
5. Close hot water all the way. Water still hot.

We need a solar water cooler now.

New language

I've wanted to learn PHP for sometime now and started reading through the basic material at w3cschools today. Having used Java for the past 5 years PHP seems a fairly easy language to pick up. Going though the materials, and the fact that I'm training a few colleagues in Java, led me to draw this mind map:


I intend to use it whenever I start learing a new language.

Zoho - a 30 min review

Thanks Lochan for introducing me to Zoho. Heres a short review, written and shared using Zoho Writer

The good things:

1. I was able to use my google acccount to login - cannot stand yet another logon account
2. Zoho is great for students and people like me who cannot afford to buy a copy of Microsoft Office
3. Great editor - easy to use
4. Many important features are available, even in offline mode.
5. Can publish easily to four of the main blog sites - you can add others as well.
   

Areas for improvement:

1. Requires connection to the internet
   • Preferably broadband? - havent tried with a slower connection
     
2. Javascript driven
   • Google chrome is supposed to have the fastest javascript engine
   • The code is open to everyone - how is the implementation hidden?
3. Percentage of boxes/computers which access the internet
   • This will be a very low number
   • Biggest deterrent for someone to use zoho - document cannot be saved as a word doc. Is there any other way to share this document with others? - oops, found the Export button. How did I miss that? PDF format! Even word does not allow me to do this! - Oh well, the doc export is crap. PDF looks fine.
     
4. Is autosave feature available? - looks like it
5. Uses Google Gears for offline mode - increases Google's monopoly