Two golden rules of the CPI (M)

The CPI (M) expects its associates to comply with the following golden rules:

• Hock your tongue to the party when you are selected for a post, provided you belong to the minority ingroup. If you speak, disciplinary action follows. If you want to be a permanent party figure, flog your tongue instead.
• Back the party and the leaders of the majority ingroup, however vitiated they may be. The more you fend for them, the greater you become. For example, E. P. Jayarajan, M. V. Jayarajan, and P. Jayarajan.
  

To end the crisis, the following options may be considered:

• Disband the politburo or ask Prakash Karat and company to read/watch good newspapers/channels.
• Expel V. S. Achuthanandan as chief minister.
• Expel Pinarayi Vijayan from the party.

Deshabhimani newspaper sells hotdogs!

An interesting news appeared in yesterday's Deshabhimani newspaper. The front page news details a record created by a foreigner in an eating contest. The paper says the man ate the meat (flesh) of 68 dogs. By doing so, the man surpassed his own record of 66 dogs. Actually, it was a hotdog eating contest! The paper translated the news from an English website and the silly billies who translated, edited, and approved the pages thought it actually was the meat of dogs! The paper carried a note of regret today. The funniest thing is that the paper tries to educate the readers what a hotdog really is!

To read the paper report, click here. To read the apology, click here.

Review: Samsung Star mobile phone - GTS5233A

It was more than a month ago that I bought this mobile handset, the Samsung GTS5233A, more populalry known as the Star. Since I am not inclined to use 3G, I did not opt for Star 3G. I was intentionally taking some time before reviewing it here. I have not used the phone's browser, MMS etc yet, but that is not what I bought it for. Why Samsung? Well, a few of my colleagues had it, and I was always attracted by the graphics used in it. Why touchscreen? Ah... just a craze; but a good one I now feel.

The phone uses Samsung's TouchWiz user interface, which is stylish and elegant. The design makes it big and broad, yet slim. Following are the pros and cons of it, which I have recognised thus far:

Pros

• Design: Stylish and slim
  
• Display: Large and bright display
  
• Widgets: For almost everything
  
• Interface: Easy to understand and well defined graphics and text
  
• Qwerty keypad: Very useful for typing messages
• Writing box: Scribble text in your own handwriting. The phone identifies it. A bit tough for first time (and second time!) users though!
  
• Battery back up: Great! I went without charging for 4 days on the trot with heavy usage.
  
• Charging time: Very less
  
• Home screens: You can easily switch among three different home screens. Can place widgets in any home screen.
  
• Fake call: The phone will call you automatically!
• Reject list: Automatically rejects unwanted incoming calls
  
• Accelerometer: Screen adjusts automatically through a motion sensor. Display style changes when the phone is kept vertical and horizontal. Also, the images move back and forth when you slightly tilt the phone.
  
• Alarms: 10 of them, to disturb your dreams!
  
• Call log: Stores almost everything!
  
• Smart unlock: Easily go to an application without even unlocking the phone. Just draw a character on the screen!
  
• External memory slot: Supports up to 8GB, microSD card
  
• Memos and tasks: 100 each
  
• Photo contacts: Not a very useful feature, but a good one to have.
• Music player: Plenty of sorting options, good set of equalisers
• Photo edits: Self explanatory
  
• Smile shot: Mobile camera captures your snap only when you smile
• Price tag: Bought it for INR 9600; IT IS cheap.
• Safety cover: Phone comes with an additional cover that protects the screen
  

Cons

• No call recording: Call recording must have been there! :-(
• Permanet widget items: Cannot remove certain widget items from the widget bar; like games, FM radio, and music player.
• No 'Three Wallpapers': Cannot set different single wallpapers for each home screen directly. If you apply a wallpaper, it is loaded in the central home screen and the other screens display only a white colour. But you can create wallpapers to fit in all the three home screens.
• No flash: Would have been better if it were there
• Custom themes: Cannot set your own themes. The phone has only two themes by default.
• Bulky and separate stylus: The design of the stylus is bad, which makes it a burden to tag to the phone.
• No custom equaliser: Can use only the pre-loaded ones
• Wallpaper size: When an image is to be applied as wallpaper, it has to be adjusted manually to make it screen fit.
• Misplaced memory card slot: Need to remove the battery to insert or remove the memory card
• Restart: Phone automatically restarts when a corrupted music file is played
  
• Switch on time: Takes a bit longer than other phones to come to a usable state after it is switched on
• No text navigation: There are no soft buttons to navigate to the required part (for editing/deleting) of a word when you input text. You need to touch the required part, which is difficult.
  

Verdict

No item in the Cons list makes the phone a bad buy! But most of the items in the Pros list will make you feel so eager to own one. The battery back up and charging time are essentially the two best features that make you feel much more comfortable. Samsung has done well in producing a quality calling device that does not founder when loaded heavily with other features. I have possessed Nokia, LG, Motorola, and Sony Ericsson handsets before, but this one undobtedly is the best I have ever had!

Photo: in.samsungmobile.com

What was Yusuf Pathan for?

It is time Team India thought about their batting order, at least in one day internationals and T20s. I was perplexed by seeing the Indian team and the batting order in its second Super 8 match, against England. The two changes seemed senseless. Irfan and Ojha had been bowling well and they were replaced with similar kinds of players. Dhoni even said during the toss that the two omissions were not based on performance, but was based on the overall team structure. I wonder what that was, with a left arm seamer (Irfan) being replaced with another left arm seamer (RP Singh), and a left arm spinner (Ojha) being replaced with another left arm spinner (Jadeja). Of these changes, one all-rounder (Irfan) was replaced with another (Jadeja). RP should have come in for the out-of-form Ishant Sharma.

One thing I still can't digest is the batting position given to Yusuf Pathan. He is an ideal number 4 batsman, at least in T20s. You get only 20 overs to bat, and you need players like Yusuf consume as much balls as possible. Based on the recent form and player profile, India could have sent in Yuvraj at 3 and Yusuf at 4. All other teams like to play their big hitters up the batting order, like Wright for England, Gayle for Windies, and AB for Proteas. See what the Indian team management did - they sent Yusuf in at 7 and he managed to get just 17 balls in the end - just 17! They must have been preserving his big hitting for the end - thank god, they sent him ahead of RP at least!

Need taxi in Trivandrum? Dial 2453553

Most people who have come to Trivandrum; especially those that live here, must be fed up with the unusual taxi fares in the city. Many have at least once argued with drivers over taxi fares. The government decides a rate, and the drivers decide another. If you cannot pay the driver's rate, you may look for another alternative. Since that alternative is not available, you are forced to pay them the rate they ask for. I once sought the help of a traffic police constable in such a situation and even he could not help me out. The policeman argued with drivers for about 15 minutes, and finally I gave up on it. All these years, people were forced to yield to their demand as there was no alternative. For example, for a distance of 8 kilometers in the city, the original rate (as decided by the state) comes to around Rs 120. But taxi drivers demand between 200 and 300.

But now, you have an alternative! I found this great service by Celcabs. All you need is to dial 04712453553. They will ask about the trip details including date and time. You can enquire about the rates and get the exact figure by quoting the running kilometers. The taxi will come at the specified location to pick you up and the meter reading is counted between the two points of your journey. So, if you want to go to Technopark from Ulloor, and suppose the car comes from Palayam, you don't need to pay for the journey from Palayam to Technopark. You have to pay only for the trip from Ulloor to Technopark. I think that defines this useful service. Drivers do not demand anything more. Additionally, you will get sms' from Celcabs after vehicle booking and journey end. Vehicle and driver details are sent to you in the first sms and your feedback is requested in the second. They also go to other locations, beyond the city limit, at special rates. So, the next time you want to hire a taxi, consider making use of this service which helps you not only to save your money, but also to avoid tough driver dealings.

Before this post ends, for the example of 8 kilometer journey that I quoted above, Celcabs charges you only Rs 115!