Fake money thro ATMs

I was going through the newspaper today and saw an article on the front page stating that every year crores of fake rupee notes are circulated in India. The problem now that has come to everyones attention is that the fake notes are coming out of the ATMs. I remember being told that if I wanted to be careful with regard to Fake notes then I should withdraw cash from banks and ATMs. But looks like we lost one source of money that being the ATMs, so finally everyone will start withdrawing cash from the bank branches itself.

I think the question on everyone's mind would be that how come the ATM contains fake notes. The only one who put the money are the bank people who are accompanied by the security personnel that also in an armoured vehicle. So I think the whole thing is an inside job and is easy to trace. Anyone who withdraws cash from the ATM can inform the bank about the fake notes and then check when the money was put in the ATM and who was responsible. Atleast this should help the authorities in curbing this problem.

After a week of new year

Lots of stuff happened with the beginning of the new year. Saddam Hussein's death sentence which was carried out at the end of last year has made quite a news. The new Iraqi government along with the help of the US and its allies wanted Saddam dead so early. This punishment was an easy way out for Saddam. He was tried only for some of the crimes. He was not accounted for all the injustices he had done in his life. Also hanging him on an auspicious Muslim day is not the right thing. Out of all the days in a year, they had to hang him on that one day.

Lots of other news like 2006 was named the year of Mergers in the business world (With Arcelor-Mittal merger being the main topic). Who knows this year could also be a year of mergers. I use Hutch network on my cell phone and I have been hearing about the competition that is taking place to attain the 4th largest network in India.

The CAS (Conditional Access System) boxes are to be used starting with this year in the Metros like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. But what can we say when people have started to take their own connections with Dish TV and TataSky. While the smaller cities are using the cable connections with many channels disappearing and reappearing due to the payments not paid by the local cable network operator. What a way to watch things.

This year is also contains a lot of holidays as people have been calculating it. Number of holidays in a year usually remain same. The only difference is that most of the holidays this year fall on weekdays and not on a Sunday. Hope people are already making plans.

What a beginning...

What a beginning has this been for many people. Having a 3 day weekend, then a four working day before another weekend shows up. Apart from the classic parties that people attended on New Year's eve, I think the rest of us were sleeping or atleast watching TV.

There are quite number of shows coming on the TV to keep people busy. Otherwise just pick up a novel and start reading which should keep one busy. This year Bakrid falls on January 1st, so celebrations will keep going on.

Mid December

Just another 2 weeks to go for New Years. Looks like many holidays coming up and lots of plans being made by people. Even Deep Purple is in town and the concert is on 17th December. I am sure many might go for the show. I hear that the tickets are Rs 1,200 per person. I think people will go for it as I remember that Black Eyed Peas concert was cancelled due to security threat at that time. Anyways we cannot always hide, sometimes we should have fun also.

I think the coming weekends will be entertaining as Christmas and New Years are falling on Monday. I guess there will be a lot of people who will be taking this opportunity for returning to their hometown for a small vacation. Currently not having any specific plans for New Years, but am expecting to spend some time with friends. Otherwise there is always the internet, right!!!

Entrance Exams for Colleges

It's amazing to find out that the season for Entrance Exams are here. I still try to figure out whether a student should sit and concentrate on their +2 (12th Std) Board Exams, either be State or Central board OR should be busy getting application forms filled for different Entrance Exams for colleges. The following are few entrance exams whose applications are out.

• All India Pre-Medical/Pre-Dental Entrance Examination (AIPMT 2007) application forms were out on 9th October 2006 and final submission date was 20th November 2006. The exam is on 1st April 2007 and 13th May 2007. (I find it really funny that the forms were taken so early and another thing is that the exam is on 1st April, usually board exams get over by the end of March. A small break would be really considered by the candidates.)

• All India Engineering Entrance Exam (AIEEE 2007) application form came out on 1st December 2006 and the last date for submission is 10th January 2007. The exam date is 29th April 2007.

There are many more application forms which are to come out by December end and in the month of January. Isn't life a stressful for +2 pass outs???

Ocean's 12 Laser Dance

The other day I was watching Ocean's 12 on Star Movies and that refreshed some good memories about the Laser Dance sequence. The laser dance done by the Night wolf towards the end of the movie was amazing, especially the music. When I was searching for information on that, I came to know that the music was not available on the Original Ocean's 12 Soundtrack CD.

CLICK HERE if the above video does not work

The end credits in the movie suggest that the song used was "Thé à la Menthe" by the group "La Caution". When I searched further, I found that the same song was performed by the group Nikkfurie. I would suggest people to check out and atleast once hear the song. It is musical one without lyrics but has a touch of Arabic music. It is really soothing. The laser dance sequence can be seen on Youtube.

CLICK HERE if the above video does not work

Bad condition of some Highways

A few days ago I made a road trip from Bangalore to Mangalore. The route taken was National Highway 48 (NH-48). The amount of time taken to get out of Bangalore itself was amazing. Once on the two way highway, the ride was smooth when passing Hassan. But the moment we reached Shaklespur Ghat were the road goes downhill all the way for 40 kms was a horrible experience. The quality of the road was so bad that people needed to go a 20 kmph. Lots of potholes, forget potholes... I would say the roads would be missing from the middle as the whole Base layer of the road was destroyed. At every small distance you will find some truck or the other on the side of the road having problems with the tyres or axles. I guess if I had known earlier about the bad conditions of the road, I might have flown to Mangalore or atleast taken an alternate route. I am sure lots of transport companies have been suffering because of that section of the highway. The government should start spending some time fixing up the essential highways.