Trip to Sanchi (near Bhopal)

It all started when my father was going for a training in Bhopal for two days. My mother and I went along with my father to visit places in and around Bhopal.

First Day:
We started to Sanchi at about 9:00 AM. It is about 2 hours drive there, though the distance is 46KMs. The roads were pretty bad. I never saw such bad roads in any state capital. The greenery was excellent. We went to Sanchi and spent about 2 hours there. We wanted to see the museum, but it was closed as it is on every friday.

This is the view of Sanchi Stupa #1 from the main entrance of the Sanchi Stupa complex. The history of it  can be seen in the following picture:

There are amazing lot of pictures I have taken there. But, these two are the only one I can post for now. If anybody goes to Bhopal, they should visit Sanchi. 

Galaxy S2 Internet with Airtel Mobile Office

If your internet browser doesn't work wit Airtel Mobile Office, even though you got the settings from Airtel, do the following:

1. Go to Settings -> Wirelss and Network -> Mobile Networks -> Access Point Names
2. Click Options and select New APN
3. Name it with whatever you want, let's say "Airtel"
4. Set the APN as airtelgprs.com
5. Set the APN type to Internet
6. Go back and select the new "Airtel"

That's it. You are all set to have internet on your amazing Galaxy S2 internet browser

Samsung Galaxy S2 vs iPhone4

I found an article on GSM Arena, which does a fair comparison of Samsung Galaxy S2 vs iPhone4

Galaxy S2 vs iPhone4

Long time, no see

It's been a very very long time that I had posted anything on blog. No book reviews, no movie reviews. There are many reasons for that:

1. I have been too busy these days debugging my shitty design. Once I re-designed quite a bit, it's good now. Things are smooth.

2. After Kalyan's marriage, I lost company for movies and as if someone from the sky planned it, there are no good movies either.

Now, coming to book reviews, I have been getting books at a faster rate than I can read them. Now, I have about 34 books to read still, not including the one that I am reading right now.

Anyway, latest updates are that I read:

1. Kodavatiganti Kutumbarao's collection of stories (1/6)
2. Trinity -- Leon Uris
3. The Ambler Warning, The Scorpio illusion -- Robert Ludlum
4. The Hammer of Eden -- Ken Follett
5. Cure -- Robin Cook

Right now, I am reading The Devil's Alternative (Frederick Forsyth).

Fall of Giants Review

Author: Ken Follet

Plot: Set against the backdrop of World War I, this novel deals with the lives of people:

1. William Williams called Billy Twice. Miner, who enlists in the war
2. Ethel Williams, Billy's sister
3. Earl Fitzherbert, Earl of Aberowen, who also enlists in the war
4. Maud Fitzherbert, Sister of Fitzherbert
5. Walter von Ulrich, German foreign office employee
6. Gregory Peshkov, Russian peasant
7. Lev Peshkov, brother of Gregory Peshkov

Billy Twice goes through lot of difficulties and an amazing growth once he is in the army during the war. Ethel goes on to become an M.P for Labour party from a house keeper of Fitz. Fitz's sister secretly marries Walter, who is a German. Gregory becomes a commissar in the Lenin era. Lev, escapes to US instead of Gregory before the war, as he is wanted in a murder.

Review: This book is truly an epic (with 1066 pages). It was a good ride. But, definitely not amazing. It has its moments. The author makes sure you would be in a good state of mind by the time the book ends. There is a saying in telugu "Vodalu ballu ayyayi. Ballu vodalu ayyayi", which crudely translates to "Ships becoming vehicles and Vehicles becoming ships". As indicated by the name of the novel, it is truly "Fall of Giants".

Conclusion: 3.25/5. A good read, but painfully long.

I am hungry!!!

Another "Penny wise pound foolish" news!!!!

In my old company, we were asked to come on weekends. Hmmm!!! I never liked that idea. 5 days, I work my ass off and 2 days are purely for me, me and only me. I just lie down and watch TV. When my manager used to force me to come to the office on weekends, with great reluctance I used to go. However, we were free to get food from any where. Bills were promptly paid.

Now, how about this? I ask you to come on saturdays and sundays (if possible). I will feed you with shit (called subsidized food) on saturday. Sundays, you have a bumper offer. You can call the security and you can get anything you want from a mess. "Whatever you can order" is 1 veg meals, or tiffins (God knows how many tiffins they will allow us to have).

WTF!!!!

Solution: Work from home on saturdays and sundays, till they feed us from good hotels. I am not forcing them to feed me from good hotels. But, they can't force me to come to office on weekends to feed shit. If they ask me to come on weekends even then, the solution is:

Fold your fingers and make it into a fist

Gently, I mean very gently open only the middle finger as shown in the diagram above

How to select a doctor?

When my father had a heart attack on 22nd of October, I had to learn many things about doctors and heart attacks.

Heart attack is the common name for Myocardial infarction. The details could be found in the following link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myocardial_infarction

Briefly, the following are the risk factors for heart attack:

• Diabetes (with or without insulin resistance) - the single most important risk factor for ischaemic heart disease (IHD)
• Tobacco smoking
• Hypercholesterolemia (more accurately hyperlipoproteinemia, especially high low density lipoprotein and low high density lipoprotein)
• Low HDL
• High Triglycerides
• High blood pressure
• Family history of ischaemic heart disease (IHD)
• Obesity (defined by a body mass index of more than 30 kg/m², or alternatively by waist circumference or waist-hip ratio).
• Age: Men acquire an independent risk factor at age 45, Women acquire an independent risk factor at age 55; in addition individuals acquire another independent risk factor if they have a first-degree male relative (brother, father) who suffered a coronary vascular event at or before age 55. Another independent risk factor is acquired if one has a first-degree female relative (mother, sister) who suffered a coronary vascular event at age 65 or younger.
• Hyperhomocysteinemia (high homocysteine, a toxic blood amino acid that is elevated when intakes of vitamins B₂, B₆, B₁₂ and folic acid are insufficient)
• Stress (occupations with high stress index are known to have susceptibility for atherosclerosis)
• Alcohol Studies show that prolonged exposure to high quantities of alcohol can increase the risk of heart attack
• Males are more at risk than females.

These days doctors are performing Angiogram in the first 3 - 5 hours after the attack. Angiogram is a invasive procedure, where there is a microscopic x-ray camera sent through the groin of the patient to find the possible blocks in the vessels of the heart. These blocks cause heart attack. If the blocks are simple enough (small), then an Angioplasty would be done.

An empty and collapsed balloon on a guide wire, known as a balloon catheter, is passed into the narrowed locations and then inflated to a fixed size using water pressures some 75 to 500 times normal blood pressure (6 to 20 atmospheres). The balloon crushes the fatty deposits, so opening up the blood vessel to improved flow, and the balloon is then collapsed and withdrawn.

If Angioplasty doesn't clear the blocks, then stenting is done in that vessel. A stent is an artificial 'tube' inserted into a natural passage/conduit in the body to prevent, or counteract, a disease-induced, localized flow constriction.

For more information on Angiogram:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angiogram

For more information on Angioplasty:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angioplasty

For more information on Stent:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stent

Now, let's talk about doctors (in India). In India, the following are the levels of doctors:

• MBBS -- Basic graduation. Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery
• MD/MS -- MD is Doctor of Medicine. MS is Doctor of Surgery. This is a post graduation course. One can opt out for specialization in a field at this level
• DM or DNB/MCh or DNB -- DM is Doctorate of Medicine. MCh is Doctorate of Surgery.

An MD or a DNB (general medicine or paediatrics) is the basic requirement for specialization in Cardiology, Nephrology, Neonatology, Gastro-enterology, Neurology, etc while an MS or a DNB (general surgery, ENT or Orthopaedic surgery) is the basic requirement for Neurosurgery, Urology, Cardio-thoracic & Vascular Surgery, Gastrointestinal Surgery, Paediatric Surgery, Plastic Surgery, etc.

Now, if you want to choose a good doctor, always prefer a DM. If you want a good surgeon always prefer a MCh. If possible, also look at the college from which they passed out.

The best colleges according to a survey:

1. All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi
2. Armed Forces Medical College, (AFMC), Pune
3. Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research (JIPMER), Puducherry
4. Maulana Azad Medical College, (MAMC), Delhi
5. Grant Medical College, Mumbai
6. Madras Medical College, (MMC), Chennai