Pune, what is supposed to be am emerging IT city of India with lot of companies opening up a office here. The internet connection remains a main concern here. Just shifted from Mumbai to Pune and its like a village. I have tried almost all options for internet and none of them worked. Slow or very slow, that’s the best you can get here in Wakad – Pune. So goes the “Internet woes in Pune – Wakad”.

Here are the options and my reviews on tried and tested Internet options:

1. Tata Photon+
The first thing I tried here, since it worked very well in Mumbai and had an awesome surfing from this. Also used to download occasionally.
Speed in Mumbai : 1mbps – 2mbps
Speed in Wakad (Pune) : 56 kbps – 200 kbps

I tried to raise ticket and all they did was closed it after a week. The speed is good in other parts of pune like Baner, Hinjewadi. Looks like they have not upgraded the tower in Wakad.

2. Airtel Broadband
Airtel has descent surfing speed, but there is no Airtel in the apartment where I am staying. Once of the premium residence in Wakad and no lines of Airtel here. Looks like it will take another year to come.

3. Airtel 3G
Pathetic, shame on the name of 3G. DO NOT use it. The speed is less than of 2G. If you are lucky sometimes in night the speed is good. But very rare.

4. Vodafone 3G
Vodafone has coverage issues in Pune, they are still covering the areas. 3G is like 2G, opt only if you have full signal in your residence.

5. Idea 3G
This one is the best option till now. But not consistent but still much better than Vodafone, Airtel 3G. The download speed varies from worst 1-10KB/s to 200-300 KB/s
Ideal for surfing. Best if you are accessing internet via smartphone.

6. Reliance/Tata Indicom 3G/Cellone 3G
Nor proper coverage, so not tested yet

7. BSNL Broadband
They have no lines in Wakad. Suffer in Silence

8. Tikona Broadband
They have no lines to my residence. Again unlucky me.

9. You Broadband/Hathaway/Etc
They still need to come to our Wakad.

The conclusion is if you are in Wakad and there is no Airtel Broadband. Your life is going to be like hell. Either change your residence or make sure that you have a descent internet before shifting. These observations are of May 2013.

So, I finally made it to Hyderabad. My first Visit to Hyderabad. Not that I have been waiting to go there but got an official reason to go there and also meet my fiance there. So, couldn’t be better. As a city has it plus and cons. Hyderabad was better than expected. Traffics are awesome here, they have well built roads here so traffic jams are not so much here.

Here is the glimpse what I explored in Hyderabad, mostly food

1) Hussain Sagar Lake – A peaceful location, there is a big food court where you can sit and have food. There is boating as well.

2) The famous Chicken Biryani from Paradise – Have been a big fan of Chicken Biryani, finally got the honor to taste from the best.

3) View form STPI Hyderbad (Jubliee Hills Office) - Awesome

4) At STPI Hyderabad Office

5) Had amazing Coffee, Pie & Muffins here -

6) At STQC Hyderabad -

7) At Hyderabad Airport -

Traffic is awesome in Hyderabad, well managed and less jams even in peak hours. Road Rage is little less and they have built Ring road to escape from city traffic in few parts. One being the one to reach Airport.

Information Security is a complex system comprising of hardware, software & wetware. Hardware includes the computer systems that we use to support our environments. Software includes all of the code, databases, and applications that we use to secure the data. Wetware includes policies, procedures, training, and other aspects that rely on people. Protecting confidential information is a business requirement, and in many cases also an ethical and legal requirement. The field of information security has grown and evolved significantly in recent years.

We have been thinking about information security for literally thousands of years. Yes, thousands of years ago we did not have computers, but we had information in hard copy to protect and there were mechanisms. Caesar’s encryption method is one of the oldest encryption methods known to humanity. It’s origin is to be found in the first century BC. As it’s name suggests, the inventor (or at least the first known user) of this method was the Roman emperor Julius Caesar. He needed this method to be able to send messages to his officers who could be fighting more than a 1000 miles away from Caesar. To prevent the information from falling in the hands of the enemies, he needed some kind of encryption. What he came up with was genius and yet simple to use.

The world has evolved since Julius Caesar, as has, thankfully, information security. Regardless of the exact mechanism used, the goals have always been the same – protect the information. We like to think that we keep evolving. That is one of the secrets to a long lifespan of a species – the ability to evolve. The birth of the Internet brought huge changes in the way people consume data, and along with it a giant evolution in the world of information security.

Here are some tips and questions we should ask in our organization to help protect our business and customers’ privacy online:

Do we tell your employees to keep a clean machine?
Many software programs will automatically connect and update to defend against known risks. Turn on automatic updates if that’s an available option. Having the latest security software, web browser, and operating system are the best defenses against viruses, malware, and other online threats.

Our company is only as secure as our employee wants to be.
Making sure our employees are stewards of personal and company data. Employees should know not to open suspicious links in email, tweets, posts, online ads, popups, messages or attachments – even if they know the source. Employees should also be instructed about company’s spam filters and how to use them to prevent unwanted, harmful email and report such cases to the administrator

Does our company have an online privacy policy?
Developing these policies can help set the standard for a culture of privacy. If we already have policies in place, review and updating them to ensure they address current threats and best practices in current scenario. With security evolving, hackers evolve too. And every employee must be made aware of these policies.

Are our employees trained to maintain company privacy standards?
Conducting employee training on privacy as it relates to employment, helping employees learn how to protect the privacy of clients’ and customers’ personal information and teaching employees how to manage their own privacy at work.

Do we remind our employees to make their passwords long, strong and unique?
Making passwords long and strong, with a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols, along with changing them routinely and keeping them private are the easiest and most effective steps our employees can take to protect your data.

Do we show our commitment to privacy?
Participate in activities such as Data Privacy Day and attend various seminars and conferences on Information Security to demonstrate our business’ commitment to security.

My second winter with no winters! I thought it would be only – My first winter with no winters ! Looks like here is another one and more to come.

Winters have always been my favorite.I have been missing it a lot more lately. Gone or the days when I used to wear jacket. The strange part is that people here are quite well adjusted and love the weather. It true on night the weather becomes awesome but still far far away to be called Winters. Being close to the shores, it is never cold. Even Pune is better than here.

Here is me when I was for my Friends Wedding in Delhi in jacket and then suit in evening

Well as they say you have to live with it and I have too. So, I don’t have to waiting as winters will never come here.

Evening view from my flat:

Did I mention, this place is still – Mumbai

How many times you check the name on your luggage while collecting it from arrival airport? Well, I never do. I find it very low probability of bags, briefcases to be same to same. But sometimes probability offers the other side as well.

Anyways I was wrong on 9th November 2012 at Varanasi Airport. I had just landed and was excited to go home so much that I forgot, I had picked up wrong luggage and was heading back to my home.. 230 kms from airport. My cell was switched off. I reached home around 6 pm and as I opened the bag. I was surprise to see it filled up with Teddy Bears and other girl stuff. I then checked the names. Omg that was some one else.
That bag had some of the awesome jackets. I called the landline number immediately, from which I had many miss calls. It was of Air India.
I reported the incident immediately and they where quite cooperative.

Next day our driver had a pick up from same airport. I gave him an application with boarding pass.

It worked. He got my bag and returned the wrong one. Phew!
I was so relieved when I received the bag next day.

Moral – Always check names on tag while collecting bags on Arrivals

Shaktinagar, my place of birth. Shaktinagar is a small town in Sonbhadra, Mirzapur Division, Uttar Pradesh near Varanasi, India.The Pin Code of Shaktinagar is 231222

Back in 2004 when there used to be orkut and dew people had registered on it. It had a community Shaktinagar with less than 50 members. Mostly college or working people who were tech-savvy. Shaktinagar was not there on Google Map. It was added around in 2009. Now we even have a Wikipedia page. I have been in Shaktinagar from 1985 to 2004. Sadly my Dad moved to Rihandnagar and visit to Shaktinagar has been obselete now.

I would be covering most of the places, of which I have snaps one by one.

1. SJS Shaktinagar

2. Chilka Lake Park

3. Gossip Point

4. Shiv Mandir

5. Jwala Mukhi Mandir

6. Sunday Market(for vegetables)

7. Sangam Shopping Center

8. Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium

9. Guest House

10. Indian Coffee House

11. Railway Station

12. Helipad

13. Bus-Station

For dining you can opt for Indian Coffee House(above SBI), Upvan, Panchwati, Shakti Restaurant, Moti Dhabha. Places to visit nearby are Vendam fall(110 km), Gopat, Manda stream, Manda caves(60 km), Vindhyanagar Park, Rihandnagar, etc

Shaktinagar – Sonbhadra(UP) – NTPC

The Indiblogger Meet at Grand Hyatt, Mumbai was indeed a big surprise from IndiBlogger team. Just within one month from last Bloggers meet. Also surprisingly the seats were filled up in just few hours. I was fast enough to communicate the same to my bloggers friends – Keyur & Tabrej to register for the same. It was my 3rd IndiBlogger meet.

The meet was sponsored by Vodafone featuring the VodafoneSpeedFest which was later in evening at 6:30 PM. The venue was well organized like always. This is something which Indibloggers takes well care of for the bloggers.

There was a Formula 1 Simulator, placed outside for bloggers to experience the motion simulation. I did get my hands on it. with just one shot I crashed just within a minute. Luckily after crash we were not thrown in the air

Proceeding to the meet, the entrance was quite strict and only members on the registered list were given entry. This was quite strict from Indiblogger Team. I did see people who were trying to barge in, despite the notice of Indiblogger that entry would be only to the registered bloggers only. Anyways, registration followed a seal on hand to authenticate for entry, in case you went outside. Lewis Hamilton had a delayed arrival due to delay in his flight.

Strangely, I saw few bloggers wearing t-shirts from #Nokiaapptasting. It was kind of strange. Come on guys, sponsored by Vodafone and you came wearing a T-shirt written with NOKIA all over it. Gladly it was Nokia and not Airtel or I am sure Vodafone Team would have not allowed them to enter the event.

As usual this time we started with grand applause and Cheering and then 30 Seconds Of Intro. One by one. Most of the bloggers just gave the intro one by one from their seats. It has always been nice to know other intellects in one place face to face. There were lot of giveaways as usual to interesting intros.

After the intro round, a delicious lunch was served.

After lunch, the intro round was cut short. Vodafone Marketing Heading was bold enough to come ahead and introduce himself and asked for any queries or questions. Many people were not happy with 3G or blah blah problems. But, I have been happy customer of Vodafone from last 5 years. I have 2 numbers of Vodafone – One of Delhi(Roaming) and one of Mumbai. 3G is a start in India and In Mumbai it is better than Airtel. No problem for me. Yes unlimited downloads will take time we will have to wait for it. Few funny tweets cheered everyone

Lewis Hamilton was late to arrive. Many Bloggers were wondering if he was to arrive in first place. But as were trying to time pass he gave a surprise and arrived

He could just answer few questions before crowd tried to get too much closer and he left with his body guards.

More snaps from the events:

The lucky IndiBlogger – Wafa Haji was the chosen one to get strapped in next to Lewis Hamilton in F1 race.

Bloggers then headed for the VodafoneSpeedFest. IndiBlogger arranged 2 IndiBus between Grand Hyatt and BKC, for those who did not have own vehicles. Indiblogger team took care of everything as always. Unfortunately I had some work and I left from there to my place directly. Special thanks to Tabrej for the ride once again.

Thanks Indiblogger