Australia Network and English Music

In November 2012, Act Cable TV suddenly stopped Australia Network. After following up with them what they said that they were following "Indian Govt. direction" and they blocked the channel. I also observed they blocked QTV (Pakistan), Peace TV, RTV (Russia) but they were continuing showing DWtv (German), TV5-Monde(French), CCTV (China), NHK World(Japan). I could tolerate them no more.
When digitization of Cable Tv happened in Bengaluru (March 31,2013) there was a few days delay and I had a choice whether to go for a second connection again. IPL was also starting and two connections would be better for uninterrupted viewing at home (so I thought). The cost for 1 connection was 340 and cost for two connection was 560. Also fitting charge for new box would be 1500. Thus my yearly cost would swell from (340*12=)4080 to {1500+(560*12=6720)=}8220. I had even placed an order for a second box (without doing the calculation). But when ACT TV did a one day delay, I went online and placed order for Videocon D2H which cost me 5800 for 1 year. Now I have only one (D2H) connection and myself and my wife adjust ourselves and watch it at turns.
IPL also this year I am watching through highlights on youtube (mostly). Last year (2012) there was a craze and I used to try to watch every match. We also had two connections. The second connection was only terminated in June 2012.
Thus what I am saying stoppage of Australia Network was reason enough for me to become firm in abandoning my old address once (early 2011) and going for D2H in the next (April 2013). Already I had stopped TV watching during my SAP Certification preparation. After one failed attempt in August 31 2012, I doubled my efforts and qualified on October 17 2012. Then we had a small trip to Shirdi and Mumbai and then returned to Bengaluru October end. But from Nov beginning Australia network was blocked. I was devastated.
Let me go back to 1999 for Western music discussion. I was at Mumbai and then I bought a CD player. Actually it was CD cum cassette cum Radio player. Along with the Player, I got a few free CD's as well. It was my first experience with audio CD's. As a child I had only seen Records, audio cassettes and MW (Medium Wave) and SW(Short Wave) radio. FM radio also I first experienced it in Mumbai. As original Audio CD's were way to expensive, I bought several audio cassettes. Prominent English ones like Duran Duran, Matrix soundtrack, Boyzone to name a few. I used to listen to those. Then by the end of 1999, I had handed over that CD player to my dad and he took it to Bhubaneswar. That CD player gathered dust in Bhubaneswar till about 2006-07 when I got it to Bengaluru. Now it is gathering dust in Bengaluru as I am not using it and kept it in cold storage. Actually, the thing is we do not listen to much FM radio at home now except probably when we are driving the car.
In 2000, I requested my father to bring old two in one. Remember the red one I had discussed about earlier in another post. He brought it from Bhubaneswar to Mumbai. At Mumbai I had read about 'exchange scheme' and I got the two in one exchanged for a brand new two in one. The new two in one did not have CD player and I did not use the cassette player much.
But I had become a fan of FM radio. And Mumbai FM radio was good at that time(1999-2001). There was a lot of Western music. While on the move (either on local train or bike) I used to listen using walkman. The walkman was also a two in one but only used the radio as I knew from experience that if we get a content which is controlled elsewhere we have a lot more choice. Variety of music was available on radio. We cannot have hundreds of cassettes but the radio station may have and it can play those. Also I came to know that battery consumption was more when listening to audio cassettes. It was common sense actually. A cassette has to move to play songs. Radio is much simpler. Even now we can see that battery consumption is lesser while we listen to FM radio on mobile compared to when we play MP3 tracks (though mobile has no moving parts).
-Will continue later-
Now today I watched "Dus Kahaniyan". Small small stories made the approximately 2 hour long movie.
Watched it on D2H and I liked it.

English Music Quest

The good thing about both MTV and Channel V from 2002 till 2006 was that they used to show only English music at night/late night. And that programming during 2002-2006 was excellent according to me. Probably some westerner had decided for the same. Now, post late 2006 Indians decide what songs to be shown and it *cks. It *cks so much that I have stopped watching those Indian music channels. I even consider 9XO and VH1 India as "Indian channels".
While I was at Chennai 2002-03, I used to watch music but not on Tv. I used to watch in Yahoo Music on the internet in cyber cafes. And according to me it was great. It was great because the content was controlled from abroad and not India. In Bengaluru, the trend of watching on the net continued and I accessed blastro, youtube, NRJ, dailymotion and the like to watch music videos.
In Bengaluru, post 2007, I came across a program called "Rage" on Australia Network channel. Actually in November 2006, I made a trip to Chennai and stayed at a place where I had stayed during 2003. The place was totally renovated. What earlier was a dilapidated place was in 2006 a centrally air conditioned hotel with TV in every room. I went by bike to Chennai and stayed for a night. Morning I got up and flipped through the channels and I came across Rage on Australia network.
Initially in 2007, in Bengaluru our cable operator did not show Australia Network. Later he showed and I regularly watched rage. I even used to record the Rage program using TV Tuner. Once my laptop crashed while setting up the TV tuner and that made me to purchase desktop in May 2008. When BBC was blocked on cable, I fitted Dish Tv. But since there was no Australia Network on Dish TV , I got cable fitted along with Dish TV cable in August 2008.
It continued. Our cable operator at old address in Bengaluru also gave a 'digital set top box' and I got Australia Network through that. In December 2010, our cable operator blocked Australia Network for reasons unknown. Since we were soon to shift to new place I did not work with him and returned the set top box. In February 2011, we shifted to new place in Bengaluru. Our cable operator at new place did show Australia Network.
-Will continue above later-
Meanwhile today I have watched 2 movies. Both movies on Videocon D2H.
First movie "Mumbai Salsa". Too good movie. Shows relationships ultra-modern style.
Second movie "Agent Vinod". It is Illuminati movies. Like the banner of the same name it definitely looks like it is made by the Illuminati. There is a small Illuminati in the movie as well. "Illuminati" in the sense, they want the movie made in a certain way so that their view is perpetuated.

Channel [V] International and MCM

In Mumbai, like had discussed our cable operator 7 Star Network had a 'analog set top box offering'. In that box we used to get 7-8 channels which were kind of 'premium' channels and those were not available over the 'normal network'. One of those channels was "Channel V International". It was one of the best channels I came across and I fully enjoyed it from 1998 May till November 2001 when I shifted to new place in Mumbai. Channel V International was 'truly international' and only western music (English) was shown in that. Since the programming was done from Singapore and Hong Kong for international audience  it was of extremely high quality. Not like "Indian Channel V". Indian Channel V *ked big time. It was nowhere watchable and I could stand watching it. Channel V International was the channel for me. That proved to be my undoing because I never across Channel V International ever in my life again. I lost it forever along with my old address in Mumbai.
Meanwhile MTV had no corresponding "international MTV". It was showing a mix of Indian and Western music. In addition to MTV and Channel V, I came across another Channel in Mumbai. It was MCM. French Music Channel MCM was one of the best. God how I missed it. In my new address in Mumbai in early 2002, they were showing MCM initially but later they stopped it. When I checked with the cable operator, its name was Sai Star Network, they told that the channel is blocked from satellite. But I never saw MCM in Mumbai again. A fleeting glimpse of MCM I got in Bengaluru when I came for 2-3 days in 2002 November. After that like Channel V International, I have never seen MCM again though I have searched for the channel in the internet and found it at times and watched through streaming option. The good thing about MCM was that it showed uncensored music videos and kept the 'human spirit' alive.
Meanwhile Channel V and MTV continued to show a mix of Hindi film music and English music videos till about 2006-07 when they became "truly Indian". New Channel VH1 came in but it was not upto the mark. Programming was horrible. Proabably some Indian lady or old lady was given charge of the programming and it *ked big time.
The main feature of VH1 was that it used to show mostly old videos and videos which were a decade old. New videos which it showed used to be censored and Western lady pop stars and young male pop stars were totally getting ignored. Even now in Videocon D2H, I am getting only VH1 and 9XO. And according to me both the programming *ks big time.
-To be continued-

MTV Transformation to "Indian"

We also used to listen to Radio. Vividh Bharati channel which was broadcasted from nearby City of Cuttack uses to give latest songs in the mornings.
Also in my earlier posts I forgot to mention one thing and rather than editing earlier post I would like to mention it here. Before Cable Tv came in and the age of terrestrial transmission, during late 80's, in our town we used to get the signal of channel from Dhaka. Yes we could get the signal and folks at school would discuss about it. Most of the programming in Dhaka channel was of foreign (read Western) origin. Cable TV made it redundant.
When MTV came and then separated ways with Star Tv, it got into tie up with Doordarshan and in Second DD channel (known as DD Metro), it used to be shown in the evening for 2 hours and night 2 hours something like that. DD Metro also used to show some "Europop" show late at night. It was particularly useful for me because as I had mentioned earlier, our parents used to disconnect the cable connection frequently especially when exams were close as it might interrupt the education of kids i.e.us. Present situation of Doordarshan is that they have totally abandoned 'foreign programming' and have become 110% Indian.
When Channel V began initially I remember it used to show Indian music for sometime and then show Chinese music (and Taiwanese music). What might have happened at that time satellite might be in short supply maybe a problem with transponders or something and it had to be shared between the territories. But slowly, that problem disappeared and Indian Channel V became pure "Indian Channel V".
Also MTV and Channel V both were initially hesitant to show Hindi film music. I don't know which jumped into the bandwagon first. I think it was Channel V. Initially what might have happened that Hindi film industry would have bought advertisement slots in Channel V. Then seeing their popularity, programming would have increased. Then MTV would have followed suit. I remember MTV used to show some like Japanese Hentai cartoons in  1997. Then once they started showing Hindi film music there was no turning back. Programming went to increasing to the point it is today.
Meanwhile I shifted to Hyderabad and stayed in hostel kind of situation. I had a walkman and radio as well. I used to listen to Western music program broadcast on Short Wave late at night on All India Radio.
Bought some cassettes as well. Then in 1998, I shifted to Mumbai (earlier Bombay).
To be continued.

Western Music

I am really interested in Western Music. But our environment shapes us. And we have very little control on our environment. From 1977 when I was born till 1982 I was at Bombay (now Mumbai) and we used to make up and down trips from our native place is Orissa (now Odisha). After 1982 we shifted to Bhubaneswar i.e. state capital of Odisha.
In Bombay (late 70's) my parents had purchased a Record Player and several Records as well and it was at Bhubaneswar and gathered dust. Meanwhile technology changed in early 1980's itself and began the age of audio cassettes. We had purchased initially a flat audio cassette player. We bought a lot of audio cassettes as well. My father also purchased a car and with car soon came the cassette player in car. And during up and down trips from my grandparents place at Berhampur we used to listen to cassettes.
In late 80's my father bought a two-in-one as well. It was Philips model and red color; the flat one was also Philips make and Silver color. During the 80's we also used to listen to song program on TV (Doordarshan was the only channel) mainly "Chitrahaar". The audio cassettes we purchased were mostly Hindi audio and latest movies of that time. Though we did purchase a few English ones.
From early 90's onwards, I got more aware of my environment and was exposed to Cable TV. Cable TV ushered in the age of MTV. MTV was Music Television. Programming was 100% American initially and then Indipop also came in. In 1995-96, Channel V was formed as an offshoot of Star TV. MTV and Star TV parted ways and following that Star TV launched their own music channel.
I used to think Music means a lot like Classical, Jazz, Hindustani, Carnatic, etc. But MTV changed that perception. MTV made me realize that music was Pop, Rock, Metal, Hard Rock, rap, etc.
Meanwhile I got Record player repaired in early 1990's and used it along with a speaker and box (known as deck). It was bulky. Compared to present MP3 players and all, there was plenty of moving parts both in Record player and Audio cassettes.
I threw a lot of cassettes most often I dumped them on the side of the road. Similarly  I have thrown all the video cassettes which we had. At present we do not have any video cassettes though in my native place there would be a few audio cassettes lying around. Often "reel" in the cassettes would snap and then I used to remove the cassettes using screw divers and in case of video cassettes used to joint the reels with "quickfix" a glue. And in case of audio cassettes I used to join the reel straight into the plastic clamp.
To be Continued

Satellite Link

I had written in my earlier post about how I was after the link to satellite through dish antenna. It is actually not feasible for a person like me to possess 8-12 ft antenna. Tanks to technology antenna size got reduced to 60 cms and presently that is what I have for Videocon D2H. I was initially hesitant to fix the antenna because our managing committee in our building were taking steps to get a common antenna fixed. But last year elections happened and managing committee changed and so new committee decided against fixing common antenna as the Dish operators were not giving any discounts.
So this April I fitted my own dish for D2H on the roof. As our balcony and flat faces north west, it is not possible for the line of sight to be got.
Earlier, there was Worldspace radio and it was my satellite link. I took Worldspace Connection around September 2001 in Juhu in Mumbai. At that time probably I read about the ad in newspaper and I bought it from an electronics showroom. The technician came and gave demo. He also fitted an antenna. That antenna was like the earlier terrestrial antenna of Doordarshan but it was only smaller. He probably wanted some extra billing and so he fitted the antenna as the standard antenna coming with Worldspace could receive the signal provide it is pointed in the right direction (south east once more).
When Worldspace shut its shop on December 2009, I lost the subscription money. I had paid for renewal in probably October or November 2009. Worldspace was good. In the several years I used, I had exchanged the receiver twice and bought it twice. Which means that I had four different kind of receivers.
Initially upto 2004 the service was free at least I could get all channels in my receiver. The first receiver was heavy with FM radio and speaker. It was Hitachi make. It cost excess of 5000. After it failed I threw it away probably in 2004 (but whether in Bengaluru or Bhubaneswar I can't remember, I think I brought it to Bengaluru and threw it away).
Then in Bengaluru in 2004, I got a new receiver (BPL Sanyo make) and it was subscription based now. This receiver had speaker and was shaped like a 'two in one' but it did not have FM radio. I think I used it till 2005 and then exchanged it. The new one was again BPL Sanyo make. That receiver had metal casing and no speaker but it had AV socket connection. It was a small rectangular box shaped.
That I exchanged later around early 2006 (again BPL Sanyo model) which I used till 2009. It was fiber based and needed speaker connection through AV socket. It was still smaller one and lightest of all the models I ever had. And after the shut down, I threw the remaining equipment away.
Now, we have Internet radio which is far more greater than Worldspace and it does not need satellite. We can use mobile network for the same. More about that later.
Now, I watched two more movies. "Aatma". This is 2005 horror movie By Ramsay brothers I watched on youtube. Highly recommended. It is worth noting that movies which are not that famous are equally good if not better that bigger hit movies.
Next movie is "Chandni Chowk to China". Yes people this movie I watched for the first time today and that too on Videocon D2H. I liked it.

Cable TV to DTH Movement

By the time I landed in Bhubaneswar in 2003, Ortel had literally finished all the competition it had. Even all small Cable operators had ceased to exist. Ortel was the only Cable TV supplier in Bhubaneswar. Ok for a second lets leave Bhubaneswar and come to Bengaluru in 2005, I bough Dish Antenna, first a 60 cm one and then a 110 cm one.
Technology had changed in a decade. No longer did people require 8-12 ft dish antennas. Though big cable operators continued to have them. Small 60 cms dish was enough to get signals from satellite using KU band. The extra large dish antennas used C-Band. Also signal had changed from Analog to Digital.
But the reason for my fitting of the antenna was not met. There was no "Spice TV or Blue Spice TV" available, if you know what I mean. One guy even came and fitted the 110 cm dish but both were the same satellite. It was NSS-6 and all DD Direct Channels were in that satellite. Later, DD Direct went to Insat Satellite and Dish Tv is still with NSS-6. (I have stopped researching those).
Then I left the hostel in 2006, actually we were asked to vacate. My hostel was at National Games Village at Koramangala. It was a 7th floor flat. So I took the Dish antenna with me to my new own house and there it was kept as showpiece in the rack. The bigger 110 cm found space in the balcony.
Then in 2007, I had urge to refit the Dish antenna and it was not for the 'Spice' channels but for Oriya channel. I knew Doordarshan which earlier could manage only 1 or 2 channel expanded to 30-35 channels post DTH-Ditect to Home through satellite. There was channel for each language and region. I had fitted the antenna outside my balcony but the Society protested that the building would look ugly and so I got it fitted in the rooftop. Our building did not have roof. It had tiles and roof was kind of slanted. But there was a little walkway around those tiles and the antenna was fitted over there.
Later in 2008 August, I fitted Dish Tv in my flat but it was not my own antenna but our building had a common antenna and we were linked to that. Initially the person removed the cable and fitted the Dish TV but upon my insistence he came on  Sunday and brought both Cable and Dish Tv wires through the duct.
Meanwhile, the bigger dish, i went to JC Road (from where I had bought it) and left it out there in the open for someone to scavenge it. I did not sell it.
Later, probably in 2010, I removed the antenna I had fitted in the roof and the cable which was just hanging(there was no duct) and threw those away. Actually, one watchman took it. But I did not give the receiver. The Receiver was of Beetle make and it was good to receive Free To Air Channels.
That Receiver I threw away when I shifted in new and present house at Bengaluru. The garbage cleaning people took those away aftyer checking with us if we had "really kept it".
When we shifted house in Bengaluru in 2011, I left the Dish TV connection at old residence. It was there, the box, for a long time. But in maybe 2012-13, I threw that box away. And this month i.e. May 2013, I called up Dish TV people and told them that my account may be removed permanently from their database.
In our new house we had ACT TV, a cable TV for a long time. Later we even took two connections.
In June 2012, I cancelled one connection.
In April 2013, I cancelled the remaining connection and have taken Videocon D2H. I checked with him if two cables can come through the duct. The Act TV guy said that since the duct is too narrow, two cables would not come and thus now I have only Videocon D2H and I can watch whatever is being offered by them.
For one they are showing 7-8 Odia channels. Act TV gave 3 channels and Dish TV (at that time 2011) had 4 and DD Direct plus one channel only and our Cable TV at old house had one.

Dish antenna

I have always looked at Dish Antenna with awe. It is like our link with a satellite. Earlier to 1990, there was no Cable and Satellite TV in India. Earlier to 1982, there was no Color TV in India as well. After Asiad Games at Delhi, Color TV came into India. Earlier TV was there only in four metros. By 1984, TV had penetrated top State Capitals. I was staying in Bhubaneswar and my father had got a TV. It was CRT TV of make Konark Televisions (now defunct). Then for our extended family i.e. my grandfather and his brothers we had bought Sony TV four pieces, one for each family. Then my maternal grandfather family also bought TV's and so on.
At that time terrestrial signals were possible to received by installing antenna. It was long with protruding bars and it needed to be pointed in the right direction. It was possible to receive only one channel i.e. Doordarshan. Later after 1990 we could receive DD Metro channel which was second channel. Parallelly, in my town a local ex-army person started cable business. Another two people also started cable business. Guess it was a kind of in every locality there were at least 2-3 cable operator with limited range of operation. I had gone to his house and I saw that he received a signal it was analog signal. Plenty of dots and blemishes. In present day, signal either comes or does not come. But earlier signal even if came it could be very bleak giving a not-so-clear picture and "ghussssss" kind of sound. The antenna was also huge. Clearly it was 8-10 ft. Those antennas were huge.
Our cable operator used telephone poles to transport the cable. One fine day, telephone department cut all the wires. Then I remember, the operator put his own 'bamboo' poles and transported the cable. Area range was limited for them. It was also my 10th and 12th period. My parents used to remove the cable so that we people can concentrate on studies.
Then in 1996 I shifted to Hyderabad and was without Tv and home. Then I shifted to Mumbai and I only had cable. Then it was Chennai, where I was in hostel/single room and TV was the last thing on my mind. In 2003-04, I was at a hotel in Bhubaneswar with Ortel Connection. In 2004 I shifted to Bengaluru, and had new laptop and Cinema Paradiso shop membership and thats it.
-To be continued-

DVD, Internet and Movies

Then in April 2004, we had to vacate the hostel. I shifted to my own flat. I joined my company in June 2006. After working for five months in internal audit, I was shifted to Castle Street office. Around 2007, another organisation started business of giving DVD's on rent. The difference was, you don't need to visit the shop. The organisation was seventymm.com. How I became their member I cannot recollect. Maybe it was a direct email which I received. I registered and they collected the cheque.  I also bought DVD player of brand T Series. I bought through shopping.indiatimes.com. With the DVD player, I got free 20 DVD's of Hindi movies.
Now Seventymm would "home deliver" the DVD's right at your doorstep.My 'doorstep' was not my home but my office where I was working. That was Castle Street. Seventymm still exists but the difference is it does not do the rental business anymore. It is into online shopping now.They did not give 'imported DVD's' but they gave original DVD's, kind of what was available in malls in India for Indian audiences.
At that time (in 2007) I also experimented with online movie watching. I became a member of 'realpass' of realplayer and also 'movieflix.com' and 'moviedude.com'. Plus I watched movies on megavideo. I needed the 'uncut stuff', which seventymm did not give. Slowly, I cancelled the seventymm, realpass and movieflix memberships. I think by mid-2008, I had all cancelled. I even blocked my credit card for the same.
Later, all I had was the broadband internet and Dish TV which I took in August 2008.
In 2011, I was at my hometown of Bhubaneswar and we bought new Samsung 22" LED TV and with the TV we got 'free DVD movies' numbering around 50. I am still to watch few of those.
Now in 2013, I have the Videocon D2H; broadband internet; I can visit cinema halls occasionally based on availability of funds. (Without job my situation is tight). I have kept my desktop inside after packing it and use only laptop now. And the laptop is Compaq one I purchased in April 2012. The earlier laptop of IBM, I have disposed off for Rs25 (sold to a scrap dealer). I purchased it for 60,000+Motherboard and RAM upgrade about 18,000. So an almost 80,000 worth laptop was given away for Rs 25 only.
And day before yesterday I watched "Fatso". Nice movie. Highly recommended.
yesterday I watched "Challo Dilli". Nice movie. Highly recommended.

CD's, Movies and DTH

So that CD player was used by me for watching hell lot of movies. Especially, CD's which I had purchased. In Mumbai, only few movies I got on rent. Most were out right purchase of the CD. Now, presently I have no CD's as I threw all away. I feel CD's are a kind of "burden". You always feel that those are part of your baggage and you cannot carry those forever. So after I returned from Chennai, in late 2003, at the hotel I was staying in, I threw away all the CD's which I had purchased. But that did not mean I stopped watching movies. I still had the neighborhood CD shop. In addition to the Ortel connection, I used bring CD's on rent and watch. Compared to stuff on Cable TV, the stuff on CD's used to be uncut stuff. Worth all the value and time. Then it so happened that the CD player failed. Like all electronics item its life got over in 2003 itself and it was kept in cold storage and in late 2011, I threw it away. Actually, I kept it in a busy place and someone might have picked it up.
My father also had a Philips three-in-one and that could play Video CD's. So I used it for sometime (in 2004) in the hotel I stayed in and then I shifted to Bangalore for my MBA in June 2004. At Bengaluru, our institute gave us an IBM laptop (it was included in the fees and was mandatory). That laptop had DVD as well as CD drive. So I could play DVD's as well. I found out a neighborhood DVD rental shop "Cinema Paradiso shop". It had original DVD's imported from abroad. And those were fully foreign quality with subtitles and stuff. But then I had a craze, the craze was that we could get "adult" satellite channels through DTH. It was crazy because in this country called India, it is just not possible. The hyper/hyped up leaders of "Bharat Varsha" would not allow this. I went to JC Road in Bengaluru and first got a 60  cms dish antenna and then got it fitted to DD Direct Plus. But lo and behold there were no adult channels. After the shopkeeper advised me, I took another logical step and bought a 110 cms dish. I got it fitted at room near my room in the hostel/flat where I was allotted. The money from that came from the cancellation of membership/refund of deposit from the Cinema Paradiso shop. But in a sense it was good because ultimately, Cinema Paradiso shop shut down and I read on the net that many people did not even get back their deposits.
To be Continued.

Movies on Rent

Earlier I discussed the movies which were available to me either on TV or Movie halls and later movies on the internet broadband connection. But we should not and cannot ignore the fact that we used to watch movies "on rent". Yes people, it was 1990 and we (me and my family) visited Bombay for a few days and there my father brought a VCR (Video Cassette Recorder) and then began the process of watching movies on rent. It was through VHS cassettes (man those were bulky) on rent. We had neighborhood video cassette shop in Bhubaneswar and we used to watch the latest movies.
My father had also bought several video cassettes like"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", "Laurel&Hardy", "Charlie Chaplin" and Raj Kapoor hits", etc. which we used to watch. Later in 1993 my father disposed off that VCR(I think it was National Panasonic model). Then I used to occasionally bring VCP(Video Cassette Player) on rent along with cassettes. Later in 1995, we bought a new VCR (of BPL Sanyo make).
But then in 1996, I shifted to Hyderabad and was without house and TV. The VCR meanwhile gathered dust in my home in Bhubaneswar. In late 2011, I gave the VCR to a video shop editor who converts the Video cassettes into Video CD. Incredibly it was still working condition. I even gave my "thread ceremony" (brato-upanayana) Video cassette to make into CD, and now it is 2013 and he is yet to get back.
In 2002, when I shifted to new house in Mumbai, I got several CD's as purchase from VT area. Also there was neighbourhood CD shop. In new house we bought new Computer as well. In old house in Mumbai in 2000, I had bought a "Jadoonet" box, it was a box which made browsing possible through TV and phone line (dial-up). The jadoonet box had no memory and no CD player obviously. It costed 5000 rupees. That jadoonet box gathered dust after we bought computer in 2002 and it was finally sold to scrap dealer for Rs10-15 in Nov 2011 in Bhubaneswar.
Now CDs which I purchased in 2002, some CD's did not work in computer. So, I bought a CD player. It was a new acquisition. That CD player was used by me when I was staying in a hotel in 2003-04 in Bhubaneswar. In Chennai where I stayed 2002-03, I did not have house and was staying in hostel kind of situation and except in last two months I was in "non-TV" room.
-continued in next-

Eternal Job Quest

Hi,
Please go through my blog below:
http://scn.sap.com/community/career-center/blog/2013/04/20/sap-certification-and-beyond
Basically what I am trying to say here is that I am an SAP Certified Application Associate in Financial Accounting. And I need an entry level job into the SAP field and I can learn more and more about SAP  and use it for my and the society benefit.
Thank you.

Overweight and Stuff

When I was young i.e. pre 1996, when I was in Bhubaneswar, my pant size was 28.
I moved to Hyderabad in 1996 and when I left Hyderabad in 1998, my waist size was 32. I never paid too much attention to the weight on that period.
In 1998, I moved to Mumbai, and remember that I bought pants based on my growth from 34 to 36 to 38 to 40 to 42.
By the time I moved to Chennai in 2002, my pant size was 44 and weight was around 120 kgs.
In 2004 and 2006, my waist size remained 44 and weight had reached around 120 kgs.
I was aware of the fact that my weight remained constant for a lot of years. In December 2012, it was around 126 kgs and waist size was still 44.
My height is 185 cms and weight of 125 kgs will make my BMI 36.5. I am terrible obese and not just overweight.
In desperation, I began eating Ayur Slim Capsules from Himalaya. I ate close to 240 tablets for close to 60 days. But there was no difference and so I discontinued.
Since January 2013, I began an experiment of skipping breakfast and lunch three times in a week. It was continuing fine until my health checkup at Narayana Hrudayalaya on April 2. There the dietitian advised not to do dieting like that. In case one has to fast one should fast for only one day a week and that time one can continue to have juices. Around March end also, I stopped having rice. In the meantime I checked my weight and it looked like it had become 121 kgs.
The days I had selected for fasting were Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. I bended the rules a little bit that in case I am travelling over long distance (greater than 50-60 kms), I will not fast.
But the occassion is that today I dropped the plan to do the fast. It is after almost 4 and half months, that I have decided not to skip breakfast and lunch thrice a week anymore. I checked my weight today and it is still 125 kgs.
I had both braeakfast and lunch today.
I have kept a record and I fasted for the days in month as below:
January:14, February:9, March:12, April:13 and May:3. So officially I have ended the fasting period today. And in 2013 I fasted for a total of 51 days.
I fasted by skipping only breakfast and lunch. Morning I used to have tea and evening I used to have snacks and dinner was normal.
Mainly my reason for not fasting anymore was that maybe I thought that my body is getting weak. Not having breakfast and lunch will make me vulnerable to infection. Body needs antibodies to fight germs. Nutrition is needed to produce antibodies. That is precisely my reason for not fasting anymore. Also my weight has not changed drastically.

DISH TV and Videocon D2H

I liked Cable TV a lot. I also liked BBC World. When cable stopped transmission of BBC, I got desperate and then took DISH TV connection. Dish TV had BBC. It also had an offer. The offer was that I paid 4000, and I got 4000 worth of Movie on Demand. Each movie costed 50-80 Rupees. The time limit was till March 31, 2009. I took Dish TV on August, 2008. At that time tremendous movie watching happened. With Dish TV also programming guide returned with a bang. Without programming guide we are unaware of what program or movies are to be shown. No need to refer to newspaper now, program guide is available as a Menu option in the remote. We can see the forecast the programs for 48 hours. Earlier to Dish TV, I used to visit the websites of the channels to see the program schedule.
Then life dragged on. I got married on Feb, 2010. Then with wife I used to visit movies occasionally only on weekends as on other days I was a 'full time' employee. On Feb 2011, we shifted house in Bengaluru and came to Sarjapur Road. Obviously we did not bring Dish Tv along and we took new connection of cable ACT TV. But we got Airtel broadband and I used to watch movies in streaming mode, my preferred mode, I was not interested in collection the prints. For me once I watched a movie its utility gets over. I did not start downloading the movie files till 2012. That is when I fixed Extension in Firefox for the download.
Life dragged on once more. It was only in April 2013, that I got the good mind to fix the Videocon D2H. Videocon D2H I placed online order on 4th April. The person got it fitted on 5th April. It was then that we could truly get a HD picture on our 42 inch TV. Act TV had no HD picture quality.
Now, since April 12, 2013, I have started watching movies on Videocon D2H. The way I like it is very few ads, preferably no ads at all. Just like Dish TV movie on demand channel,  Videocon D2H has three movie channels which are completely ad-free and two channels where few ads are there once the movie commences and I watched quite a few movies. Videocon D2H also has the program guide available as a menu option in the remote but it is for 24 hour window only.
Few I will mention below (all below movies seen in April 2013 post April 12):
Le Gaya Saddam, Heroine, I Me aur Main, Toh Baat Pakki, Baghban, Singh is Kinng, Bittoo Boss, Bheja Fry 2, Hum Tum aur Ghost, Love Ke liye Kuch Bhi Karega, Stumped, HoneyMoon Travels Pvt Ltd., Blood Money, Chance Pe Dance, Dus, Just Married, Stanley Ka Dabba.
The above may not be complete list I will update as soon as I recollect. I also watched "Jacobs Ladder" which I had downloaded to computer.
Yesterday watched two movies "Do dooni Char" and "Kheley Hum Jee Jaan Sey".

TV Viewing in Tough Situations

In 2002, I left Mumbai and headed for my hometown Bhubaneswar. From Bhubaneswar, I moved to Chennai where I expected to pass the CA course which I was pursuing. I gave two attempts but it did not happen. Initially I stayed at rooms without TV but around March-April 2003, I moved to TV room. There I had found one channel Action TV(not AXN), that channel used to show uncut movies from 1970's and 80's. Afterwards I desperately tried searching for the channel but it was nowhere to be found. Then I left Chennai and after 1-2 months in Mumbai, I moved back to Bhubaneswar at around June 2003. There instead of staying at my house I stayed at a hotel room in a hotel where my father was known. At that hotel, they had conflict with the local cable operator where he did not pay dues so my father bought a special cable connection for me alongwith the TV. What happened, in Bhubaneswar over 1995-96 onwards, Ortel Communications had got complete monopoly in the State of Odisha and was not allowing any other cable operator to function. So I had to keep myself satisfied with whatever Ortel showed.
At 2004, I joined MBA in Bengaluru and was staying in flat along with 7 friends. It was a hostel kind of situation. I used to visit halls occasionally and watch the movies. But around November 2005, I bought a TV tuner and used it with the laptop and watched movies on Star TV and HBO. We had cable in our flat and I used splitter to split the cable into two which I watched.
In 2006, I moved to my own flat in Bengaluru after MBA and for 2 months totally enjoyed with new 29 Inch TV and new Cable connection. Then I joined my company Wipro in June 2006 and worked there. Timings from 8:30 till 6:00 implied that my movie watching reduced tremendously. Also at that time I was not aware that movies could be watched on the internet/broadband. When I took broadband connection in April 2006, Airtel was not offering even 1 Mbps speed. Slowly it began offering 1 Mbps and then 2 Mbps and then more but presently I have 2 Mbps speed only.
Then I realised that you do not need to watch movie on Streaming mode only, you can download it as well. Then I began to download the same and watch.
I stopped watching movies on Telly and even cinema halls.
Contd. in next post.

Quest for "Super Quality" Programs

But the new DTH regime had all restrictions in place. Programs were strictly monitored and no "illegal" programs could be shown. Meanwhile in my case, I moved to Hyderabad in 1996 and I was staying in hostel and was without TV. So I began to visit movie halls. I was staying in Kachiguda Cross Roads and just by walking one could access close to 15-20 theatres. So I saw several movies that way. Also I did not need the   "program guide" anymore. What movies were on could be known by looking and the posters available in Deccan Chronicle Newspaper (A 2-4 page spread used to come everyday).
Then I moved to Mumbai in 1998 and our flat was at Juhu. Since it was own flat, I got my own TV and own Cable connection. Our cable connection was part of 7Star Network a local cable operator catering to areas like Juhu, Versova, Andheri (West). In Juhu, there was a local CD/Video Cassatte shop who was the partner for 7Star and he use to show "uncensored movies" through Laser Disk, CD. He had given a "Set-top" box which was analogue one not like these days "digital boxes". One could have a basic cable connection or one could have the Set top box for which there were additional costs. I recollect the box was Rs 4200 and every three or six months he used to take additional money in addition to normal cable fees.
In Mumbai, later I moved from Juhu to Kandivli, there was no set top box at that time in 2002 in Kandivli. But initially the cable operator used to show "Japanese adult channels" late at night. No box was required for the same. Then mysteriously it stopped. What might have happened some "old man" or "Old retired man" might have seen it and complained and then the cable operator would have no option but to block it.
To be continued in next post.

Videocon D2H and movies

I have personally felt that movies are a good way to spend the time. When I was very young there was no Cable or Satellite TV all we had was Doordarshan and there used to movies once or twice a week and we used to see that. Going to cinema halls was even lesser. Slowly after 1991 Cable TV arrived in India, and with that a lot of movies. I used to run after a little book called "Programme Guide" and our Cable TV person used to supply it. That program guide consisted of all the programs and movies that were to be shown over 30 day period.
Initially, the Satellite channels use to show uncensored movies with lot of "adult stuff." At that time Rupert Murdoch owned Star TV was the numero uno. It wanted to introduce "Direct to Home" channels but uplinking was to be from abroad like Singapore or Hong Kong. The Govt of India tightened its screws post 1996 and outlawed the same. It made "illegal" any attempt to install that equipment. I remember there was widespread coverage in mass media regarding the same. Effectively the Govt. made it a crime to possess the equipment which would make available programs "Direct to home" uplinking from abroad. It also placed restrictions on foreigners owning Indian channels and broadcasting companies.
Then it also banned adult programs and thus began the "Indian age" where only censored programs was available on Cable and Satellite. Slowly, India progressed a bit and India had her own satellites and uplinking facilities from India itself. Doordarshan had its own DTH i.e. Direct To Home which was "free to air".
To be continued in next.

My Tryst with Not Shaving

I have not lived without shaving. I have seen most of my family members clean-shaven since childhood. Few have moustaches and even fewer have beards. So it was but natural that I would also be clean shaven. My attempt since childhood has to get rid of my facial hair.
First I used my fathers old blades, what happened in twin blades small hair used to get stuck between the two blades. I would remove the hairs and then use the blades.
Next I used to go the saloon in my hometown of Bhubaneswar and get my self shaved. The barber used to ask if he would leave out the moustache then I used to say, that I came to you to get rid of that only.
Later I started shaving myself with my own blade. First it was single blade and then on my fathers advice I went for twin blades. Earlier I use to shave once every three-four days and then it was every alternate day and then it became a daily affair.
Never I could live without shaving for more than a week. I would be getting the feeling when do I get rid of the facial hair. (Maybe only twice or thrice has the period gone to a week).
Last few days I tried not to shave a certain position of my face which would make it a "French beard". But after 2 days I clean shaved myself. Then over last one week, I did not shave my moustache area. But it is not possible anymore. Just now before 15 minutes, I removed my moustache and have become clean shaven like I always was. Thats the way I like it clean shaven. It is just like my grandfather and father and most in my family have been.
People who do not shave most probably do not know how to shave, or do not want to keep themselves clean, or do not want to spend additional effort for the same or probable need the beard due to environmental factors, like too hot or too cold.

A New Beginning

On Sunday 5th May, I deleted my twitter account and facebook account. But it would take 14 days for facebook and 30 days for twitter to get deleted permanently.

Today I have begun the blogspot account and I will post the "Latest and Last movies watched".

On Sunday watched the movie "Joker". *ing Akshay Kumar.

On Monday watched "China-Gate".

Yesterday, i.e. Tuesday watched two movies, "Namastey London" and "Chalte Chalte".