Which BSNL 3G Data Plan is the best? Find it out here!!

Been a while since I've blogged something. Though a tech lover and an enthusiast, I've never tried my hands on tech blogging. Let me take you to what I've got to say.

You might have already heard that BSNL has revoked all 2G data plans from 15th Aug, 2013. Now there is no 2G and 3G distinction across BSNL networks. That means, all BSNL customers using data packs will automatically be converted to 3G customers. BSNL now offers 3G data plans at almost half the earlier rates. This is one SMS I received from BSNL regarding the new data plans.

At first I did the tiny Rs. 14 plan for testing the speed. Got some what good download speed which almost hit 6 Mbps, but the upload speed was kind of pathetic. Here comes a screenshot from speedtest.net

Next thing I did was to select the most appropriate plan by doing a cost analysis. I left the jumbo plans like DATA 561 and DATA 1011 for the study, as I am anyways not going to spend 500+ bucks for a mobile internet. And this's what I have to say.

So, I recommend DATA 252 even though I personally did DATA 139 plan. Rest is up to you. Choose the most appropriate plan on the basis of your usage.

 Thanks for listening.
 Aravind H.

My life at SCMS, so far!!

I had to give much thought before I made up my mind and joined SCMS. Clueless on what to do next, I swayed between the options of getting a job, spending a year for CAT coaching or to go on with joining a post grad programme. When dad paid the first instalment of my college fee, I had a vague idea where I'll be spending the next two years.Finally the day came, 16th of July. I dont think I'd forget the date tilll the day comes when I grow green tails. I reached on time, and I had my whole family waving me off like some bollywood bride leaving home. Whole family came along with me to wave me off. I reached there, there was standing a guy with familiar face whom I was very sure that I have met him somewhere in recently few days back. Yes, that was Sharvin who was there along with me in my same group for the GD/PI conducted by college. The first response that came from his side was ‘Aliyaa..Neeyo?’ I nodded yes and then my parents were busy watching their son’s room. But the 3rd guy who was meant to be Sharvin’s n my roommate was missing.

Day 1,  We were on time, thanks to the mad rush that started at 6.30 in the morning. The dressing up, or rather making myself presentable was just like reliving a scene out of three idiots. As expected, we had a speaker to boost our morale with the welcome speech, but contrary to public expectations, the speech was rather good. Amazing, in fact. Then we were shuffled into three groups of 60 each and were given biriyani for lunch and we were left to ourselves afterwords. I must say, it does look promising at first. Although I know I shouldnt be making conclusions already.

A couple of us, decided it was time for some sightseeing and we went towards the promising haven for travelers: Fort Kochi. We got to know each other and there was this bonding happening between ourselves, where we all came from different background and taken under one big nest. I reached back, but my mind kept drifting to that '' phantom roommate'' no one saw yet. Sharvin and I secretly wished for him to be a nerd, so as to transfer the motivation to study in us. Yes, that’s exactly what I said. All we had was his name, Ananthakrishnan which Sharvin found out from our warden. Not very helping. we had to wait to see if my gut feeling was right about him being a nerd. Maybe I shouldn’t invest my thoughts in this direction.

Well, Sharvin and I warmed up pretty soon, and together (of course!) we made a mental note of the good looking chicks in class. Since our seating arrangement was according to the admission number, I got a spot between Priyatha and Jithin. They are the opposite poles when it comes to communication, I'd say. She likes to talk while he keeps to himself. Priyatha had to discontinue the course as she found it to be entirely different from the topics she had for her grad. I had to share my left side to an empty chair for the rest of foundation programme. I filled the gap by communicating non-verbally to Sharvin who was sitting on the other side of the class. And talking about the academics at the foundation programme, I was blowed by Appala Raju sir's class, who is the HOD for Finance in our college. His teaching philosophy is to give complete clarity and understanding to the student, without which he believes his teaching is incomplete. I agree to it with the whole of my heart. As this blog is not academic oriented, I wont be getting into that part now. 

It was on the next day the concept of Mentoring and IMLP were introduced to us. Mentoring is a process by which a faculty will lead a group of members throughout for the next two years, for the further development of our skills. And IMLP (Integrated Management Learning Programme) is a concept to develop the presentation skills and also to get rid of the stage fright of students.
Now, getting back to the hostel… 6-7 uneventful days went by, and there was still no sign of our ‘Aananthakrishnan’. Finally I heard someone saying, "Guys, your mystery roommate has finally come".

Sharvin and I rushed into our room No:10 to see our new friend. There he was. Judging  his looks, he did look like a geek, but the first words that came out from my mouth were wrong. 

‘Buji aanallo alle?’ [You're a nerd, arent you?] 

(Well, I wasn't known for my ice breaking skills, anyway)

And the so-called geek dude replied with: "Eh? you guys crazy?"

 "Sigh. wish you were one of them. I was really hoping you would be the kinda guy who'd help us with academics "

He nodded and responded with a ‘Hmmm’.

Me: "So, why you late?" 

Ananthakrishnan: "Dude, I had a backlog from last semester and I had to rewrite it’ :D

So much for wild dreams of a mystery friend helping me with my college work. That was more
than enough for us to understand what sort of a nerd he is.

Turns out he wasn't ‘Aananthakrishnan’ after all. His name was Anand B Krishna. I made a mental note to get my facts straight next time, if there was one that is.

The journey of foundation went really well. We had lots of fun(no big surprises there!) and predictably, a few pranks. It was during the conclusive part of foundation I got a really good friend/sister whose name I’m not gonna mention here.

(to be cont'd)

My First Proposal

Hmm.. Here I start.. To start with, I should say about the name of girl whom I proposed. Lets call her Malavika, although it's a fake name.

It all started with my high school life. It was a fresh school as I was kicked out of my older school as a result of my academic skills :D.

8th class at Jai Rani. first day, I went their with my brand new specs (which my optometrist insisted I should). Yes, it made me look a geek and it was a blow to my (what I believed) handsome features and gave me a perpetual nerd look :D. Another geek(who is currently pursuing his MBBS) was sitting beside me. He asked me, "Your name please?" I replied with my name and then he came to ask me the marks I secured in previous class. I said with the same. What he said next was, "OMG, I thought this guy would be a genius and would end up being my enemy". Whatever, their fell a name for me, 'Genius'. And in between all those 'genius' calls, I managed to stare at her often.

And a month went past..

And I started liking my school.. Friends came in and life was different from what I knew to be.. It was the day when we got answersheets after the terminal exmaninations.

Like any self respecting guy, I didnt want 2 let her know my marks (I dont think she was interested either).. I hid myself behind someone to avoid, her inqusitive eyes. Yes, as usual I sucked up marks for Math, though I managed to scrape through :P

From here on, Im talking about a new girl.. Hmm, lets call her Priyanka.. She was equally breathtaking and charming as Malavika.In between all those class activities, predictably some gossip generated and passed on with Priyanka and myself as the main characters. And I couldn't believe what was happening with me in Priyanka's case..Motivation from friends(not all) will often makes you fall in depth.. Someone said, "Go for it, man". Most dangerous words. Like they say, har ek friend zaroori hota hai, we need some one to push our back. This tiny encouragement was what I needed. My mind gravitated towards her like a magnet who just discovered its magnetic properties.

That was my second crush at Jai Rani..

And during my epic tale of crushes, there was one instance that made us more..closer

Well, maybe not "close" as defined by the usual speakers. Anyway I was playing with my brand new Cello Gripper's cap in the class. Accidently, which I incidently enjoyed, the cap flew and fell on her. She smiled and gave the cap back.. I continued with my game in a sense of hope. As luck would have it, it fell on her Again. She returned it with a look that said, "Do it once more, and you'll never see that cap again". But this was all my mates needed. They gave quite a response and she was moved to tears and ran outta class. Maybe, it wasnt my lucky day. She ran out of the class, crying while i sat with my eyes, waiting? I was pretty scared, if she will report it to teachers, I can kiss goodbye to my dreams of this dreamgirl. Thats when the musical trrnnnnnng noise hit my ears.Yes, the lunch recess..!

I ate my food pretty fastly and geared towards school ground. I just didnt have the nerve to face her. Few of my classmates came towards me and what normal people called friends do. They said, "Things are not going great, heard she already reported it to class teacher". There. They said it. Now I didnt wanna go back to class. But my 'helpful' friends managed to take me with them. The lucky stars which had a smug smile earlier was smiling upon me now. Things seemed normal and she was fine too. And from the very next day, she started avoiding me. Meanwhile 8th class finished as we were done with final exams.

IX, standard: the prequel to boards.

With some luck I still had, they didnt shuffle the class this time. New uniforms, students paraphernalia...the good old days were back. Nothing happened worth mentioning regarding my 'crush'. Still, I'd like to share some. As Priyanka was the most popular girl in school, people started noticing me through her.. But to be honest, apart from the few unintentional things happened in the 8th std, I didnt try to gain her attention again. In the interim, another geek guy who was friends with her, told me that he revealed my feelings for her to her and she laughed out loud. Ouch! That made me think that I may not be good enough to be in a relationship. Now, I'm dubious of his story, whether to believe it or not. Well, moving on, this was not my 'First' proposal I was talking about. I decided it was time to get over her. I wanted to be in her friend's list, but didn't had guts to talk or even look at her. And thus ends my uneventful academic year of 9th.

Xth standard...

As the school management was more concerned about flaunting a 100% pass certificate, they usually starts the 10th class in Mid-summer. I wasnt too happy about this, for this was my quality time meant for my cousins. The second blow was the class shuffling which separated me from Malavika. In a few days I adapted and glad to be back with friends. Thats when the MBBS geek guy came over to me askng, "da, you signing up for basketball? Tryouts would be at evening" to which I readily agreed. By evening, I went along with him to the basketball ground. As expected, there were a "couple" of other wanna be basket ball players.

So it was decided,  we play a mock game, and the selection was on a performance basis. Although I couldn’t drop the ball in basket, I did manage to make a few passes. And it was all over by then. I fell down. Just like that. A hard one. Hoo!! That hurt like hell. Play got interrupted. Sir took my hands in his' and shook it for sometime. But the pain persisted. With that killing pain, I went back home. I managed to take my crying limb to go hospital and doctor wrapped in up in plaster of Paris and prescribed some funny looking tablets. Next day at school, like a war hero coming home, everyone waiting to have a look at my hand. I was standing at the corridor when I saw Malavika walking towards the entrance with a file in hand. She used to come in her dad's green Esteem car. I felt an invisible wave of cold breeze hit me. She gave a sorrowful look and walked away..

WHAM...!! Back to square one. My first crush was back.Yes, I liked her. Next day onwards, I started going to her class more often. I never missed any opportunity to have a glance of her. I realised that it's officially my first 'more than crush' love. I knew she was aware of my constant watch on her. The clock was ticking and 10th public exams gradually made its way to us.  We had a quick farewell party in between where all were busy swapping autographs. I wanted one from her,  but didn’t have courage to ask her.  I expressed my wish to a mutual friend of ours and he said, "Dont worry man, I'll do it for you".  I watched him go to her class from the window.  She was sitting in the last bench with her best friend.  I saw him giving my autograph book to her followed by some small talk. She wrote and he returned with book to my outstretched (recently fixed) hands. Emotions flooded in me. Anxiety, exhilaration, love, curiosity..I could go on.  I searched for that 'very very special' page. Yes, I found it. She had written the words with her glitter green color pen. 

"THANX FOR CONSIDERING ME AT THIS LATE OCCASION..THANX A LOT

                                                                                                                      -MALAVIKA"

I'm including a snap of that 'very very special' page below.. :D

Well, I was more than satisfied with the things happened. I was on cloud 9 since then, but I didn't get to see her because of improperly timed study leave. I couldn't imagine a life without her and I was madly in love <3. I seriously decided to propose her on the final day of the exam and waited as I didn't want to distract her during exams. Final day of exam, I decided it is time. Exams got over and we all were happy pondering about the happy days that was waiting ahead. I must have been the only person who was tensed after the war with textbooks. I wanted to get her alone.. But, that was rendered impossible, even in the planning phase. I followed her till the bus stop.. But her damn friends, hasn't finished with their "goodbyes" yet. She got in bus n went..I was so depressed. Suddenly something hit my mind. I can send an e-mail, and nothing stands on my way! Yaay! And I had her e-mail address which from my autograph.. Obviously, I knew it by heart. I ran to a cafe nearby, got a cabin, and thought of writing my first 'love letter'.. English wasn't my best subject back then (doesn't mean that I mastered it now, still!!) I started typing my fist love letter of my life, that too as e-mail (really thankful to technology). I didn't know anything except the usual 'I LOVE YOU' stuff.. I'm uploading a screenshot of that e-mail. Get ready to laugh your ass off !!

(I had deleted this e-mail at the very next moment I sent it.. But I asked Malavika to forward it since I badly wanted to see it..)


Saw ? How was it? I'm gonna reserve my readers comments and I'm taking an apology beforehand for the English I used. For a 15 year old love smitten boy, grammar rarely becomes the main priorty. She saw my mail, but didnt respond (which I came to know later).. I hope you have enjoyed the read.. And THAT was my first proposal.