Business Class Sedans in India

Recently, I had chance to test drive petrol version of Honda city (Rs.9+ lakhs), Fiat Linea (Rs.8+ Lakhs). Comparing Honda city and Linea being in the same class Linea has more value for money (e.g., steering mounted audio and mobile controls, etc).

Fiat Punto >= Tata Indica and
Fiat Linea >>= Indigo CS

in terms of the strength of the body (car) and the plastic used. But the quality of Indigo CS is not comparable to Punto and Linea.

Now, Tata comes up with Indigo Manza (Rs. 6+ Lakhs) with all the features as in Fiat Linea. Both Linea and Manza runs on the same Engine with slight difference in specifications and performance.

Need to see the performance of Manza and have to choose on what to buy!?

It seems like car manufacturers announce their next generation product once they feel their old product is out of stock! :)

"There will always be better cars in the market just after you buy one for you and smart people never buy one for them but recommend it to others!"

New India

Things have changed and would continue to change faster than ever.



"Change is permanent"

Travelling

Travelling is one of my favorite way of wasting time! :)

One can see drastic changes in people's way of life while traveling in train from Chennai to Delhi.

I have also noticed it while traveling from Kanyakumari to Chennai. Though Kanyakumari and Chennai belong to the same state Tamil Nadu, the language Tamil is spoken very differently at all these places. It's really interesting to see the transition from place to place on the way.

History helps in understanding the evolution of lifestyles(words/slang) specific to a group/locality of people in Tamil Nadu. This is a fascinating research area. I would be interested in discussing with people who work in this area either as an amateur or by profession.

Being in Chennai for more than 3 years, I had the opportunity to visit places around.
Chennai has a number of lesser known places whose history is interesting.

May be the concerned authorities would take necessary steps to create awareness among general public about the historic places and preserve them for the next generation.

“The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.” - Saint Augustine

Idea

Have been wondering for years how greatest of innovations/discoveries happen.

Text in one of Shaastra's 2008 T-Shirt gives an insight to it.

It all starts with some idea!
One sudden spark of brilliance.
A flash of genius.
But you can never tell where an idea will end up.

Because an idea can spread, change, grow and may end up affecting the way we live. But no matter how the idea may change our lives, we all will always look back and try to understand how it all began.

We admire the humble beginnings of the idea and the fertile minds which gave birth to it.

We celebrate those moments of splendor and we marvel at the fine thought process behind these ideas. We here firmly believe in the infinite capacity of the human mind. We believe that all we need is that one second of inspiration.

Shaastra: Digital Audio Workshop

I wanted to attend the Digital Audio Workshop in Shaastra for the past two years but somehow couldn't.

This year I had the chance to attend. The workshop was organized in a way to bring in academic research and the products available.

Prof. T. V. Sreenivas, ECE, IISc gave a BIG picture on his experience and experiments in audio signal processing. In fact, mathematical models to understand the working of human auditory system is still not complete. The working of the system is still a mystery!

With the Home Theatre Systems penetrating into households, industry is looking for cost-effective systems. Seems like there is huge market in it.

inDSP and Jasmin Infotech presented their work and products.