Girish Gangadharan

Adam is officially out!

// January 6th, 2011 // No Comments » // Adam, Miscellaneous, WOW

NotionInk has demo’ed Adam at CES 2011. This is the moment I’ve been waiting for. Before I get to the important part, I have a small story to share with you.

On December 9th last year, I got an email from NotionInk inviting me for the pre-order (Special privilege for the people that supported them from the beginning. He called it “6 hours heads up for family members”. Awww.)

But unfortunately for me, somebody had made a fraudulent charge using my credit card the previous day and I had to cancel my card immediately. And to make matters worse, citing payment gateway contract issues, they could accept only Visa and Amex. My other card was a Master card.

So by the time I got my replacement credit card in the mail, preorders were all sold out. They sold out in just a few hours, apparently.

I guess I’ll just have to wait for them to  start taking the next batch of orders.

Now coming back to my original point, it’s time for all the doubters and haters to eat your words. Yes, I’m talking to you John Biggs, Engadget and all their croonies.

Here’s the proof you guys have been looking for - http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/05/notion-ink-adam-hands-on-preview-video/

Just look at Rohan, the CEO of NotionInk in the video below. He’s a kid for God’s sake. He should be encouraged. Not beaten up for lacking support from big investment firms.

I was standing 3 feet away from A. R. Rahman

// September 19th, 2010 // No Comments » // Personal, WOW, Youtube

And he looked at me and smiled. Can you believe it? A. R. RAHMAN SMILED AT ME.

Ok fine, there were 10 other people behind me when he did that but still, I swear to God he made eye contact with me.

Watch the video below to see how close I was.

What a show! What a performance! The singers were awesome. The music was phenomenal, obviously. The stage/set was stunning with all the laser shows, video projections, colors and stuff.

Man, what an experience!

An interesting incident happened before we even got to the auditorium. As we were pulling into the parking lot, we realized that everyone had to either pay $20 or have a Platinum pass to park at the American Airlines center. We didn’t have either. The policemen just directed everyone into the garage all the way from the street and there was only one way. We couldn’t pull out and leave, as there were cars in front and in the back. We didn’t know if they took credit cards (I doubt they would).

And then this man walks up to us and says “Hey, were you planning on paying for parking?”. I said “uhh…yes”. He goes “I have an extra Platinum Pass that I don’t need. Here…you can use it.”

We couldn’t thank him enough and both Swapna and I knew right then and there that this was going to be AN AWESOME NIGHT. And boy, were we right.

Where I come from, going to Rahman’s concert is most certainly a once-in-a-life time opportunity. Totally worth every penny spent. Also, this was our first concert together as a couple and both of us had a wonderful time. Rahman made sure we did.

If I fall, I fall

// April 2nd, 2009 // No Comments » // Inspiration, WOW

You think your life sucks?

Just watch the video below and think again.

Did you know?

// March 28th, 2009 // No Comments » // WOW, Youtube

Once in a while you come across something that is so mind-blowing that you just can’t wait to share it with others.

Just watch this video below. The statistics (not sure if they are accurate but looks credible) are fascinating.

Great music too, by the way.

Engaged!

// December 29th, 2008 // 18 Comments » // Miscellaneous, Personal, Swapna, WOW

Dec 29th 2008 will go down in history as the day I got engaged to Swapna.

At the risk of sounding cheesy, I’ll nevertheless, say a few things about her. Alright… so here we go…

Although my parents did all the work and found her for me, I must admit that they didn’t do all that bad.

She is a software professional like me and works in Boston. Going by the experience that this long distance relationship has provided us over the last 6 months (For those who don’t know, I live in Dallas, TX which is about 1759 miles from Boston as per Google maps), I can say this much – She is GREAT!

Swapna is a very sweet, loving, caring, understanding, kind, polite and lovable girl that grew up in the same city as I, back in India. We have that thing in common (in addition to a lot of other things) and it makes things a lot easier. For example, music we listen to, movies we like, eating habits, local jokes and the references that go with them etc.

In any case, I know it takes a lot of patience to deal with someone like me (I can hear you going “yeah…no shit!”) .  And I think she is ready, willing and in fact happy to do that for the rest of our life together as a couple.

All said I think she is just beautiful inside out. And I hope I’ll be able to make her just as happy as she makes me and continue doing that for the rest of the journey.

Wish us luck!

MUST SEE – Super slow motion punches

// October 2nd, 2008 // 1 Comment » // Fun, LOL, Miscellaneous, WOW, Youtube

Today is Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday. So I figured I’ll post something about violence.

I know. I’m bored (and going to hell).

Firefox killer?

// September 1st, 2008 // 1 Comment » // Miscellaneous, WOW

Of course! Isn’t that what the world needs right now? Yet another browser?

“Oh…we know what you are thinking. Why would I dump the browser (read Internet Explorer/Firefox/Opera/Camino/Safari) I use every day and even try yours, let alone switch? Well, here’s why. Our new browser has speed-dial! Bet your browser doesn’t have that feature….huh?”

Ok…let me stop being cynical now and cut to the chase. Who could possibly build yet another browser and actually get people to sit up and take notice?

No points for guessing it right. The correct answer is Google.

Ladies and Gentleman, Google Chrome is at your service.  (UPDATE** : Back up again. Link updated to point back to Chrome’s home page.  I’m still going to leave the link to the comic.)

(UPDATE* : Apparently not. Seems like they pulled it down as soon as the word got out. So i have updated the link to now point to the cartoon, from Google itself.)

I was actually looking forward to Android, thinking that was the next big thing from Google although it’s been in the works for years now. But this one just sneaked up on us.

I’m really curious to see if it is good enough to beat the most popular browser.

Oh….it’d better be good…

Will it blend the iPhone?

// July 12th, 2008 // 2 Comments » // Fun, Miscellaneous, WOW

Given all the outrage over Apple’s dirty manufactured shortage of the iPhone 3G, and the aggravating activation process where the users had to connect the phone to their computers and wait for hours and hours for iTunes to establish a connection to the pool of servers, which by the way couldn’t seem to handle the traffic as people from about 21 countries were upgrading/activating/syncing their “revolutionary portable communication devices”, it may not be unreasonable if people actually end up blending their iPhones bricks as shown below.

Homo Hetero Bhai Bhai

// June 29th, 2008 // 2 Comments » // Miscellaneous, WOW

Here’s an funny quote from Delhi Queer Pride 2008

Hindu Muslim Sikh Isai Hetero Homo Bhai Bhai

meaning “Doesn’t matter if you are a Hindu or a Muslim or Sikh or a Christian (Isai), homosexuals and heterosexuals are brothers.”

Bhai = Brother in Hindi.

Apparently, they just took an old statement Indian government has been using for decades, calling for unity in diversity that goes like this

Hindu Muslim Sikh Isai Aapas mein hai Bhai Bhai

meaning “Doesn’t matter if you are a Hindu or a Muslim or Sikh or a Christian (Isai), we are all brothers amongst us.”

We are seeking the right to love. was basically the point, hundreds of homosexual rights activists that participated in India’s largest gay pride parade, were trying to make when they marched through the cities of Kolkata, Delhi and Bangalore.

Things are obviously showing signs of changing. I knew there were gay people in India and i knew they didn’t want to come out even if they had the opportunity. What i didn’t know was that homosexuality was illegal there. That’s right. Illegal. You could get arrested for your sexual orientation.

Wow.

Only you think it is cool

// May 24th, 2008 // 2 Comments » // LOL, WOW

10 items you think make you cool, but don’t.

I’m pretty sure there’s something in this list that made you go “Crap! That’s me. Sigh.”