Radio…rediscovering news on AIR

There was a time long back when we (me and my sis) as kids were used to listen to news on AIR. Our day started with the ’suprabhaat’, went on to some regional news and few songs and again news. By 8 O’clock, it was time to rush to school. Gradually time passed and this habit o ours faded. the radio was also responsible for this. It started developing some problem or the other (mostly because of me trying to engineer and re-engineer our set).

We switched to the TV but the pleasure of listening to the radio was a totally different experience. Since then, lots of things had changed. We are no more kids and have a lifestyle of our own.But I haven’t forgotten the radio. Now, there is a lot of colour and glamour in the radio line. The dull and seemingly boring radio hosts and news-readers have got replaced by the more energetic and jubilent RJ’s. Thanks to the introduction of a fleet of FM radio channels which are flourishing everywhere.

Worldspace radio is getting hot now-a-days and quite demanding. I didn’t want to stay behind and subscribed for it about a year back. And let me tell everyone out there, “its worth it”. I had also bought a pocket FM radio. There are a variety of channels coming up in Bangalore among which Radio City 91 FM (among the first ones in the city) and the lately introduced Radio Indigo 91.9 FM. Radio Indigo is really cool, but at times the quality of songs being played are quite unpleasant. Few friends of mine asks me , “why do you need worldspace radio when there are already loads of channels you are getting in the FM arena?”. My only reply is that you got to listen to worldspace with all those channels from the world over to taste what its like.

Radio on the net is also springing up like grass on the lawn. I have an online radio player in my desktop that plays from certain centres in different parts of the world. There are a lot of internet radio websites that plays streaming content. And today, I discovered All India Radio (AIR) on the net (http://www.newsonair.com/index_regional.htm) from which one can listen to the latest news in 5 minutes every morning by downloading an mp3 file in the same All India Radio style. News is available in different regional languages. Now I feel like I can go back to those past ‘radio days’.

As the Corrs sang “It’s late at night, and I’m feeling down………So I listen to the radio listen to the radio“

Bangalore traffic web updates

Bumped into this site which shows the Bangalore traffic status online. And that too, it claims to be LIVE. But I see some amout of delay though. The site is promising and helpful. It divides the city into zones and based on that one can get the status of traffic as smooth, slow or delay with identifiable color codes. The map to the left also displays the location with traffic status in dots of green, orange or red. There is also the satellite view option but I would suggest to better use the simple map option as that is much more easy to read. The images for the maps are pulled out from Google maps and so anyone familiar with Google maps will be able to efficiently use this neat tool.

Its really cool. Additionally one can get directions to go from one end of the city to another showing the route graphically as well as text along with distance. There’s also an option of getting traffic updates through SMS. Haven’t tried out this feature though.

Check out http://traffic.mapunity.org to get a hang of it.

 

All those Ups and Downs and a smile

The news has it. The verdict has it that Saddam is to be hanged till death. The BSE Sensex has not gained in the last two days. Though I haven't gone too much into other international trade centre indices, no significant effect in those trade circuits are apparent. So is there any relation between these. Relating Saddam being sentenced with the Dalal Street.

Gazing into the national circuit, sealing of unauthorised business properties in the national capital began on the 2nd week of November and of course was accompanied by resistance and protests. In fact events cover the newspapers and other news media every second. How do we relate one event to another.

There was terror also in the north east(not again) with the twin blasts in the Guwahati city, corridor of the north east. All the living souls (not the planters of course) still wonder what did they (ulfa) gain and dream to gain with such deadly outcomes. The one man all hated (referring to Saddam here) was too loud enough during his trial but when the final sentence of hanging was out, it had been low asking all fellow Iraqis, Arabs and Kurds to forgive, reconcile and shake hands.

Depression has set in for him. He knows his future now. His death sentence may be his punishment for all his (mis)deeds, but its debatable whether that would practically be of future benefit. I somehow have this belief that it might lead to more unstability and outrage among various clans. So what if Saddam has said to forgive. Saddam still has his bunch of followers and they would obviously do the needful(here assume whatever). And when his end is shorter, I happened to pounce onto a chronology of Saddam's life;. All of a sudden he is going to be history. Thats what comes into mind when you see Chronologies of any person, region or architectutal marvels.

Before my final lines are in, I cam upon a french blogger, Fer'o, who sends a wonderful message to all out there entangled in the web. He has for today to become a 360° Smile Day. A nice thought to spread around the world indeed. And before the day comes to an end, I would also be one to join his noble thought.

Lets do away with evil folks, Just get this smile.