Jince kuttan…

One sunday morning – Jince kuttan got up early and called ICICI customer care. Lady on the other end asked for phone banking password.

Jince: it…is… ‘ITC124′…

sweet voice: Sir, the password is wrong, I’m sorry…could you please repeat?

Jince: I’m also sorry dear, new password is “ITC 121′…

Sweet voice: Sorry, wrong again…  This will be your last chance…

Jince (after a few mins of silence) : CLUE, please…

Our Motta Got Married!!

This year seems to be an year of marriages. Its was our one and only motta who created the first trmeour.  He got married to his childhood playmate and crush Rynisha on Jan 18th, 2009! The funciton was in Telichery, kerala and almost all the NTTF folks witnessed the marriage.  It was like a dream come true for him, he looked charming and felicitous on the day! Now he is enjoying his honeymoon in one of the exotic place in Kerala!! I and The Halfpastnine team wishing Sirju and Rynish a very happy married life!

Onam Greetings

Halfpast nine team wishes you a happy and prosperous Onam to all NTTF Chunnies.

Finally, google is with its most awaiting browser.

I don’t have much patience left with me to write something here, instead copying the article from techcrunch. I have to wait till midnight to download it ….

Update: Google has posted on its official blog saying they screwed up by mailing this cartoon out early. A beta version of Chrome will be made available tomorrow in over 100 countries – but, alas, for Windows only to start, with Mac and Linux on the way.

Update 2: It looks like Google has at least semi-launched its Chrome site here. It provides this screenshot of the browser.

Google Blogoscoped has published a lengthly cartoon sent to them by Google and drawn by Scott McCloud that provides the first public details about Google Chrome, an open source browser based on WebKit and powered by Google Gears that has been rumored but never before confirmed.

According to the cartoon (which can be seen in its entirely here – thanks Marshall), the Google Chrome project has already undergone a substantial period of development with engineers working to create a product that’s secure, user friendly, fast, stable, safe, and easily testable. No word yet, however, on when it will be released.

This is a straight shot over the bow of Microsoft, which has tightly integrated its Live Search offering into its dominant Internet Explorer browser (and which, surprise, is in turn tightly integrated into Windows). It also makes for an awkward relationship with Mozilla, whose Firefox browser Google basically funds.

The cartoon breaks down Google Chrome’s features into the following four topics:

Super Tabs and Scalable Testing

Unlike other modern web browsers, which can only run one process at a time, Google Chrome will give each tab its own process. This speeds up overall performance and saves the entire browser from crashing when one tab causes problems.

The multi-process design requires more memory allocation up front but less memory over time as users tend to multitask. It also prevents your computer from slowing down after you browse for an extended period of time and open/close lots of tabs.

Google Chrome also features a task manager that can be used to determine just which tabs and plugins are hogging just how much memory. It’s main purpose is to spot bad actors and close them before they ruin your browsing experience.

Google is leveraging its massive server infrastructure to run automatic performance tests for Chrome. The company is claiming that its Chrome Bot can test the browser on tens of thousands of different webpages within 20-30 minutes of each build. These webpages are chosen on the basis of their popularity, which has already been determined by Google with the data it collects from its search users. When Google started testing Chrome, it only rendered 23% of those pages correctly (no word on how many it gets right as of today now it apparently renders 99% correctly).

Speed: Webkit and V8

Google decided to implement the Webkit rendering engine (also found in Safari and the forthcoming Android mobile platform) because of its speed and simplicity.

To improve the performance of JavaScript processes, Google also decided to build its own JavaScript virtual machine (called V8) from the ground up. The virtual machine leverages the concepts of hidden class transitions, precise garbage collection, and machine code generation to make JavaScript-heavy applications snappier. It will also be made freely available for other browsers to use if they so please.

Search and the User Experience

Google Chrome will feature a few peculiar design choices as well. Most noticeably, tabs will be displayed at the top of the browser window instead of below the address bar and other buttons.

The address bar (which Google is calling the “omnibox” in contrast to Firefox’s “awesome bar”) is intended to make very helpful and unobtrusive suggestions.

The search box not only displays your favorite search engine but also detects what site-specific search engines you’ve used so you can use them from the Chrome toolbar later. For example, if you’ve searched on Amazon, you can do so again in the toolbar by hitting the letter “a” and the tab key before you type your keywords.

A starting page not unlike Opera’s own Speed Dial page gives quick access to your most frequently visited sites and search engines, as well as your recent bookmarks and page visits.

Google Chrome will also let you open a so-called “Incognito” window that doesn’t record anything you do there (a similar feature to the one introduced by Internet Explorer 8 that has been dubbed “porn mode”).

To keep annoyances to a minimum, pages won’t be allowed to pop up new windows outside of their original tabs.

Windows can also be opened without an address bar and other superfluous buttons, allowing certain web applications to appear as though they don’t depend on a browser.

Security, Sandboxing, and Safe Browsing

Google Chrome is being developed with the assumption that you will encounter malware online. Each tab is contained within its own sandbox that stops malicious behavior.

Google will also continually download a list of phishing sites and list of malware sites to your computer, which will be used to warn you when you visit them. Site owners will be notified when their sites are put on either of the lists so false positives can be remedied.

With Chrome, Google appears to be making incremental yet important improvements that could add up to something very appealing. If the browser catches on, it will provide a distribution mechanism for Google Gears and help the company fend off Silverlight, Microsoft’s own rich internet app platform.

It has yet to be seen what the response from Mozilla will be like. The foundation can’t be happy that Google has snatched up two of its engineers who are now working on Chrome. But some reinforcement in the attack against Microsoft IE and in support of the open browser movement can’t hurt.

At the very least, Chrome sounds perfect for our tablet.

A Weird party !!!

A Weird party.

                Opened my eyes after a little long nap of an hour. What i could see is a big board “QUALITY BAR”. For my surprise no one was in the traveller except Vivek, who still was in his dreams. We are at the land of Milli and Arbind Ashram, Pondycherry. All my friends are inside the bar searching for a nice spot for 12 of us to spend the morning..

                Pondycherry, the marvellous example of French architecture. Very cleanly maintained and  nicely organized small city. People come here only for two reasons. Go to Arbinda Ashram or take a deep dive in a pool of your choice, beer Whiskey wine anything. The beautiful city which I never enjoyed, After years I had seen snaps taken by my manager at pondycherry. I was there only to get twist off.  

                Some how managed to wake up vivek. We are here to celebrate mine and sandeep’s campus selection. The party was hosted by me, as usual sandeep was busy with one of his then girl friends. The seats were ready for us, I could see sherin sitting at the first chair, lad who never tasted liquor in his life, but will never give a status of ABSENT for any party. The person who always make sure that we have all our wallets, dresses and chappals on place. One more similar character, without whom we cant even think of a party, Abin. He always will get you the best products for the cheapest rate. His bargaining starts with the Chennai Auto drivers to the Arrow or Reebok show rooms at Spencer’s plaza.

                Cheeeeeeeeeers.., a loud scream..Senate (a whisky available only in  pondycherry) was sparkling in the 10 glasses. The music started, and we are in our swing. The mob was some thing like a card deck, all cards packed in one box. Someone who talks loudly when he is drunk – Sabin, Someone who eats hell out on a peg – Anoop, Someone who always admire or adore the intoxication as something better than an Orgasm – Vivek. And one more person whom we never used to trust once he is drunk – Jayan. The one who always gives an innocent smile on the second peg- Suveen. With the mob, I enjoyed the chair of Host. The discussions started with how I made it, to get in to a company, and it went on to the advices on how I can tackle and date with the beautiful (in fact gorgeous) HR manager of my company who came for the campus selection.

                It was the lunch time and we have to get out of the bar to search for a better place where we can taste the real exotic pondy style sea food.”Come on man, I can’t tip you 100 bucks and all.. What the hell was your service ? we did not even get a Match box on time. And you are daring enough to ask me your tips. Where is your manager, Call your manager”..No wonder,  Abin started bargain on the waiters tip. It took a while for Vivek to pay the tip, and it took more than a while for me to make Abin calm.

                “Dude, I have to join the company tomorrow, and i might be shifting to some place near my office” i was looking at Vivek for the answer. A fuming Wills in his left hand and foaming King fisher on the other hand. He is enjoying the walk with a drink ” Dude, I am talking to you”. “Yep, So what? You are supposed to move on and in week’s time I will fly back to Mumbai, and I will start looking after my dad’s business. We knew all these. So what’s there to talk in this”. Come on how can he be so practical?

                It started raining and we forgot to continue the talk. We were just enjoyed a silent walk in the damn heavy rain. Watching the sunset that tooo when you are drenched. “A case of beer or 2 full bottle whiskey?” it was Abin who took the order, I used my veto power to buy the beer, because I AM THE ONE WHO IS PAYING. Now all set for the journey back to chennai. Again the gana songs and the foaming Kingfisher. But this time it was different. We were wet and the chilled beer was making our ass frozen. ” Dude, i cant hold on this wet dress, close the window, I am going to get nude” I screamed “Suveen, what are you up to? Do you want others to get fainted? ” A loud giggle and he is done.

                Come on yaar, how can some one travel 100 + Kilo meters without dress? And suveen has a standard answer “Dude, i am an NCC cadet and I have seen life, I squatted next to the railway tracks when hundreds were watching us.. and that was in Delhi when we went for a camp”..”Dude, girls also were looking at you? ” “Come on Anoop, gime a break, I dint count how many school girls and How many aunties”. I was at the last seat with Vivek, enjoying the fuming wills and melody of Kishore daa.. Don’t know when my eyes rolled up and the lids covered it..

                “Helllo, who ever is inside the van, get down fast.. Other wise we will get in”.. I got up listening this and high beam of torch light was flashing inside the van.. Oh my GOD, police checking and we have almost half a case of beer in the van. It is illegal to carry beverages from pondycherey. “Vivek, dude, abhey saaaley.. get up, get up.. Maaamu log yaaar…” haaa no positive results for my scream. Somehow I managed to get him up and by the time he got up, we were the only two to come out of the van.

                OH My God.. what Am I seeing. Till the time I sleep, and till the time Vivek sang “Pal Pal dil ke paaas”, Suveen was the only one in bith suite. Now me and vivek are the only one wearing pants. All the other 10 are in their VIP Frenchies. I couldn’t get the scene, i was wondering when all these boys undressed themselves.. “Ohhh.. Immoral traffic, that too on a national High way, but this is the first time we are catching a gang with no girls..shame shame..”Ooops, better hang myself. The charge on us is not carrying liquor, “IMMORAL TRAFFIC, that too among boys”. I was frozen and mute, and couldn’t hear the next sentences of the police inspector..

                “Ok, boys.. get in to the Jeep, and ready to pose in the same dress.. Tomorrow morning it will come in the Chennai dailies”… Come on GOD, you gave me a job, now will you not allow me to join the same? Arrey, I have to join the company on the next day morning 10 o clock, and the inspector was inviting us to sasuraal. God help me..that’s all I could say..”Sir, please you can do something. I am sorry, only you could do something to save us”. Yes Abin on act now.  “Pay, thousand rupees each and get lost from here” bloody 12 grants, no way our fotos will be on the front page of dinathanthi.

                “Sir, we are college students, we were wet in the rain, so only we undressed ourselves..Please get in to the van and see, we have all our dresses on place”. Abin was on the his way of bargaining, but… He didn’t know what he said right now. If the police gets inside the van, he will get the half case beer and we will be fined for that also.. I was the sergeant moving towards the van, and I did not want to see anything further.. “Sir, I can’t even go near to the van, it so damn stinky”. Thanks to Saravanan, he already decorated the body of van with a mixture of beer, whiskey and Biriyani which got really mixed up in his stomach and which came out through his mouth.

                “Sir, we can’t give you 12000, please tell us a reasonable amount sir, we are students and we do not have that much money”… Haaa, Abin you are proving again and again that you are best, but dude this is police and those were auto guys. So, please.. “What man, do you think you are at Koyambedu Market to bargain?”… The argument continued and abin was mastering the art of flattering. Somehow he managed to get rid of the cops by paying 1500 rupees. And we reached the college hostel. Then the next issue started, the driver wanted his allowance for 2 days, because we reached back only on the next day morning. It was almost 5 Am and the next day at 10 I have to report at work. I wanted to kill Abin, he wasted 30 minutes arguing with the cab driver. “Dude, I have to get some sleep now, please take my wallet and pay him what he wanted…” No he was in mood to listen me.

Epilogue: The next day morning I saw a weird or sarcastic smile on Usha Raju’s face. She was the HR manage who handed over the offer letter to me and sandeep. The manly smell of AXE also couldn’t stop the deadly smell of whiskey and beer. Hangover, it is worse than getting drunk !! That too on a first day at work

Chimbu & Sherin PB

This video is dedicated to Mandan & Chimbu fans around the world.

Part 2

Part 3

999 in Niagara Falls

First 9 visiting Niagara Water falls.

Here is the history of Niagara
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niagara_Falls

999 in Niagara Falls

Jaison Jose, where are you? Kiran TV & Kattile Kannan Calling you.

This video is dedicated to our dear Jaison Jose.

Below, pilleru kali by Jaison and PKG.

‘Jay’ (Tarzan Senior) Celeberating his 26th Birthday!!

Our one and Only Senior Tarzan celeberating his 26th birthday on 22nd of August 2008. On behalf of Halfpast nine team i am wishing him a vey happy and splendid birthday! Long live Jay, may all ur dreams comes true this year .. hearty wishes bro!

Many more happy returns of the Day Jay..

Blokes, You can send in your wishes to jayadesh_s@hotmail.com or you can scrap him in his Orkut profile : http://www.orkut.com/Scrapbook.aspx?uid=7258978122041048369

Once again, Many more happy returns of the day Jay!!! Have a blast!!

Halfpastnine team!

Why I`m going to get married….

This was sent by one among us, in a group mail few weeks back. Not mentioning the name here, instead leaving this space for your wild imaginations

MOST 25-year olds I know run a mile when they hear the word marriage. Why would I want to give up freedom for a life of bondage, bickering, tantrums and responsibility, they ask.

The answer lies simply in this fact: it is good for the bank account!

How? With some smart manœuvres, you can reduce taxes substantially through your spouse. This works especially if you are in the highest tax bracket and your significant other does not have a taxable income.

At the risk of being labelled a chauvinist, let us assume (only for the sake of argument), that the wife stays home and the husband earns.

First, let’s do some ground work. Let’s say there are two separate joint accounts, one for husband/ wife and the other for the wife/ husband. Bear with me if this sounds pointless to you right now. But it is important!

1. Let her invest

• So we have the wife running a super efficient home and bringing up beautiful kids. But that doesn’t stop her from making some shrewd investments in her spare time.Why don’t you give her some money which she can invest smartly for your family?Are you asking ‘why’? Simple. To save you a chunk of tax. This is how it works.
  Step 1: You start a tax file in her name.

  Step 2: You loan her money which you would have otherwise invested in your name.

  Step 3: She invests this money.

  Step 4: Any income she earns up to Rs 1.45 lakh (Rs 145,000), is non-taxable. That means, assuming a rate of return of around eight per cent, she can make investments of over Rs 15 lakh (Rs 1.5 million), which would all be tax free.

  Step 5: You have now essentially saved 33 per cent tax on the income she has generated in her name. Were it in your name, it would have been taxed due to your already high tax bracket.

  There is a catch. You cannot transfer money to her as a gift. Because the income on a gifted amount will clubbed in your hands for tax. How do you work around this situation? Caught you! You missed what I said earlier. I said, loan the money to her.

  Technically, an interest-free loan is possible, but it is better to have a contract by which you charge a nominal rate of interest (say, the savings bank rate). So she earns interest on the investments and pays you interest on the loan; the money stays in the family!

  What you have just done is made an income of over Rs 15 lakh (Rs 1.5 million), tax free! And, of course, made your wife rich!