The new clean and healthy Avatar of a dirty club

Avatar is about changing the image. Metamorphosing to good from bad. Reincarnate to something more meaningful and useful. This picture explains the concept. How design Change Perceptions.

The Earth Hour - My Second Speech at Toastmasters

How many of you flipped the switch during earth hour last weekend?

Hmm nice response.

Earth Hour 2010 took place on Saturday 27 March 2010. Look, the thing about Earth Hour is – it’s fun. You have dinner or a drink in the candlelight, or get to a viewpoint where you can watch your city’s lights go out, then blink back on 60 minutes later, or give your kids an excuse to run around the house with a flashlight. If you’re more ambitious, you go to an event in your home town. And if you don’t like any of those options, I’m sure you can come up with some other fun stuff to do in the dark ;) I know, you guys are very creative.

Like a lot of you, I also switched off my lights both in 2009 and in 2010. However, the earth hour in 2009 was quiet different for me than 2010.

In 2009, We enjoyed the earth hour with a candle light dinner and strawberry margaritas at home. And in 2010, we enjoyed our dinner with original lemon margaritas :) You are probably thinking, Oh! so the speech is about the Earth Hour. No it is about strawberry margaritas vs. lemon margaritas. Sorry for the disappointment! It is not about the margaritas but about the evolution of my perception for the earth hour.

Last year in 2009. Like many, I also thought that turning off the lights for one hour will make no difference. But I still participated. You know why? For three reasons:

1. To look cool.
   
2. To have a story to share when someone asked me if I turned off my lights.
   
3. and the biggest and most motivating - To drink margaritas and party.

After the earth hour was over, I was so excited to share my story that I shared it with my friends and colleagues even when they didnt ask about it. I was happy answering the "How did i participate" of earth hour but when I could not answer the "Why did i participate" of it, I decided to give it a closer look.

Earth Hour started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia when 2.2 million homes and businesses turned their lights off for one hour to make their stand against climate change. Only a year later and Earth Hour had become a global sustainability movement with more than 50 million people across 35 countries participating. In March 2009, hundreds of millions of people took part in the third Earth Hour. Over 4000 cities in 88 countries officially switched off to pledge their support for the planet, making Earth Hour 2009 the world’s largest global climate change initiative. Reports show that the United States topped the Earth Hour participation with an estimated 80,000,000 people, 318 cities and 8 states participating.

In one corner are those who believe that Earth Hour is an important communal statement: up to a billion people flicking their switches to signal their commitment to energy efficiency as a way to lower our collective environmental footprint.

In the other are those who can’t believe so many suckers fall for the idea that Earth Hour is important, because they feel

1. Light brings safety. There are safer ways to make a statement and raise awareness than to create a controlled time when thieves will be harder to spot.
2. The energy spent raising awareness about Earth Hour just might cancel out the energy saved that hour
3. One hour out of 168 in a week, 720 in a month, and 8760 in a year will not make a significant dent in your energy use. People consume energy in many forms and not just electricity. Earth hour does not provide any insights on those important aspects.

I agree with anti earth hour folk's sentiment when they say that earth hour does not "really" save energy. And even if it does, it is negligible. But I disagree with them when they say that it is an exercise in vain. it's OK if the campaign does not save energy but it definitely helps politicizing against "climate change" at the global level. It is the hour when every body across the globe come together and join hands against climate change.

Climate change is essentially a political problem, and the language of politics is symbolism. Switching off lights together is a symbol to draw attention towards climate change. "Unlike most of the issues that we grapple with, climate change is global. The pressure is on us to do the right thing." If shutting off the lights for an hour and doing yoga in the dark makes that political support, well, then let us do it.

The environmental movement is reaching a delicate moment. We're well past the point where going green is novel. We've become inured to the existence of global warming, to its inconvenient truth. But this is the moment when we need to keep pushing in every way we can. The technologies that will help us decarbonize energy are developing, but they need a push — and that will only happen if we keep climate change near the top of our political agenda. Earth Hour, Earth Day, Earth Year — Yes, I am waiting for 2011. But next year it will be margaritas with real strong emotions against climate change and not just for fun.

Unpredictable Life - My Ice Breaker Speech at Toastmasters

Mr. Toastmaster, fellow toastmasters and welcome guests…

I think all of you will agree that life is unpredictable. You may plan life for every hour but cannot stop it to take its own course.

I never planned standing here and speaking in front of you but it just happened.

Abraham – A jewish theologian and philosopher – said “The course of life is unpredictable. No one can write his autobiography in advance.”

This is so true. They were those unpredictable moments that shaped us in what we are today. Today, I would like to share some of those unpredictable moments from my life. Hopefully, you will know me better from today onwards.

Year 2000. I am a junior student of my 4 years degree program. I somehow survived 3 years of chemical engineering. Like a junior, I am also worried about my future. I hate chemical engineering so much that I do not want to become a chemical engineer. What else do I do? I want to become a computer engineer but it is too late. Today, my friend Tim will go to meet his cousin in the evening in his new Mercedes. Yes, his parents are doctors. Man, life sucks! Irrespective, I will get a ride in the brand new car. Jack, Tim’s cousin is 2 years older to us and has just returned from Germany. We all go to a bar. Jack sponsors us because he is making good money and has a great job. Jack introduces me about the Industrial Design course that he completed last year in his graduate school. Design? Designers? Ummm….So are you a designer? Hmm…Designers are cool. Oh Yea, I want to be one of them. Jack explains everything to me and I also become a designer. I never had planned to meet Jack. But it happened and changed me so much.

Year 2001. I am in design Graduate school. Online chatting is in vogue. All my friends spend days and nights chatting in their dorms and never go to college. The concept of finding a girl online is interesting and fascinating. You do not have to look like Leonardo DiCaprio to seduce her or you don’t have to have guts like Arnold Schwarzenegger to ask for a date. Anyway, like others, I go online one day and search for chat sites on Google when I land up with Smashhits.com. After hours of persuasion and denials, I end up finally with a girl that has interests like me. We talk and talk and talk and talk, and Oh yea, I can feel my heart pumping hard. Online friendship, online flirting, Online breakup, Real world meetings, Real world proposal, Real world marriage. Yes, Jan 29^th 2010 I got married to the same girl who I met 9 years ago. Again, I never predicted to be on smashhits.com, never predicted to go in that chat room, and never predicted to have found her there. But it just happened.

Jan 2010. Kellogg Apartments; Saint Paul: After a tiring day at work and a fight with my boss, I sit on my study desk and open my laptop again. Yes again! I cannot live without it for more than 60 minutes. I start to tweet, read news, visit face book, etc. Oh there is a Netflix move also sitting on my desk which I just picked on my way upstairs. I open it to see the title “Office Space”. I play it and get glued to my desk. Oh my! How do they know my frustrations about timesheets, bosses, and everything else? They must be spying on me. What a movie? I am so happy that I have not even looked at the pile of clothes waiting to go to the laundry room. It is kinda stuffy to watch a movie in shoes and office clothes so I get off my chair. Finally, I saw the pile. Oh god! I have no choice but to pause the movie and go to the laundry room. I throw my clothes in the washer and am about to leave the laundry room with the beaten face. Before I reach the door, somebody else pushes the door with such a force that it helps this paper on the notice board to dangle and grab my attention. I read about toastmasters for the first time. Being a glutton, I always wanted to join a food club. Yes, I want to master the toast - the voice comes from the deepest corners of my heart. Alas! I read more and find something else about the club. Despite of it being a personality development club and not a food club, I like the idea and decide to join it that very moment.

Once again that unpredictable moment has changed me a bit more. Perhaps, to become a better person.

Life will keep on surprising us with many more unpredictable moments. It does not give us a choice to accept or reject them, so embrace them with your widest smile.

Mr Toastmaster!

Image reference: http://www.thingsihavelearnedinmylife.com/files/imagecache/preview/files/UNPREDICTABLE1.jpg

Smith Museum of Stained Glass Windows - Navy Pier, Chicago

Couple of weeks back I spent my Sunday afternoon at Navy Pier in Chicago with my wife and Shaurya. We had a great time watching beautiful Smith Museum of Stained Glass Windows.

The Smith Museum of Stained Glass Windows is a permanent display of 150 stained glass windows housed in an 800-ft.-long series of galleries along the lower level terraces of Festival Hall. Open since February 2000, it is the first museum in the United States dedicated solely to stained glass windows. It showcases both secular and religious windows and is divided by artistic theme into four categories: Victorian, Prairie, Modern and Contemporary. All of the windows were designed by prominent local, national and European studios and most were originally installed in Chicago area residential, commercial and religious buildings.

More details: http://www.navypier.com/things2do/rides_attract/smith_museum.html

Marriage on cards....

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

The joy of sharing a good news to near and dears is immense. And, for the same reason, we could not wait to share this happy news with you.

Marriage: Trust is the start of it, Joy is part of it, Love is the heart of it.

 

Our ( Jalshri Soni and Praveen Verma ) lives are changing this year on Jan 29th when we will be tying the nuptial knot.

We are still in the process of finalizing the venue and other arrangements as everything happened at a very short notice for us.

We will keep you posted.

Regards,
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Jalshri Soni and Praveen Verma
+1 - 612-644-7354

The Solar Eclipsed Bar at Sawatdee

Look at the wall in the pic behind the bar @Sawatdee (Thai restaurant in St Paul, MN). It gives an appearance of solar eclipse. Damn neat!

Maggianos at Chicago with my GF

Andrew Zimmern at Mall of America

God Bless Mustache

Other than a tourist taking a bus ride for leisure and fun, it is a trivial activity. For me, as a designer, it offers an opportunity to witness lot of interesting encounters.

These days, I am playing tennis over the weekends with my friend Kunal who lives in Minneapolis. Every Saturday and Sunday, I take Bus 94 to 2^nd Avenue and 2^nd Street. The trip time is around 30 minutes.

I do not prefer to carry a book, an ipod, or PSP for entertainment for such a short trip and end up spending time looking outside the window or observing people habits – mostly weird. It is funny to see people with bizarre fashionable clothes, piercings, and behavior.

Last weekend, a gentleman in his late thirties, wearing beige suit and a hat hopped on the bus I was traveling. Besides clothes, the other noticeable thing about this man was his “Dali” mustache. (A narrow mustache with long points bent or curved steeply upward. Named after artist Salvador Dali. More: http://www.americanmustacheinstitute.org/MustacheStyles.aspx)

The gentleman takes the seat and starts grooming his mustache. No, I am not objecting mustache grooming. It is his personal property and he has all the right to groom it in public. As far as I know, grooming mustache is certainly not a crime according to either Minnesota or Federal laws. However, the real problem started when grooming turned to obsession.

By his mustache’s appearance, I could see that it was gelled for perfect styling. He starts with pulling his mustache away from the cheeks, extending the middle section (including ends) upwards and finishing with pointing the ends. That act of pulling the mustache in itself was so gruesome that I - including other passengers – felt repulsive. It was difficult to see the cruelty that he was bestowing on himself. Perhaps, he was enjoying the act of pulling, therefore, continued it for almost 10 minutes. During these painful moments, he pulled the mustache to the extent of ripping it apart. Because of the sheer force of pulling, his upper lips would protrude out of his face and make him look like a chimpanzee showing his upper teeth. I wouldn’t have cared if the pain remained with him but he was spreading it to all of us through our locked stares. We all prayed to God to take off his pain and bless him including us.

Finally, the grooming ended and all of us took a sigh of relief to realize that there was more to come.

Within a minute, his hands went inside his bags and found a CD. I thought that he would play music. My assumption was horribly wrong. He took the CD out of its cover and started using its reflective surface as a mirror. This time he wanted to ensure that the grooming was perfect by examining it with his own eyes – instead of his fellow passengers. By this time we already had become fans of his exotic mustache style.

Mirror is a strange and powerful object. It forces people to groom themselves even when not required. This gentleman, the modern Dali, also could not resist his instincts of giving final touches to the perfect master piece displayed on his face. The grooming session started again with the same intensity, however, for a change, this time it lasted only for 5 minutes.

The moment, he kept the CD back into the cover; we passengers knew that the session had ended. Within next minute he went into deep sleep of peace and accomplishment. Of course, the excruciating pain and the herculean effort in the pursuit of perfection took a toll on his body.

I felt tremendously lucky and blessed to witness this artistic feat. Long live mustache. God bless mustache.

Cirque de Soleil

Life is a circus involving strenuous and demanding situations and to successfully live through it require agility and perfection of an acrobat. Determination, dedication and deliberation define the key to the success of an acrobat; as much as they define it for a simple human being.

Cirque du Soleil’s Kooza is not just another show but a lifetime experience – a charismatic blend of motion, color and sound that engulfs the mind in the exquisite world of the supernatural – where dreams come true.

I decided to buy the tickets for 5^th of July show – the last day of the long weekend week in US. Praveen Shukla had talked about it a lot to me during my trip to Texas. He wanted all of us to go through the experience of Cirque du Soleil. 150 USD that I apprehensively spent for the tickets turned out to be a judicious investment and I realized it within the first 5 minutes of the show.

My seat was positioned in the central first row. Faces of performers were clearly visible from that distance. Faces with perfected expressions and sweat of success bedazzled the stage for over two hours.

Be it either kids or adults, everybody was immersed into the show. Acrobats and jokers, all were integrated gracefully in the presentation. With their elastic bodies, the acrobats performed the actions that wowed everybody; and with their wit and humor, the jokers captivated the audience till the end. Not only the performers but also the addition and removal of equipment from the stage seemed part of the same story. Nothing was disconnected, but a seamless experience.

The background music and songs for the performances engaged aural senses and complimented the show. To my amazement, one of the songs was in Hindi for rope walking trick.

Certainly, Cirque de Soleil is a show of the lifetime. It is one of the things that you would not want to miss in life. Take my words, “it is worth the money.”

USB Crack

Enabling disabled USB drive handy when you are in real need of data transfer.

It involves two steps:

1. Changing values in regedit
2. Renaming certain files in C:\WINDOWS\inf

Please go through the attached images.

Window Desktop Recovery Crack

Window's desktop is very fragile and requires frequent recovery. However, most of the times, the recover button does not work at all. Here is a simple procedure that involves regedit function to recover your desktop.

Of course, do not forget to refresh the desktop after you have made the edits.

Recession Creativity

Another creative and humorous advertisement from Praveen Verma Studios.
This is a logo of an organization, and is protected by copyright and/or trademark.

Economic Crisis Survival 101

Economic crisis has left no one untouched. In this post, I am going to amaze you by explaining that how much could you save in a year by following the advice mentioned here. You can end up saving up to $7,500 after reading this article. It is based on real facts and pragmatic assumptions. This figure might vary from case to case but the upside is its power to save money.

1. Walk whenever possible instead of driving car. It is good for health and pocket.
2. Smart driving and Green driving is good for us as well as for the environment.
3. Cut down on winter heating bills by practicing simple energy efficient measures.
4. Start cooking food from fresh groceries instead of buying cooked or going out to a restaurant. This is good for your health as well as pocket.
5. Be your own stylist. Instead of visiting parlors and spending hundreds of dollars learn to do it yourself. Cut your hair, apply makeup, do manicures and pedicures. Ask your friend to help you out with this and you can help her.
6. Start making your coffee instead of spending at Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks.
7. Stop going to malls unless absolutely necessary. At mall, people tend to buy things which they really do not need.
8. Say good bye to gyms. Start exercising outdoors. Healthy people are more immune to diseases. This will reduce your medical bills.
9. Get rid of cable TV. Instead visit your friend’s place if you want to watch a game.
10. Cut on mobile and telephone bills. Get you on the lowest plan with minimal features. You can read nytimes on your laptop than iphone. Buy magicjack.
11. Cut your lawn grass on your own.
12. Cut down on your electricity bills. Save electricity and make money – Be environmental friendly.
13. Cut down on your water bills. Save water and make money – Be environmental friendly.

Power of Saving Explained:

1. Walk if you could instead of driving car. It is good for your health and pocket. (16 Dollars)

Assuming that the nearest stores are 0.5 miles away from your home:
0.5 miles (to and fro) @ thrice a week for groceries and other small stuff
= 3 miles per week
= 3 x 52 miles in a year
= 156 miles / year
= 7.8 gallons of gas (@ 20 miles/gallon)
= 16 dollars/year (@ 2 dollars/ gallon)

Total Saving in a Year = $16

2. Smart driving and green driving is good for you and environment. (100 Dollars)

http://www.eot.state.ma.us/gastips/default.asp
http://www.eot.state.ma.us/gastips/hypermiler.asp
http://abcnews.go.com/wnt/story?id=3005890

….This saved UPS over 3.3 million gallons of fuel and 30 million miles in 2007. ... The company puts almost 92,000 trucks on the road every day. Switching off DRLs where their safety contribution is minimal (e.g., driving on a ... An example: approaching a fresh red traffic light that had no other .... For greater efficiency, switch the A/C on when under light engine loads or ...

Let us work out the maths:

Miles Saved: 30,000,00 = 150,000 Dollars (@ 20 miles/gallon)
Gas saved (gallons): 3,300,000 = 6,600,000 Dollars (@ 2 dollars/gallon)
Total Savings ($) = 150,000 + 6,600,000 = 6,750,000

Gas saved per truck: 6,750,000/92,000 = 73.36 Dollars

Dollars saved by smart driving and car pooling in a year = 73.36 + 25

Total Saving in a Year = $100

3. Cut your winter heating bills by practicing simple energy efficient measures (75 Dollars)

http://www.independent.co.uk/money/invest-save/how-to-cut-heating-bills-and-stay-warm-547513.html

…A family of four could save up to almost £200 a year on their bills…

If it could work in UK, it should work in US too.

Total Saving in a Year: $300 = $75 Dollars per person

4. Start cooking food from fresh groceries instead of buying readymade or going out (3000 Dollars)

http://www.bls.gov/cex/

…An average American spent $2,668 in 2007 on food outside the home and $3,468 at home…

Obviously, you cannot cut outside food to zero but how about spending only $668 and saving $2,000. For food at home, start eating cooking fresh instead of packed foods. This would certainly cut at least $1000. I am being very pragmatic while cutting down these numbers on food. It is not about sleeping hungry but staying healthy intelligently and smartly.

Total Saving in a Year: 2000 + 1000 = $3000

5. Be your own stylist (240 Dollars)

Hair cutting and visiting to a parlor for makeup is expensive. Ladies can save on their pedicure, manicure, facials, etc. by taking friend’s help. Since, your skin is on stake I am not even counting that dollars but hair can certainly be tried at home.

Total Saving in a Year: $240 (For Haircutting @20 Dollars/Month)

6. Start making your coffee at home (1000 Dollars)

I notice so many people around me spending lots of dollars on coffee. On an average people drink at least two cups of coffee everyday.

Regular medium coffee at Dunkin costs $1.5. Two cups a day cost $3.

Total Saving in a Year: $3 x 356 Days = $1,068

7. Stop going to malls unless absolutely necessary (500 Dollars)

http://www.kacperwrzesniewski.com/how-to-restrain-from-unnecessary-shopping/
http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/04/05/15-ways-department-stores-try-to-trick-you-into-spending-more-than-you-need-to-and-10-ways-to-fight-back/

People tend to buy the item more for convenience than need, even when the item is not really needed in near future*. Focus on essentials only. Saving per year depends from person to person. I can save at least 500 dollars by not buying unnecessary stuff. (*www.metrosuburbia.com/2006NAAConference/How%20America%20Shops%20and%20Spends_stahl.pdf)

Total Saving in a Year: $500

8. Say Bye to Gyms (500 Dollars)

Gyms are good for health but not absolutely necessary. There are ways to stay healthy without going to gyms. Exercising outside in a park or jogging on a road is a good option to save money on gyms. The other option is to buy a DVD on fun aerobics.

Total Saving in a Year: $500 (Average gym yearly membership)

9. Get rid of cable TV (480 Dollars)

Cable TV is waste of time as well as expensive. Instead of being a couch potato, get up on your ass and start socializing, blogging, writing, etc. Find your hobby and start working on it.

Monthly cable expense: $40 (with two packages)
Yearly expense: $40 x 12 = $480

Total Saving in a Year: $480

10. Save on Phone bills (580 Dollars)

Don’t pick up calls on your mobile and wait until you reach home to use magicjack. It is an amazing device to eliminate your phone bills.

Before ($1020)
Monthly rental on mobile with added features: $50
Yearly rental = $50 x 12 = $600

Monthly rental on home phone: $35
Yearly rental = $35 x 12 = $420

After ($440)
Monthly rental on mobile without added features: $35
Yearly rental = $35 x 12 = $420

Monthly rental on home phone: $1.7
Yearly rental = $1.7 x 12 = $20
Total Saving in a Year: $1020 - $440 = $ 580

11. Cut lawn grass on your own (300 Dollars)
Cost of outsourcing to maintain your lawn grass: $50/month (Assuming that the lawn requires maintenance for at least six months)

Total Saving in a Year: $50 x 6 = $300

12. Cut down on bills ($240)

www.eei.org/industry_issues/retail_services_and_delivery/wise_energy_use/how_to_save_electricity_in_your_home
www.costofelectricity.com/10-Ways-to-Save-Electricity-at-Home.html

Go through the links above and the measures explained could save up to 40 dollars per month.

Total Saving in a Year: $20 x 12 = $240

13. Cut down on bills (120 Dollars)

www.eartheasy.com/live_water_saving.htm
http://www.h2ouse.org/
www.frugalliving.about.com/od/householdsavings/tp/Save_Money_On_Water_Bill.01.htm
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/cut-water-bills

Minimum monthly saving on water bill after following the advice in the above links: $10

Total Saving in a Year: $10 x 12 = $120

14. Cut down on entertainment ($500)

Movies, video games, theatre, casinos, lotteries, clubs, etc. contribute to lot of dollars in a year.

Average movies per month = 2 movies
Expenses in a year on movies = 25 movies x $8 = $ 200
Expenses on other entertainment modes = $300

Total Saving in a Year: $200 + $300 = $500

Tree of Life

This is a creative use of boring board room white board.

Morning in US - Palisades Pkwy, Nanuet, NY, USA

Bangalore Trip (Sep 02 - Sep 18, 2008)

A trip to Corbett National Park

I escaped to Corbett National park over the weekend of 12-13 Apr, 2008 with my colleagues. It was indeed a memorable trip to cherish for all the years to come by. The thematic tent-style one-night stay and glimpse of the tiger added more colors to the trip. Besides the sight seeing and amazing company, one thing that I would never forget was shooting of the movie. It was my first attempt to act and I failed miserably. One thing that I surely know now is my horrible acting skills and shall not try to venture next time. It is better for me to stay behind the camera rather facing it.

My colleagues shot some beautiful pictures of the entire trip and I thank them whole heartedly to make it available for me and everybody. Thanks Jai, Ritu, Manas, Surya, Sameer, and Sriram for uploading your beautiful pictures.

Jai’s Album: http://picasaweb.google.co.in/jai.chandra/CorbettTigerReserve11th13thApril2008

Ritu’s Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/ritumanas/Corbett2008/

Manas’s Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/manasarvind/CorbettApril08

Surya’s Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/surya.ginti

Sameer’s Album: http://picasaweb.google.co.in/sampuri/JimCorbettNationalPark

Vidya’s Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/aiyargirl/JimCorbettPicasa/

Vidoes

A Trip to Corbett

Directed by: Satpal Sharma

A group of people visited Corbett National Park in the month of April, 2007

Some of them never returned.

6 months later, this footage was found.

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=F3EE60BD8AEF2990

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Tip: For Viewing in Higher Quality

While watching the video, add &fmt=18 at the end of the url and press enter to reload in higher quality version.

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Bulbuk

Directed by: Sriram Suryanarayanan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uThWphY_2Ng