This review is a bit late considering that the Nexus 5 is already available in India.

I am sure it is going to be an awesome phone, just like the Nexus 4 is.


I have been through a lot of Android phones - over the last few years ; I must have used almost every major Android device at some point or the other since Gingerbread was released - which is quite some time ago now.

One of my favourite devices was the Galaxy S3. It felt just right to hold - the perfect shape and size , slim et al. It was STILL all plastic and the only, the biggest gripe for me.If only Samsung could have done with better quality materials. . .

I have heard a lot about the so called "Pure Google" experience or the "Pure Android" experience. For a while, before I switched over to the "Nexus" bandwagon, I didn't really think it was that much of a difference.

To me, all droids stuttered, coughed every now and then and I had accepted this as a natural phenomena on all droid devices. Until, I laid my hands on the Nexus 4 and its amazingly well integrated software and hardware experience.

Let me start with the build - not an iPhone by any means but its times better than a Samsung PlasticDroid. It has the right heft and weight to it. Feels very comfy in one hand and as long as you dont drop it , there is nothing to complain about the build quality.

Stutter ? what stutter - this is truly the first android phone I have seen which has the seamless software experience people craved for. Pretty much the best hardware specs at the time of its production and fantastic integration on software by LG/Google - after a while it dawned on me, what project "butter" and other under the skin improvements by google had materialized into.

The more I use it, the more it feels "just right" in all aspects. Yes the camera could be better in certain conditions and to each his own on the quality of pictures considered acceptable.

Bottom line is  - N4 is the biggest bang for buck in the market today and if prices drop further when N5 floods the market, you can buy a N4 for even cheaper and make a really good buy - one that you wont regret even 3 years down the line and that is a long time in Smartphone terms.

A wild flower in bloom - as if it was conscious of its beauty.

Intemperate and haughty , knowing her like is not in bounty.

Near so perfect outside , a fragile makeup inside.

Founded on floundering principles  , staggering in her ambitions.

The right and wrong all in one place , confusing and amazing are his ways

Should I enjoy the fragrance and let be or pluck it and take it with me ?

In India, there are "A" players and "B" players, mostly, who make up the bulk of a Software Development company. Of course there are "C" players but there should be a good reason for them to exist and in small numbers so we exclude them here. And then there are an equally small number of "AB" players.

"B" players make up the vast majority of Devs. Its like the middle-class of India. Most of these are people who dabble in almost every technology in the project portfolio but are not really a master of any. Example, a .NET web developer (B) would perhaps be a good all-rounder in client side technologies, C# based backend tech stack, decent DBMS programmer etc but not really stand-out at any one of these.

The "A" players are the ones who are hard-core technologists. The lot who can have an intellectual orgasm at the mere prospect of deciphering / delivering a very complicated system. The people who can stare at the same 5 lines of code for a thousand minutes and still find an optimization ; or those who can hold a program in their head for days on end and have the solution etched in mind before it becomes code. No QA/QC required.

There are very few "AB" players who overlap between being very good at something - say, algorithms or overall concepts of the system etc, and are also "good" at the rest of it. Their numbers are about the same as the "C"

Looking at what each of these bring to the table :

• The "A" players bring technical expertise - they are specialists and most of the time focused only on coding, refactoring, efficiency et al. These people are the real "DEVELOPERS". They push the limits, push the framework, break code and rebuild it. This is the sharpened edge of the team. These are they guys who are always bugging the support team of some latest framework on the market. They raise the most tickets, the most complicated tickets and for the rest of the team, they appear to be working at an unimaginable level of coding.

• The  "B" players are more like "coders" or "programmers" than "developers" - the difference being that, A's push the limits and explore the boundaries of the stack while B's are tasked to concentrate on known areas and often come up with "safe" solutions. Unspectacular yet solid. In this sense, the B's all put together are nothing but a relatively stable "processing program". They take-in a lot of requirements from their leads,designers and turn out 100's of lines of code - not the best or the most efficient, but something that works most of the time. This is the mundane part of the team.

• The "AB" players are an interesting lot. They are few in number and sometimes very "malleable"  / "scalable" - they are mostly clear B+ people who can upstage an A from time to time at something very particular. Its like the LINQ-to-SQL expert in your front-end team who can write more efficient queries than an A for certain parts of the program ; and is still a better B than all the others. 

Very interesting article - http://bit.ly/O4dohT


Going by the tone of the parties involved, it looks like Tit for Tat.

Corruption is commonplace in all institutions in society today. More so in the individuals holding power as the  office-bearers / staff of such institutions.

While I feel a tinge of satisfaction in the BMTF chief and his loyalists taking on the apparently "more corrupt" corporators and their ilk - especially those in the BBMP, I really do fear of a strong backlash from the BBMP again.

Remember the last time the BBMP staff were on strike, they raised a big stink - literally.

It would be nice if all such corrupt entities were taken to task without causing inconvenience to the common man.

This is an excellent article that touches upon the key points of the Motorola Mobility business.

Remember, Google bought this out recently and hasn't seen any great success with it so far.

Now, it seems, there will be an effort to cut the losses, sharpen the focus and put out "fewer" and more "focused" products on the market.

This echo's the strategy of fierce rival Apple. In a recently conducted interview, the legendary designer  - Jonathan Ive, said that they concentrate on making  a few really great products and that they often say no to a lot of things that they are otherwise capable of manufacturing.

This is the kind of luxury that BIG companies like Apple, Google and perhaps even Samsung can afford - and while Samsung's strategy is perhaps not under review given its superb sales of the Galaxy premium range, its the right time for Google to re-asses its strategy.

The batsmen looked mentally scarred for most of the time. They looked tentative - every ball they faced, you felt something was going to happen. There was hesitation, trepidation.  In each and every game, except perhaps in the first innings of the first test.

People talk a lot of stuff about Dhoni being a recluse, unresponsive to suggestions - yeah right, like they sat in the team meetings and were part of the squad themselves. Its the usual speculation that the media and so called "Cricket Experts" talk about when the team is in dire straits.

I think Dhoni's nonchalant behaviour is his strength and weakness. Appearing to be nonplussed about anything in the game was something that everybody hailed as he led the team to numerous wins in all forms of the game not so long ago. Now the same trait is being regarded as his Achilles heels.

The same with Sehwag. He never had any footwork. He was always a hand-eye co-ordination player. It hurt him, it helped him, it made him and it might break him. But thats who he is - its nothing new - people talk about his game as "shoddy", "lacking responsibility" etc today - but I actually think he was honestly trying to curb his instincts and play the unnatural game.

Thats the hard part for these people - they are all out of their natural zone of comfort and they failed to adapt - for N no of reasons. Why ? Is it age ? Could be. Dravid getting bowled 9 times or so might mean he is slow or that he has lost his technique a bit. Technique and temperament can be moulded, but age ?

On the topic of age - Neither do Dravid nor Tendulkar look like they are physically out of it for me. These two can easily carry on for another 2-3 years, form and body permitting. The one who looks really out of shape is VVS. He is the one who is most lethargic on the field and his forte - heavy scoring ability overseas- especially against Australia, has seemingly deserted him. He will ofc do his analysis but with Kohli arriving on the scene I think the transition should start with VVS bowing out. Hard on the man but the time is right.

Zaheer Khan looked like the only bowler who could take wickets. I dont know why they didn't take Varun Aaron. They played Vinay Kumar who was treated like a spinner by the Aussies and the team has probably destroyed his yet to take off international career. That was the blunder of the tour. Destroying a fledgling career.

Zaheer was immature with the bat. Very irresponsible. The worst shot of the tour was the one he played in the last test ...Kohli waiting to get a ton and the senior guy flashes at a ball. Fucking unbelievable. For that he deserves a rap. For Sure. Zaheer used to bat well enough for a tail ender-  these days he is worse than one.

And Zaheer knew he didn't have support at the other end - it showed in his sometimes inconsistent bowling - I guess he wasn't too happy at having to do all the work himself. He would get one break through or a couple more and then the workload and expectations wouldnt stop there. He would have to come back again and again to try and stop the juggernaut.


Its hard to find positives. Tendulkar looked so circumspect. It looked he was unsure in his mind. I think he needs to play a bit more - maybe he should stop idealizing the 100th hundred and just get it out by smashing some minions. He looks like a player weighed down by something playing on his mind.

Kohli deserves his place in the team now. After trying and failing with Raina,Yuvraj etc, I think Kohli is the first of the new lot who can be groomed. He is a great cricketer - arrogant but you need that fire in you at this level.

R.Ashwin tried to behave like the pro - like the man who knew it all - it was on good display in his dumb witted press conferences. He also has the tendency to tweet his opinions I believe. He looks like the guy who likes to be in the spotlight a bit. He should probably learn to keep his mouth shut and do the job on the field. But the positive thing is his batting - he should learn to resist the pull and he is going to be a good batsman. He has probably already ended Harbhajan's career which is great news for me - I for one never believed in Harbhajan's action and I never really thought he was an asset though he has deservedly won games for india by getting under the skin of the opposition or with the bat.


Looks like the Indian team need a break. Yes. They really ought to stop playing cricket for a while. The skillsets are not there to the levels before. They need some time off and recoup. But there is no time for that - with the T20 and ODI series coming up I think a lot of them will be maxxed out by the time they are back home.


I think the biggest entity to be blamed is the BCCI. In their ivory towers , these people have lost touch with reality. There needs to be some connect between the players and the BCCI . Right now they play as much cricket as the body allows - there is no consideration for the mental fatigue.

Can't recall it in recent times on any bike  - there's always something to crib about -  wonder what it takes to "Just Ride..." ? 

Is access to information anytime, anywhere always a good thing ? I don't think so. Specifically, I am talking about email. More specifically, office mail.

There was a time when having instant email access on your phone was the domain of the "Blackberry" elite. Post the 3G revolution almost anyone can have email access on their phones. And that is probably not so good.

While working on a project in which there is a big time difference between our time and the clients location, the need to be able to respond immediately was having very high value. Though we had worked out that we can only extend our working hours a little bit to ensure that there is overlap between our working hours, I wanted to go the extra mile for the client. And so I went in for a 3G plan that allowed me to respond to the client  via mobile mail - ALL the time.

Yes, for the first few months, I was so happy that I can respond to all the official mail in spite of not being in the office. It gave me my team the ability work without my physical presence as long as they got the information from me via email. There is no need to wait for me to be back in office. Response times are vastly imprived. I could send them notes,documents,images so on all without having to visit the office.When I am on vacation and there is a crisis, I can communicate in real time and solve issues without being there. Great!

But as time went by, I noticed that I was always checking if I had office mail on my mobile. And on many occasions there would be no mails and I would start getting worried. Maybe my inbox was full. Maybe there is a connection error. I would switch off/on the 3G network, or send a test mail to myself to ensure my mobile office mailbox was in working order. Sure enough it was ok most of the time. But the addiction to checking the inbox remained - it became a headache actually. I was not comfortable if I saw an empty mailbox for a long time. What if we have a crisis, what if I need to back to the office ... maybe there is some bad news. Constant worry.

Then there is the other kind of worry - so we have worked our backsides off for the last 2 months stretching ourselves to 12 hour days on weekdays and working 8 hours a day over weekends on some occasions -  under such conditions the last thing you want to see is an office mail when you go back home detailing some other stupid problem that arose AFTER you left the office. It can be quite deflating. It just steals your peace of mind since you are always flooded with information and there is no time to rest. 

I figured that the solution to this second kind of worry was to not to open the mailbox at all when I decide to take some time off or logout of work. But then there was the third kind of worry - how long can I keep away from the problems ? Not checking my mailbox doesn't mean there aren't any mails and hence there are probably some problems in waiting. I am only delaying attending to them and probably that is not the right thing to do. So then I am still worried about what mails I might see when I open the mailbox !

The only solution is to stop receiving office mail on mobiles and go back to the good old days' idea that once you log out of office you are available only at the start of business hours on the next working day. Yes. I think that should be the right way to do it. Otherwise you can never have piece of mind. Leave the team an "emergency only" number and get away from it all !

This wednesday could have turned out to be a real adventure  ...

I had ridden down to Vijayanagar on my Yezdi Classic to meet a friend and then proceeded towards Yeshwanthpur to get it fixed by a mechanic. As usual I had left my wallet in my office backpack - like most techie people I carry a bag to office and all my stuff is in the bag including the wallet - lest a sudden downpour causes some serious damage ;)

Having realised this, I checked with my friend to see if he was carrying some cash - and he wasn't either. Since the mechanic is a very good acquaintance not paying him on this visit wouldn't be a problem but its a bit embarrassing....

Picking our way through the ridiculous traffic, we landed up at the mechanics place - stomach growling over the roar of the half muffled Yezdi. Now that is a problem. We didn't have any cash to eat anything ! Being a regular to the area, my friend took me to a small eatery and had 2 "Khali Dosa"'s  per head on credit basis (!) .... which satisfied our hunger pangs for now.

By then the mechanic had opened up the erratic front end of my bike and was down to some serious business. It was already past 9 PM and then our good friends at BESCOM decided it was time for some load shedding. Lights out. Work halted. We had no option but to while away our time chatting about all things mechanical and Yezdi. Finally, the power was restored at 11PM and the good mechanic finished up on the front end in a jiffy.

By then we had also noticed that there was hardly enough fuel in the bike to get back home ! Here we are at 11.30PM in the night having to to ride back at least 20km with almost no fuel in the bike and no cash in hand. Once again we got out of trouble since the mechanic gave us 50 bucks for fuel (!!!)...what next ? Find a bunk !

At 11.45 PM there was hardly any petrol bunk still open for business and we seriously dreaded getting stranded somewhere. If that happened it would have been a right royal EffUp. So we started looking out for ANY open pump - no luck and soon enough the bike started sputtering . Oh god ...what a predicament !

To add to the excitement, my friend wasn't wearing a helmet and we went past many cops - one of them did stop us but didn't fine us for not wearing the helmet - he was only checking for DUI and more interested in a guy who was driving with a "pickup girl" in his Innova. 

All said and done, with probably just 100 ml of fuel in the tank, we landed up at the Sheshadripuram Circle petrol bunk and refuelled for the grand total of Rs 50 - forty five for fuel and 5 rupees for 20ml of shit 2T oil.

I was just wondering, in case the cops had fined us for not wearing a helmet - what would we do ? Who would believe our story that, two working guys, rode all the way to Vijayanagar with no cash or wallet in hand, ate dosa's on credit basis, borrowed 50 bucks from a mechanic who also fixed the bike, and then were trying to find a petrol bunk to get refuelled ? Too tall a story to believe .....